Grant Foreman • The Five Civilized Tribes

In spite of bitter dissension in the tribe, the determination of jealous minority leaders to prevent functioning of the government established by an overwhelming majority, the inexplicable efforts of the administration at Washington and the military authorities in Indian Territory to discredit the leadership striving to make it operative, the Cherokee government did function effectively and was able to lead the people in the direction of progress and achievement.

Their constitution was founded on republican principles, and created three departments of government. The legislative was composed of two bodies, the Committee and the Council. The Nation was divided into eight districts: Delaware, Going Snake, Flint, Skin Bayou, Illinois, Canadian, Tahlequah, and Saline.⁠a Each district elected two members to the National Committee and three to the National Council. These bodies met annually in the autumn for two or three weeks and the members received $2.50 a day each during their attendance. While the council was in session a public table was kept at the expense of the Nation where all who wished could eat.⁠1 The laws enacted were based upon equal rights and privileges and with the constitution were printed in English and Cherokee and distributed throughout the Nation.⁠2

The executive department was headed by a principal chief with a salary of $1,000 and his expenses and an assistant chief, both elected every four years. Sheriffs, clerks, and other officers were designated to execute the laws. Debts were collected in the usual way by execution. The judiciary consisted of a supreme court of five members that sat p363 once a year; a circuit court of four members that convened in the spring and fall; and a district court for each of the eight districts that sat whenever occasion required. Civil and criminal codes were adopted. Jury trials and pleadings were provided for. Administrators and executors were appointed to settle estates.

Many of their leaders were men of decided talents and education. The judges of their circuit and district courts were "appointed more for their probity and personal worth than their legal attainments, and will compare in point of moral worth with any similar body in the United States. They are rigid in the execution of their laws, generally impartial in the administration of justice, as yet necessarily in a rude state," reported their agent Pierce Butler. The first chief justice, John Martin, died October 17, 1840, and Rev. Jesse Bushyhead was elected in his place.⁠3

"As a people they are very tenacious of the management and regulation of their internal affairs. There are believed to be about 2,000 professors of the Christian religion, consisting of Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians; the former comprise much the largest class, and may be considered the first class of Cherokees. For intelligence and general integrity, there are about 4,000 others who might be classed among the first. Much the largest class of the Cherokee are half-breeds, or what are known to be the middle class, who are ardent, and enterprising, and passionately fond of gaming. When not under the influence of ardent spirits, they are hospitable, and well disposed; but, when under such influence, their worst passions seem to be aroused. The evil of introducing spirits among them, invariably carried in by the lowest class of whites, I do not hesitate to say is the cause of all their troubles with the citizens of the United States. The Cherokees, as a people, are not disposed to labor; but within the last two years there is a manifest change in this particular, both from necessity and inclination. They are now engaged in agricultural pursuits. There is no game within 150 or 200 miles of their limits. Their country is well watered, and supplies abundantly all the products known to that latitude, such as corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, and hemp. Within the limits of the nation there are two abundant and valuable salt springs. One of them is leased to a Cherokee for an inconsiderable sum, but is not worked to much p364 advantage either to him or to the nation. Stone coal of the finest quality abounds in two sections, adjacent to each other in the nation.

"There is a small class, termed mountain Indians, who are ignorant, and but slightly progressed in moral and intellectual improvement; have few comforts, and plant barely sufficient for subsistence. Many of the Cherokees own slaves, and many may be called comfortable livers; all of them own stock cattle, yet make but little beyond their own consumption."

"immediately after their removal and settlement beyond the Mississippi, from causes incident to such a state of things, the Cherokees rather diminished than increased in population. They have devoted themselves with more steadiness and industry to the cultivation of the soil; which may be regarded as their national employment, and which affords an easy and abundant subsistence; from this as well as other causes, their numbers are rapidly increasing. In their houses, farms, and fixtures they have advanced in civilization. They generally live in double log cabins, and have about them the utensils and conveniences of such habitations. Though fond of relaxation and amusements, they are far from being improvident in their habits. This increasing disposition to provide for the future, instead of giving themselves up to the enjoyments of the present, strongly marks a tendency to raise themselves in the scale of intellectual and moral beings. . . . In the ordinary transactions of life, especially in making bargains, they are shrewd and intelligent; frequently evincing a degree of craft and combination that strik the mind as remarkable."⁠4

