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Show 114 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [ ETH. ANN. 19 in council, but subsequently made submission and was reinstated. He was afterward one of the detachment commanders in the Removal, but died while on the march. 1 In this year, also, John Ross became principal chief of the Nation, a position which he held until his death in 1866, thirty- eight years later. 2 In this long period, comprising the momentous episodes of the Removal and the War of the Rebellion, it may be truly said that his history is the history of the Nation. And now, just when it seemed that civilization and enlightenment were about to accomplish their perfect work, the Cherokee began to hear the first low muttering of the coming storm that was soon to overturn their whole governmental structure and sweep them forever from the land of their birth. By an agreement between the United States and the state of Georgia in 1802, the latter, for valuable consideration, had ceded to the general government her claims west of the present state boundary, the United States at the same time agreeing to extinguish, at its own expense, but for the benefit of the state, the Indian claims within the state limits, " as early as the same can be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms." 8 In accordance with this agreement several treaties had already been made with the Creeks and Cherokee, by which large tracts had been secured for Georgia at the expense of the general government. Notwithstanding this fact, and the terms of the proviso, Georgia accused the government of bad faith in not taking summary measures to compel the Indians at once to surrender all their remaining lands within the chartered state limits, coupling the complaint with a threat to take the matter into her own hands. In 1820 Agent Meigs had expressed the opinion that the Cherokee were now so far advanced that further government aid was unnecessary, and that their lands should be allotted and the surplus sold for their benefit, they themselves to be invested with full rights of citizenship in the several states within which they resided. This suggestion had been approved by President Monroe, but had met the most determined opposition from the states concerned. Tennessee absolutely refused to recognize individual reservations made by previous treaties, while North Carolina and Georgia bought in all such reservations with money appropriated by Congress. 4 No Indian was to be allowed to live within those states on any pretext whatsoever. In the meantime, owing to persistent pressure from Georgia, repeated unsuccessful efforts had been made to procure from the Cherokee a cession of their lands within the chartered limits of the 1 Personal information from James D. Wafford. So far as is known this rebellion of the conservatives has never hitherto been noted in print. * See Resolutions of Honor, in Laws of the Cherokee Nation, pp. 137- 140,1868; Meredith, in The Five Civilized Tribes, Extra Census Bulletin, p. 4l, 1894; Appleton, Cyclopedia of American Biography. a See fourth article of " Articles of agreement and cession," April 24,1802, in American State Papers: class VIII, Public Lands, i, quoted also by Greeley, American Conflict, I, p. 103,1864. • Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnology, pp. 231- 233,1888. |