During the years of Indian removal, the United States as whole misled and flat out lied to the Native American tribes located on what the United States called its land. Individual states were at the head of this competition of land ownership, and Georgia was not above lying to get her own way. People in the early eighteen hundreds were land hungry, and they were willing to do anything to get what they thought was rightfully theirs. In the years ranging from approximately eighteen twenty to eighteen thirty five many Indians were moved out of Georgia and into other parts of the country not yet inhabited. Two tribes followed two different paths throughout this time period. The Cherokee Indians located mostly in the northern parts of Georgia tried to change their ways and evolve into a more European lifestyle in an effort to keep their land. This effort was in vain, however, and the people of Georgia went right on stealing the land of the Cherokee. There were plenty of treaties signed with significance to the land and people of the Cherokee Nation. These treaties and their consequences affected both the Cherokee as well as the American population in specific ways.

The farthest south the Cherokee Nation ever reached was Gwinnett County. The people of the Cherokee Nation played a key role in helping the Americans defeat the British in both the Revolutionary War and the War of eighteen twelve. This alliance was only served through those for an independent America. Those faithful to the crown found themselves strongly opposed to the Cherokee, and this rivalry was the result of much death and blood shed between these two groups. However, when the Cherokee moved their capital from Tennessee to Calhoun Georgia the Cherokee people adopted a more European and “civilized” way of life. They left behind their guns and other weapons and learned the art of farming, as well as setting up a city with a government and court system. In addition to these things, the women learned the ways of the loom and spinning wheel.1

During this time period the Cherokee people occupied lands in Georgia in what is now Cherokee county. This land was considered some of the best and most fertile lands in the state of Georgia and for this reason Governor Troup felt the need to proposition the United States to remove the Indians. The problem with all of this was that just at the same time the government was to remove the Cherokee, they (the Cherokee) had established their own government and did not have to acknowledge the United States government. The United States government subsequently passed a law that all white men living in the Cherokee Nation should subscribe an oath to the laws of the state as well as to the state itself Georgia. The government not only passed the law that all white men living in the Cherokee Nation pledge an oath to Georgia, but they also passed a law stating that the trafficking of any Indian good without first obtaining a permit would be a misdemeanor and punishable in a court of law.2

The Cherokee people were skeptical to say the least. While they understood that they had signed treaties with the United States, they also felt that those treaties were not issued to control how the Cherokee people interacted with each other,3 the treaties were issued to deal with land distribution. In September of eighteen twenty eight they were asked to believe the government when they told them they should no longer fear invasion of their land. The American Government claimed they would keep people out, however, this part of the agreement was not held up by the United States. In fact just the opposite occurred and the people of the Cherokee Nation were pursued even harder for their land by the people of Georgia.

In the early eighteen twenties Sequoyah helped the Cherokee people to be the first Native American people to have developed their own written language.4 In less than twenty years the Cherokees had turned their whole culture around much to the dismay of the people and the government of Georgia. Their new cultural development made the Georgians scared that they may remain forever a Nation within the state.5 To force the Cherokee out of Georgia the state government tried many different things, the first of which was to order the Cherokees to discontinue operation of their government and give due sovereignty to Georgia.6 For the first time the Cherokee opposed this and took their case to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately for the Cherokees the courts ruled in favor of the state of Georgia.7 The land the Georgia government was trying to push the Cherokee off of had been previously allotted to them in a treaty before eighteen twenty, but they had now decided they wanted the land because of gold that had been found in the area, only one of many lies.

When Georgia felt she had exhausted all of her options, and the Cherokee still refused to leave the Georgians went one step farther. They had the Cherokee lands surveyed for a hostile take over if it became necessary. The President warned the government of Georgia they would be violating National treaties if they continued their hostilities toward the Indians. The state was also told if they continued to harass the Cherokee for their lands the Federal government was prepared to send troops to defend said treaties. This decision made Georgia even angrier, and they mustered up a militia to occupy land belonging to the Indians. The federal government, not wanting a confrontation, backed down.8

One of the most well known village sights in Georgia was in Gwinnett County; the Indians called it Suwanee Old Town. The Indians settled this village on the Chattahoochee River not far from the mouth of the Suwanee Creek. It has been proven that Indians of different tribes have been living in this village for hundreds of years. It has been the sight of many Indian villages or camping places. Many tools as well as eating utensils have been found on the site of what is now the town of Suwanee. While Suwanee was well documented and used as a land mark for cessions of land ownership, it was not the only area in Gwinnett County that was inhabited by Indians. All sorts of arrow heads, bowls, and other kinds of tools have been found in the areas of Harbin’s district, Yellow River, and modern day Snellville.9

