On July 4, 1827, representatives of the Cherokee people, meeting in northern Georgia, adopted a constitution. The idea, explicitly stated, was to promote the common good of the people.
In the early 1800s, something like 15,000 Cherokee people were surrounded by a million people of European descent. About the only thing the new immigrants had in common was a desire for land.
The Cherokee constitution permitted the sale of Cherokee land only to Cherokee people.
By 1826, Andrew Jackson and his supporters had made it clear that they wanted the Cherokee land for people of European descent. They wanted all Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi. Jackson had traveled Georgia, pressuring Cherokee people to give up their lands. The constitution of 1827 was, in part, a response.
The constitution set up a republic much like that of the United States. The Cherokee wanted to be independent. They wanted their rights to be respected. They united and organized becaue they feared being run over.
Their fears were realized in 1829 when Jackson was elected president of the United States. When he left the White House eight years later, the Cherokee people had largely been driven out of Georgia.
Independence and republics are things that can be lost.
• Source: Kathleen DuVal, Native Nations; New York: Random House, 2024.
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