The far-sighted chief of the Cherokee Nation employed his active mind in planning movements for the good of his people. And directly after his return from Washington and under his influence the Cherokee National Council on December 16, 1841, enacted legislation setting up a common school system for the Nation. Eleven schools were provided for in the eight districts, supported by the interest on the national school fund. In these schools under the superintendency of Rev. Stephen Foreman a native Cherokee, reading, writing, arithmetic, bookkeeping, English grammar, geography, and history were taught. Nine of the teachers were white men, of whom one was an adopted citizen by p365 marriage. And the other two were native Cherokee. There was provided for each teacher $535 for his pay and the purchase of school books. The Cherokee council created a separate fund for the board, clothing and education of the five to ten orphan children attending each of the several public schools in the Nation. In 1843 there were 500 pupils in all the schools.

Besides these tribal institutions were the missionary establishments embracing both churches and schools. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was operating missions at Dwight, Fairfield, Park Hill, and Mount Zion, together with a missionary school at each place. John Huss, a native preacher, had a church on Honey Creek. Dwight Mission under the superintendence of Rev. Jacob Hitchcock had a school of fifty-five girls, including forty-five regular boarding pupils; Mr. and Mrs. Nathaniel B. Dodge were the teachers. The Fairfield Mission under the direction of the Rev. Elizur Butler, included a school for boys and girls averaging about twenty-five in number. It was located south of the site of the present Stilwell, Oklahoma. The seventy-two members of the church were nearly all Cherokee Indians. Mount Zion school was in charge of the Rev. Daniel S. Butrick.

The mission at Park Hill was in charge of the Rev. Samuel A. Worcester and accommodated forty-seven pupils, all Cherokee but five. Here Dr. Worcester operated the printing press removed from Union Mission in 1837. On it he and his assistants published books and pamphlets in Cherokee, Creek, and Choctaw. In 1843 he reported the following publications from his press since it was first set up at Union in 1835:

In the Cherokee Language

In Choctaw

p367 From July 18, 1845 to August 18, 1846 they printed 276,000 pages of Cherokee school books and tracts, 386,000 in Choctaw and 18,000 in Creek; the largest was a Choctaw spelling book of 108 pages.⁠5

The Methodist Society employed twenty-seven preachers in the nation, "of whom fifteen were local." Twelve labored as circuit preachers, including four natives. There were 1,400 communicants. There were also prosperous Sunday schools in many of the societies in which instruction was given both in English and Cherokee. The Baptist Association had 750 communicants and included two ordained preachers, Rev. Jesse Bushyhead and John Wykliffe, both natives; and five native licensed preachers, Lewis Downing, Peter, Tu‑ne‑lo‑lee, Potts, and T. Soowotscikee. "The Cherokee Baptist Mission formed themselves into an auxiliary missionary society to the mother board in Boston, and have two schools, supported by their joint efforts. One is entirely a school for females, and is taught by Miss Hibbard; the other is under the charge of Miss Ross, and is for the instruction of both boys and girls. Both of these are competent teachers and accomplished ladies. The first has thirty-five and the other forty-five pupils. They have a large brick school house, built by the Cherokees; and altogether, the schools are answering the most sanguine expectations of their friends."⁠6

An event of outstanding importance in the history of the Cherokee Nation and of the whole Indian Territory was the great international Indian council held at Tahlequah in 1843. It began in June and lasted four weeks. It was called by the Cherokee chiefs and was attended by representatives of eighteen tribes. The delegates exchanged views on the problems facing them and agreed on certain mutual obligations of great importance to the tribes attempting to adjust themselves to new associations and responsibilities forced on them by the recent emigration from the East.⁠7

An event of greater significance to the Indians was the beginning of their weekly national newspaper, The Cherokee Advocate, which made its appearance in September 1844. This paper was printed partly in the English language and partly in the characters invented by the immortal Sequoyah that could be read by nearly every Indian even though he could not read English. It took the place of the Cherokee p368 Phoenix that had been published in their eastern home until it was seized and destroyed in 1832 as part of the program of the Government to break the spirit and destroy the resources of the Indians in their indomitable struggle to resist the efforts to drive them from their homes. William P. Ross was the first editor of the Advocate and he issued a readable paper that flourished for many years and contributed much to the welfare and literacy of the Cherokee people.⁠8

