the nature of representation: the cherokee right ... - Boston University
the nature of representation: the cherokee right ... - Boston University
the nature of representation: the cherokee right ... - Boston University
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2005] THE NATURE OF REPRESENTATION 101<br />
united, for a select group <strong>of</strong> Cherokees had come to believe that Ross was leading<br />
<strong>the</strong> people astray. John Ross was aware <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> division, and in his 1833 Annual<br />
Message to <strong>the</strong> Cherokees he urged adherence to majority rule. 50 However, <strong>the</strong><br />
Treaty party would eventually cease following Ross’s call to respect “<strong>the</strong> duty <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> minority to yield.” 51<br />
Between 1830 and 1835, <strong>the</strong> leaders <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cherokee minority that signed <strong>the</strong><br />
Treaty <strong>of</strong> New Echota—<strong>the</strong> Treaty Party or <strong>the</strong> Ridge group—reversed <strong>the</strong>ir stance<br />
on removal and on Andrew Jackson. Two <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prominent treaty-signers, Elias<br />
Boudinot and Major Ridge, provide good examples <strong>of</strong> this reversal on an<br />
individual level.<br />
The first editor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Cherokee Phoenix, Boudinot went from being <strong>the</strong><br />
publisher <strong>of</strong> Ross’s perspective to accusing Ross <strong>of</strong> dragging “an ignorant<br />
train . . . to <strong>the</strong> last brink <strong>of</strong> destruction.” 52 Boudinot explained his position in a<br />
pamphlet responding to Ross’s writing:<br />
If one hundred persons are ignorant <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir true situation, and are so<br />
completely blinded as not to see <strong>the</strong> destruction that awaits <strong>the</strong>m, we can see<br />
strong reasons to justify <strong>the</strong> action <strong>of</strong> a minority <strong>of</strong> fifty persons—to do what<br />
<strong>the</strong> majority would do if <strong>the</strong>y understood <strong>the</strong>ir condition—to save a nation<br />
from political thralldom and moral degradation. 53<br />
Boudinot’s justification for <strong>the</strong> actions <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> minority betrayed both his perception<br />
that his condition was above that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> majority and his idea that <strong>the</strong> majority<br />
required being saved. Boudinot’s biographer, Ralph Henry Gabriel, summarized,<br />
“[l]oyalty drove [Boudinot] to what his people called disloyalty.” 54<br />
Major Ridge’s reversal was equally dramatic. He signed on with Ross in<br />
opposition to ceding even a square foot <strong>of</strong> land, and as late as 1832 referred to <strong>the</strong><br />
President as “Chicken Snake General Jackson.” 55 Yet, Ridge later “came to regard<br />
<strong>the</strong> president as <strong>the</strong> staunchest friend <strong>the</strong> Cherokees had. Indeed, he named his new<br />
son Andrew Jackson Ridge.” 56 Major Ridge spoke at New Echota, giving perhaps<br />
<strong>the</strong> best argument <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Treaty party in favor <strong>of</strong> negotiated removal:<br />
[T]hey are strong and we are weak. We are few, <strong>the</strong>y are many . . . an<br />
OF CHIEF JOHN ROSS, supra note 14, at 300.<br />
50<br />
John Ross, Annual Message (Oct. 15, 1833), in 1THE PAPERS OF CHIEF JOHN ROSS,<br />
supra note 14, at 271.<br />
51<br />
Id.<br />
52<br />
Elias Boudinot, Letters and O<strong>the</strong>r Papers Relating to Cherokee Affairs: Being a<br />
Reply to Sundry Publications Authorized by John Ross in CHEROKEE EDITOR: THE<br />
WRITINGS OF ELIAS BOUDINOT 199 (ThedaPerdue ed., 1983).<br />
53<br />
Id. at 162.<br />
54<br />
GABRIEL, supra note 13, at 154.<br />
55<br />
Letter from John Ridge to Stand Watie (April 6, 1832), in EDWARD EVERETT DALE<br />
&GASTON LITTON, CHEROKEE CAVALIERS: FORTY YEARS OF CHEROKEE HISTORY AS TOLD IN<br />
THE CORRESPONDENCE OF THE RIDGE-WATIE-BOUDINOT FAMILY 8(Univ.<strong>of</strong>Okla.Press<br />
1995) (1939).<br />
56<br />
WILKINS, supra note 38, at 269 (emphasis added).