Playing a key roll in treaties and the upholding of them by the American Government, Senator Wilson Lumpkin has written several speeches as well as letters to close friends regarding the events and travesties visited upon the Cherokee People at this time. He was very involved with Governor Troup in the complete removal of the Cherokee Indians from the Georgia borders all the way to the other side of the Mississippi River. Senator Lumpkin felt pity and was compassionate towards the Cherokee people. He later came to the conclusion, after speaking with many of the leaders of the Cherokee Nation, that the people were very opposed to moving, however, he believed after they moved they would come to appreciate their new home.10

As is the case in most National situations, the President during this time played a key roll in all decisions dealing with the making of treaties and the breaking of them. One President in particular that had a large impact was Andrew Jackson. While he pretended to be a friend of the Indians, he actually had no problem using them to get his way. He would then push them aside once he had accomplished his goals.11 While President he allowed Georgia to pass an act that declared the laws of the Cherokee Nation invalid. It said that the Indians had no rights as citizens, therefore they could not testify in court against any white man. It also made it illegal for the Cherokee to resist removal.12 Naturally this had a large impact on the Cherokee people. It paved the way to the end of the rest of their lives the way they had known them. If the People were not allowed to resist how could they possible stop the white man from taking the land he had originally bestowed upon them? Once the white man had the power he used it in court to sue for the money that had been paid to the Cherokee for their lands. Since the Cherokee did not have any rights of citizenship they could not testify in court to protect themselves. The Cherokee found themselves bankrupt and landless with no personal assets to use as leverage. The Cherokee found themselves in this predicament thanks to the white man. It is no wonder that they did not trust the white man for hundreds of years to come.

The earliest efforts of the United States government were to “civilize” the Native Americans. They felt the best way to accomplish that was with a formal education and by religion. The Government established schools for the Indians to teach them English as well the European culture.13 They also sent missionaries to live within the tribe and teach the European religion, Christianity. They did the teaching in the schools as well as teaching in fields by showing the adults how to use the European tools, how to raise livestock, and European crops.14 By interacting one on one with the people the missionaries were able to earn respect from the Cherokee people. From there the missionaries were able to share their faith with the Indians in their own language. In time the missionaries seemed to change sides, from that of the white man to that of the Indian. As they saw how the white men lied to get what they wanted and stole land from the Cherokee, the missionaries began to stand up for the Cherokee Nation and fight back since the Cherokee could not.

The missionaries did everything they could possibly think of to thwart the effort of the Georgians to evict the Cherokee. They went to the extreme, being arrested by the Georgia government for not having a permit to live on Cherokee lands. These men stood up for what they believed in and took their case all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found in favor of the missionaries but Georgia did not uphold the decision and gave them two choices: either spend four years in jail or leave the state. The missionaries felt discretion is the better part of valor and fled the state.15

A second group that was sympathetic to the plight of the Indian was women. Led by Catherine Beecher, the women saw the inhumanity that was forced upon the Indians and were strongly opposed to it.16 In conjunction with the women, abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison, spoke out against colonization because they associated it with the brutality of Indian removal.17 Garrison believed the reason for the desire of the land the Indians resided on was so that the southerners could move their slavery further to the north and utilize their slaves to cultivate the spectacularly hearty land. Slavery had begun to revitalize in the south, especially in Georgia. It was about this time that science rationalized the inequality of the races. When asked by the Secretary of State, would Georgia accept the Indians as equal, Governor Troup replied no, the only status that was acceptable for an Indian was that of a freed slave.18

In eighteen twenty seven a treaty was meet with the Western Cherokee that had several clauses in it about the Eastern Cherokee without their knowledge. The American government was prepared to offer the Cherokee people money to leave, however, after all of their American treaties giving money in return for land the Cherokee were still eventually run off of the land they had been originally given. Needless to say the People of the Cherokee Nation were skeptical. The Cherokee people who had previously sworn not to cede anymore land to the American government found themselves in a predicament. When the Cherokee realized that the white man had made a treaty behind their backs they took action. Elias Boudinot, editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, their bilingual newspaper, published the treaty in full for the people’s information. The Cherokee then established a committee to travel around the country to explain the treaty to their people and urge them to resist it.19 The Cherokee were not as ignorant to the ways of the world as the American government seemed to think they were. They knew what a treaty was and how it was entered upon. In one statement written in the Cherokee Phoenix the writer states that a treaty is something that both parties agree to as well as adhere to. The writer then continues to state that the United States Government has not adhered to their side of the treaty and demands that the treaty be acknowledged.20

All of the betrayal finally came to a head when a ward of the American government, James Rogers, was attacked by two Cherokee men in a tavern. Rogers being a Cherokee himself, worked for the white man to help convince the Cherokee to move. It is believed that the reason the two men attacked Rogers was because of his underhanded dealings with their people in taking away their land. People suggested that if this violence continued it would put an end to expansion into Indian Territory. They were also afraid that if the government continued to push for Indian extraction there would be more violence and the Cherokee people would be less likely to volunteer to move west.21 To satisfy the Cherokee people the American government put up bail for the Cherokee who started the violence. Though the government was attempting to ease the tensions between them and the Cherokee Nation it had little effect.