Cherokee Agent Butler was a conscientious observer of his charges. In his report for 1844 he gave some further interesting observations concerning them:

"The Cherokees are a people fond of sports and social amusements. Many of them keep up the ancient custom of annual 'ball plays,' which usually take place after the crops are laid by. This is an amusement which, as a friend of their people, I would be far from discouraging or wishing discontinued, when not carried to an excess. It is above all others trying to their powers of endurance, and probably contributes largely to the development of their manly and athletic forms. It promotes social intercourse by drawing together, from all parts of the nation, the young men, when, with friendly rivalry, a contest of skill, strength, and endurance is often maintained for hours. . . . Besides this sport, they pursue that of training and rearing the blood-horse;⁠9 are fond of dancing, and have an uncommon relish for music.

"The Cherokees are exceedingly fond of reading and have a very inquisitive mind. They seem to take great delight, too, at present, in the manual process of writing, and take every occasion to employ it in preference to oral communication — not so much among themselves, however, as with the whites and agents of the government. Many of them have a taste for, and some acquirements in, general literature. Much benefit may be expected from their printing-press, lately in p369 operation. The more general diffusion of information will lead to further improvement. Although imaginative they have nothing that we can call poetry; but, as orators, they are conspicuous in some of the essential excellencies of the art. Bold, brief, and earnest, they adapt their ideas and expressions with uniform tact to the nature of their subject and the character of their hearers, and stop when they have done. Their candidates for council follow our example of 'taking the stump' upon all questions of public interest. They speak both in Cherokee and in English; the latter being necessary, from the large number of white men, who have been adopted by the nation. Although they are in some instances losing the native tongue, yet, as a written language, it has become in a measure fixed; and the tenacity with which they generally cling to it, as to many other of their national characteristics, renders it improbable that it will ever be entirely abandoned. Although, not entirely ignorant of painting, they have had heretofore no scope for the development of any talent in that art, or in sculpture. In music they have a decided taste, and many of them perform well on different instruments."

The terms of the treaty with the Indians provided for eight public blacksmiths, six of whom were Indians; they were paid by the Government and worked without cost to the Indians. There were also two wheelwrights who manufactured 400 spinning wheels annually for the Indians, but Butler said that this supply did not equal one‑third of the demand.

The council at Tahlequah in 1844, the first under the new set of officers chosen at the first popular election under their new constitution, was held in a setting of hope and optimism.

"At present," said their national newspaper, "everything about our Town is life and animation. The number of persons called together by the annual sessions of the National Council, though not so great as on some similar occasions, is quite considerable. Besides the public officers — Councilmen, Judges, Clerks, Sheriffs, &c., there are many others in daily attendance, some of whom are called hither by business and others by a curiosity to see and hear what is occurring in the Nation.

"Tahlequah . . . became the seat of Government of the Cherokee Nation in 1839 after the reunion of the Eastern and Western branches of the Cherokee family. The location of the town is central and beautiful and combines advantages of good health, excellent spring water, p370 and a plentiful supply of timber for firewood and purposes of building. The surrounding country is in our opinion, of surpassing beauty, presenting a diversity of mountain, woodland, and prairie scenery. The prairie which extends within the town reservation, affords luxurious grass, which is a good substitute for hay, and as much land of productive quality as will be required in many years, for agricultural purposes by those wishing to live 'in Town.'

"After it became the seat of government, a number of log houses were thrown up about the place, without, however, much regard to order, as they were destined for the temporary accommodation of those engaged in the transaction of public business. But a regular town having been laid off last winter, and a number of lots sold to citizens of the Nation, these cabins will be removed and others built, which will present a better appearance.⁠10 A few houses have, however, been already erected and others are in contemplation, of the 'join up' kind.

"The Supreme Court has just opened its annual session, in a new and commodious brick Court House,⁠11 which in point of neatness and durability is perhaps surpassed by no building of the kind in Arkansas. The contractor for doing this job is a Jersey carpenter, whose habits of industry secure him constant employment. The mason work was done by a 'little Yankee' all the way from Boston. Our house is also a spank new one, eighteen by forty feet, two stories high, ceiled, etc. Our country woman Mrs. Taylor, has also in forward state of erection, a new brick house, intended for a hotel, which will be, when completed, not only a great accommodation for the public, but also, an ornament to our Town."⁠12

The Author's Notes:

4 Report of Pierce M. Butler September 30, 1843, in Report of commissioner of Indian affairs, 1843.

8 William P. Ross, a nephew of John Ross and Lewis Ross, was born in 1820 at the foot of Lookout Mountain. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1842. November 16, 1846, he was married to his cousin Mary Jane, the daughter of Lewis Ross. The Advocate was established by the act of the Cherokee Council of October 25, 1843.

