Elias Boudinot (Cherokee)
|
|
Elias Boudinot (1800 - 1839) was a Cherokee Indian who started and edited the tribe's first newspaper. He was born in Georgia as Gallegina Watie, edited the Cherokee Phoenix, and died in Oklahoma.
Elias was part of prominent Cherokee family, the brother of "Stand Watie" and also related "Major Ridge" and John Ridge. Elias believed that through assimilation the Cherokee people could be saved. Elias' "Cherokee Phoenix" published partially in Sequoyahs syllabary, but mostly in English, was meant to showcase Cherokee "civilization".
The United States, particularly the state of Georgia, despite professed aims of "civilizing" the Cherokee by moving them westwards, were only interested in the land the Cherokee occupied. Whites began to encroach on Cherokee land through violence and quasi-legal actions such as the Georgia Land lottery. Cherokee had no legal recourse as their testimony was inadmissible in court.
Elias and his relatives began to believe that their only hope for survival was to move westwards. He was fired from his position at the Phoenix for advocating this position. Eventually Elias and a small group of prominent Cherokee they signed the Treaty of New Echota, despite the fact that the tribe was almost entirely united behind the leadership of John Ross, who opposed any such treaty. The treaty was nonetheless ratified by congress, and the Cherokee were removed in the horrendous conditions known as the "Trail of Tears". The treaty faction had avoided these conditions by leaving early and acquiring extra funds for their journey.
Elias Boudinot, Major Ridge and John Ridge were assassinated in 1839 for their role in the treaty.
Sources
- Carter, Samuel. Cherokee Sunset. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1976.
- Wilkins, Thurman. Cherokee Tragedy: The Ridge family and the Decimation of a People. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma Press, 1986.
- Pudue, Theda. Rising From the Ashes: The Cherokee Phoenix as an Ethnohistorical Source. Ethnohistory Vol. 24 No. 3, 1971.
External link
- Boudinot's biography at North Georgia web site (http://ngeorgia.com/people/boudinot.html).