The Cherokee people found themselves in a lose-lose situation. No matter what they did they could not change the fact that they were on land the white man wanted. The land that had been theirs for generations was now coming under attack. They had tried the white mans way in attempting to keep the land as their own, but no number of treaties was going to keep Georgia or her people from their “destiny” of inhabiting that land. For many years the white man had been lying and deceiving the Cherokee Nation to get their way. While the Cherokee never fought a war with the American people, several times, the two cultures came to the brink of fighting. The Presidents of the United States played key roles in the removal of the Cherokee from Georgia. By simply being “indifferent” to the issues of the Cherokee people, the Presidents played into the hands of the good people of Georgia.

The Cherokee people learned not to trust the white man from the example set by the Presidents themselves. The treaties that the American government claimed to believe in were just pieces of paper to the Cherokee who saw them as underhanded and short lived. The People of the Cherokee Nation were first moved to New Echota and then moved again and again to many different places adding to their distrust of the white man as well as their dislike of him. Eventually they ended up spread out in reservation in the mid west, most of their descendants still reside there today, still bitter about their history and still trying to resolve their issues with the federal government.

1. James C. Flanigan, History of Gwinnett County Georgia 1818-1943 Vol. 1, (Tyler & Company, Hapeville Georgia 1943) 5-6.

2. Wilson Lumpkin, The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, (Dodd, Mead & Company, New York 1907) 43. A compilation of speeches and letters written by the Governor from 1827-1841.

3. Elias Boudinot, Cherokee Phoenix, 24 April 1828, page 2 col.2.

4. Bill Winn, The first Georgians The History of the Area’s First Families, (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Atlanta Georgia 1970) 52.

5. Bill Winn, The first Georgians The History of the Area’s First Families, (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Atlanta Georgia 1970) 52.

6. Bill Winn, The first Georgians The History of the Area’s First Families, (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Atlanta Georgia 1970) 53.

7. Bill Winn, The first Georgians The History of the Area’s First Families, (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Atlanta Georgia 1970) 53.

8. Charles Hudson, Southeastern Indians, (University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville Tennessee, 1979) 454.

9. James C. Flanigan, History of Gwinnett County Georgia 1818-1943 Vol. 1 (Tyler & Company, Hapeville Georgia 1943) 2-3.

10. Wilson Lumpkin, The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia, (The Savannah Morning News Print, Savannah Georgia 1907) 38.

11. Charles Hudson, Southeastern Indians, (University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville Tennessee, 1979) 454.

12. Charles Hudson, Southeastern Indians, (University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville Tennessee, 1979) 462.

13. Douglas C. Wilms, “Cherokee Land Use in Georgia Before Removal” The Southern Indians Before and After, (University Of Georgia Press, Athens Georgia, 1991) 1-5.

14. Douglas C. Wilms, “Cherokee Land Use in Georgia Before Removal” The Southern Indians Before and After, (University Of Georgia Press, Athens Georgia, 1991) 1-5.

15. Douglas C. Wilms, “Cherokee Land Use in Georgia Before Removal” The Southern Indians Before and After, (University Of Georgia Press, Athens Georgia, 1991) 1-5.

16. Mary Hershberger, “Mobilizing Women, Anticipating Abolition: The Struggle Against Indian Removal in the 1803’s” Journal of American History, v. 86 no.1 (1999): 15-40.

17. Mary Hershberger, “Mobilizing Women, Anticipating Abolition: The Struggle Against Indian Removal in the 1803’s” Journal of American History, v. 86 no.1 (1999): 15-40.

18. William G McLoughlin, “Georgia’s Role in Instigating Compulsory Indian Removal” Georgia Historical Quarterly, v.70 no.4 (1986): 605-632.

19. William G McLoughlin, “Georgia’s Role in Instigating Compulsory Indian Removal” Georgia Historical Quarterly, v.70 no.4 (1986) : 616

20. Elias Boudinot, Cherokee Phoenix, New Echota (Georgia), 24 February 1830.

21. William G McLoughlin, “Georgia’s Role in Instigating Compulsory Indian Removal” Georgia Historical Quarterly, v.70 no.4 (1986): 622.