Elias Boudinot (Cherokee): Difference between revisions
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==Death== |
==Death== |
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In 1839 members of the Ross faction, who opposed removal to Oklahoma, assassinated Elias Boudinot, [[Major Ridge]] and [[John Ridge]]. The three had joined the established political structure of the Old Settlers, those who had emigrated prior to the Treaty of New Echota. Their murders |
In 1839 members of the Ross faction, who opposed removal to Oklahoma, assassinated Elias Boudinot, [[Major Ridge]] and [[John Ridge]]. The three had joined the established political structure of the Old Settlers, those who had emigrated prior to the Treaty of New Echota. Their murders were on the part of the Ross party, based on a pre-existing law than the penalty for ceding Cherokee land was death.{{Fact|date=January 2009}} |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 17:52, 16 February 2009
Elias Boudinot | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Elias Boudinot | |
| Born | 1802 |
| Died | June 22, 1839 Park Hill, Cherokee Nation West (now Oklahoma) |
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (January 2009) |
Elias Boudinot (1802–June 22, 1839) was a Cherokee Indian who founded and edited the tribe's first newspaper, based on the syllabary by Sequoyah. He was born in Oothcaloga, Cherokee Nation (now Calhoun, Georgia) and named Gallegina Watie (also known as "Buck" Watie or Buck Oowatie). Gallegina means deer; therefore, he was called "Buck" Watie before changing his name. He edited the Cherokee Phoenix in New Echota.
He took the name "Elias Boudinot" after the man who paid for his education. The newspaper which Boudinot founded and edited, The Cherokee Phoenix, was the first Indian newspaper in the country, and the first written in an indigenous language. Boudinot was also a missionary, who translated the New Testament Bible and hymns into Cherokee with the help of a missionary friend, Samuel A. Worcester.
Boudinot and the Cherokee Nation
Boudinot was part of a prominent Cherokee family, the son of David Watie (Uwati), brother of Stand Watie, nephew of Major Ridge and cousin of John Ridge. He was also, allegedly, a descendant of Attacullaculla and the chiefs of Chota-Tanasi. Boudinot, the Ridges, John Ross, Charles R. Hicks, and his son, Elijah Hicks formed the ruling elite of the Cherokee Nation. They believed that rapid acculturation was critical to Cherokee survival. Boudinot's Cherokee Phoenix, published partially in Cherokee but mostly in English, was meant to showcase Cherokee "civilization" including New Echota, the capital. The Cherokee was based on Sequoyah's relatively new syllabary.
The state of Georgia and the federal government overall appeared more interested in the land which the Cherokee occupied. Anglo-American settlers began to encroach on Cherokee land through violence and quasi-legal actions such as the Georgia land lottery. The Cherokees' defense of their land climaxed in two Supreme Court cases argued by former United States attorney general William Wirt: Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Worcester v. Georgia. Although the Supreme Court acknowledged the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation, President Andrew Jackson refused to take action that would force Georgia to abide by the Court's ruling.
Boudinot and John Ridge's thinking on relations with the United States were profoundly affected by the chief Ross's unusual meeting] in May 1832 with Supreme Court Justice John McLean. McLean advocated removal to the Indian Territory and ultimate entry of the Nation into the United States. On August 1, 1832, Boudinot resigned as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix after Ross refused to allow Boudinot to write editorials which suggested removal as an option for the nation.
Cherokee removal
In May 1834, Boudinot, Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Andrew Ross, brother of John Ross, collectively the "Ridge Party," met with John H. Eaton, US Secretary of War. Their goal was to sign a treaty of removal. Although unable to bridge their differences with anti-removal forces, the Ridge Party signed the Treaty of New Echota on December 29, 1835.
Death
In 1839 members of the Ross faction, who opposed removal to Oklahoma, assassinated Elias Boudinot, Major Ridge and John Ridge. The three had joined the established political structure of the Old Settlers, those who had emigrated prior to the Treaty of New Echota. Their murders were on the part of the Ross party, based on a pre-existing law than the penalty for ceding Cherokee land was death.[citation needed]
See also
Further reading
Primary sources
- Dale, Edwards Everett. Cherokee Cavaliers; Forty Years of Cherokee History as Told in the Correspondences of the Ridge-Watie-Boudinot Family. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1939.
Secondary Sources
- Carter, Samuel. Cherokee Sunset. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1976.
- Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge family and the Decimation of a People. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma Press, 1986; ISBN 0-8061-2188-2 (1989 paperback edition).
- Pudue, Theda. Rising From the Ashes: The Cherokee Phoenix as an Ethnohistorical Source. Ethnohistory Vol. 24 No. 3, 1971.