The Cherokee removal : a brief history with documents

The Cherokee Removal of 1838-1839 unfolded against a complex backdrop of competing ideologies, self-interest, party politics, altruism, and ambition. Using documents that convey Cherokee voices, government policy, and white citizens' views, Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green present a multifaceted account of this complicated moment in American history. The second edition of this successful, class-tested volume contains four new sources, including the Cherokee Constitution of 1827 and a modern Cherokee's perspective on the removal. The introduction provides students with succinct historical background. Document headnotes contextualize the selections and draw attention to historical methodology. To aid students' investigation of this compelling topic, suggestions for further reading, photographs, and a chronology of the Cherokee removal are also included.

• Foreword
• Preface
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction: The Cherokees and U.S. Indian Policy
• The Cherokee People
• Early Contact with British Colonists
• The United States "Civilization" Program
• Cherokee Culture Change
• Pressure for Removal
• Cherokee Resistance and Capitulation
• 1 Cherokee "Civilization"
• Becoming "Civilized"
• Young Wolf, Last Will and Testament, 1814
• Cherokee Committee, Ruling on Young Wolf's Estate, 1824
• A Cherokee View of "Civilization"
• John Ridge, Letter to Albert Gallatin, February 27, 1826
• Christian Missions
• Elizabeth Taylor, Letter to Miss Abigail Parker, June 26, 1828
• Sally M. Reece, Letter to Reverend Daniel Campbell, July 25, 1828
• Nancy Reece, Letter to Reverend Fayette Shepherd, December 25, 1828
• Quantifying Cherokee "Civilization"
• The Census of 1835
• The Cherokee Constitution of 1827
• Constitution of the Cherokee Nation: Formed by a Convention of Delegates from the Several Districts, at New Echota, July 1827
• 2 Georgia Policy
• The Georgia Laws
• Georgia State Assembly, Laws Extending Jurisdiction over the Cherokees, December 19, 1829 and December 22, 1830
• Georgia and the Supreme Court
• United States Supreme Court, Worcester v. Georgia, March 1832
• Dispossessing the Cherokees
• Memorial of Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836
• White Intruders
• Zillah Haynie Brandon, Memoir, 1830-1838
• 3 United States Policy
• In Defense of the Cherokees: The "William Penn" Essays
• William Penn [Jeremiah Evarts], A Brief View of the Present Relations between the Government and People of the United States and Indians within Our National Limits, November 1829
• American Women Organize against Removal
• Catherine Beecher, Circular, Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the U. States, December 25, 1829
• Lewis Cass Justifies Removal
• Lewis Cass, Removal of the Indians, January 1830
• Congress Acts
• United States Congress, Indian Removal Act, May 28, 1830
• Andrew Jackson Applauds the Removal Act
• Andrew Jackson, State of the Union Address, December 6, 1830
• 4 The Cherokee Debate
• Women and Removal
• Cherokee Women, Petition, May 2, 1817
• Cherokee Women, Petition, June 30, 1818
• Cherokee Women, Petition, October 17, 1821 [1831?]
• Elias Boudinot's Editorials in the Cherokee Phoenix
• Elias Boudinot, Editorials in the Cherokee Phoenix, 1829, 1831
• The Treaty of New Echota
• Treaty with the Cherokees, 1835
• The Opposition Continues
• John Ross, Letter in Answer to Inquiries from a Friend, July 2, 1836
• The Treaty Party's Defense
• Elias Boudinot, Letters and Other Papers Relating to the Cherokee Affairs: Being a Reply to Sundry Publications of John Ross, 1837
• 5 The Trail of Tears
• Enrollment Memorial of Protest of the Cherokee Nation, June 22, 1836
• Forced Removal
• Evan Jones, Letters, May-December 1838
• Waiting to Cross the Mississippi
• George Hicks, Letter from the Trail of Tears, January 13, 1839
• Removal through a Child's Eyes
• Rebecca Neugin, Recollections of Removal, 1932
• Rebuilding the Cherokee Nation
• Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Journal, 1841
• Removal 150 Years Later
• Wilma Mankiller, Reflections on Removal, 1993
• Appendix
• Chronology of the Cherokee Removal (c. 1700-2003)
• Index