John Ross essays

John Ross essays John Rosss Response to Jacksons Message to Congress In my nearly forty years as a Cherokee and an American, my eyes have seen much. I witnessed much brutality in the early years of the American frontier, as constant raids raged between the American Armies and Cherokees. I have had the benefit of an education comparable to that of my white counterparts in Washington, yet I have still kept a firm grasp on my native roots and heritage. In the long memory of my tribe, there has been pestilence, famine, oppression, loss of land, and war all due to the emergence of settlers and colonies. While these men and their ways have again and again mistreated our people, we have maintained a diplomatic stance and made many compromises with the peoples who brought such strife. President Jackson has typified us as savages and uncivilized, it is unfortunate that such a misjudgment of our society has occurred. As I have lived and experienced both worlds, that of the tribes and that of cities and towns, I am a witness that we are not savages. It is a si mple difficulty of perspective. As a culture based heavily on tradition and tribal life, Americans view us as a people without culture or civilization. This assumption is easy to make for outsiders, but it is the way we talk, hunt, dress, act, and socialize that makes our very society. The formation of our Cherokee Nation within the United States of Alabama and Georgia, was made necessary by the increasing erosion and oppression of our culture and land. It is not in defiance that we form such a sovereignty, but in defense of our culture and way of life. While it may appear to be a misjudgment to form such a state, it is in even poorer judgment to emigrate the entire Native population of the Southeastern United States west of the Mississippi. There is little justification given by the President for the removal of the tribes, and that which he offers as reason is in it self-faulty, contradic...