the nature of representation: the cherokee right ... - Boston University

114 PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 15
Cherokee people, assembled in general council, according to their ancient usages
and customs, as chiefs, head men, and warriors.” 124
b. Accusations against Cherokee Leaders
The stated democratic idea was coupled with accusations of corruption and greed
aimed against Ross and other leaders. Schermerhorn was particularly aggressive in
attacking Ross, whom he believed to actually be the “Devil in Hell.” 125
Schermerhorn wrote that complaints against the New Echota Treaty leveled in
memorials to Congress came from:
the same men who in May, 1817, got themselves appointed a committee of
the nation, and in reality, under pretense of saving their lands, gradually
deprived the proper chiefs and council of the people of all their power and
authority, and had themselves invested with it; so that no treaty could be
made without their consent; and who in the treaties of 1817 and 1819,
obtained for themselves reservations of 640 acres each, and agreed to become
citizens of the United States, and reside permanently on their reservations; but
who, in violation of their solemn engagements, on the first opportunity sold
their lands at high prices, removed back again into the Indian country, and
took possession of the best ferries and stands for public business. 126
The same accusations of corruption can be found in Schermerhorn’s letter to the
Cherokee people. 127 Written just prior to the New Echota Treaty negotiations, it
warned against taking advice from their chiefs, “because they want to sell your land
for themselves, as many of them did in 1819, when they secured reservations for
themselves, which has made them rich, while you are poor.” 128
Accusations of greedy misuse of tribal resources attempted to discredit and
124
Notice from J.F. Schermerhorn and Gov. William Carroll, U.S. Commissioners, To
the Chiefs, Head Men, and People of the Cherokee Nation of Indians (Nov. 3, 1835), in
TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 19. Nearly identical
language and logic is found in Schermerhorn’s letter to Secretary of War Cass on March
3, 1836: “According to the governmentestablished under the Cherokee constitution,
the general council is not composed, in conformity with the ancient usages and custom
of the nation, of the chiefs and people assembled in their collective capacity.” Letter from
J.F. Schermerhorn, U.S. Commissioner, to Lewis Cass, Sec. of War (Mar. 3, 1836), in
TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 54-61 at 58.
125
MOULTON, supra note 23, at 67.
126
Letter from John F. Schermerhorn, to Lewis Cass (Mar. 3, 1836), in TREATY WITH
THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 54-61, at 59. John Ross responded to
critiques that he enriched himself through prior treaties in Letter from John Ross. . . In
Answer to Inquiriesfroma Friend. . . (Oct. 1, 1836), in 1THE PAPERS OF CHIEF JOHN ROSS,
supra note 14, at 389.
127
Notice from J.F. Schermerhorn and Gov. William Carroll, U.S. Commissioners, To
the Chiefs, Head Men, and People of the Cherokee Nation of Indians (Nov. 3, 1835), in
TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS, 24th Cong., 1st Sess., 19.
128
Id.