9 Samuel Mayes, a Cherokee, purchased a famous racing stallion named Argyle, that had won many notable races in a number of states on the Atlantic coast. Mayes brought the horse to his plantation in Flint District, and in the Cherokee Advocate advertised his service. From this horse much good blood was introduced in the Nation (Cherokee Advocate, March 6, 1845, p3, col. 6).

10 The appearance of these cabins in 1841 was described by Major Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1817: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Indicates a West Point graduate, Class of 1817: a link to his biographical entry in Cullum's Register.

Hitchcock: A Traveler in Indian Territory, 36. On January 8, 1845, a measure was enacted by the Cherokee council requiring all houses and other improvements "on the public square in the town of Tahlequah to be removed before the first of the next September" (Cherokee Advocate, January 23, 1845; Cherokee Laws, Edition of 1852 (Tahlequah) p117).

11 The Cherokee council in October, 1844, appropriated $2775.00 to pay the contractor, James A. Price, for constructing the building (Cherokee Advocate, October 26, 1844, p3, col. 1).

12 Mrs. Taylor's hotel was constructed by some Mormon artisans; they were part of a contingent who had broken off from the main body of Mormons on their way west, and started to Texas. When they arrived at Tahlequah they found there was work to be had in the busy little hamlet and tarried awhile; they were also engaged in proselytizing for their church until through the influence of the missionaries the people compelled them to move on.

Thayer's Note:

a On p355, Foreman lists eight districts with entirely different names; whether these are the same districts or whether a different division is meant, he doesn't say.

Title	No. of pages	Size	No. of copies
Child's Book	8	18mo.	200
Cherokee Primer (two editions)	24	24to.	4,500
Catechism (two editions)	8	24to.	3,000
Select Passages of Scripture	24	24to.	5,000
Cherokee Hymns	48	24to.	5,000
Cherokee Hymns	68	24to.	5,000
p366 Cherokee Almanac for 1836	24	12mo.	450
Cherokee Almanac for 1838	24	12mo.	500
Cherokee Almanac for 1839	36	12mo.	2,000
Cherokee Almanac for 1840	36	12mo.	1,800
Cherokee Almanac for 1842	36	12mo.	1,000
Cherokee Almanac for 1843	36	12mo.	1,000
Tract on Marriage	12	12mo.	1,500
Tract on Temperance	12	12mo.	1,500
Gospel of John (two editions)	100	24to.	6,500
Gospel of Matthew	120	24to.	3,000
Epistles of John (two editions)	20	24to.	8,000
Cherokee Laws	54	12mo.	1,000
Methodist Discipline	45	24to.	1,000
Address on Intoxicating Drink	8	24to.	5,000
Message of Principal Chief (in Cherokee and English)	12	24to.	1,000
Special Message of Principal Chief (in the Creek Language)	8	24to.	1,000
Child's Guide	24	16mo.
Muscogee Teacher	54	18mo.

Choctaw Friend	190	12 mo.	3,000
Choctaw Reader	126	12mo.	2,000
Choctaw Constitution and Laws	..	12mo.
Methodist Discipline	48	24to.
Epistles of John	27	24to.	1,000
Child's Book on the Soul	16	24to.	400
Child's Book on the Creation	14	24to.	400
Bible Stories	23	24to.	350
Choctaw Almanac for 1836	16	24to.
Choctaw Almanac for 1837	24	24to.
Choctaw Almanac for 1839	24	24to.
Choctaw Almanac for 1843	44	24to.

[ Cherokee ]

p362 Chapter twenty-seven
Cherokee People at Home

In the Cherokee Language

In Choctaw

The Author's Notes:

Thayer's Note:

[ Cherokee ]

p362 Chapter twenty-seven Cherokee People at Home

In the Cherokee Language

In Choctaw

The Author's Notes:

Thayer's Note:

p362 Chapter twenty-seven
Cherokee People at Home