The Effect of the Trail of Tears on Cherokee Dialect

this is a research paper I had to do for English in order to graduate...basically. At my school, we have Senior Project. You find a mentor, write a research paper, create a product, and put together a speech and portfolio. This is my paper.

The Trail of Tears was a march forced upon many Native American peoples residing in the southeastern portion of the United States by the U.S. government. The Trail had many stops on the journey due to weather, sickness, and lack of supplies, but ultimately stopped permanently in Oklahoma. The essential portion of the Trail occurred in 1834. The Trail of Tears was responsible for the destruction, separation, and death of the culture of many Native peoples, including the Cherokee. The Cherokee Language experienced creation, destruction, alteration and blurring of multiple dialects.

For years prior to any action toward removal, many whites, particularly Georgians, wanted the so-called “Indians” gone. For Georgia, this was to be accomplished through the Compact of 1802 with the U.S. government. The stipulations of the contract consisted of $1,250,000.00 paid to the state, the U.S. took all responsibility for the Yazoo Land Act, and the exact wording of the document: “The United States shall at their own expense extinguish for the use of Georgia, as early as the same can be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms, the Indian title to...all…lands within the State of Georgia. (qtd in Vipperman 104)” This was agreed to without the consent or even acknowledgement by the Cherokee, whose capital lay in the heart of Georgia, the town of New Echota (Vipperman 103, 104).

Between 1802 and 1834, Georgia fought against any federal aid for the use of Native peoples, especially the Cherokee, claiming it was in direct violation of the Compact, and President Monroe found himself inclined to agree with the Georgia cause. However, the Creek tribe also held land in Georgia. As they fought on the wrong side of the war of 1812, most Creek lands were ceded either to the federal government or to the state herself through treaties, such as that of Fort Jackson. The Cherokee, on the other hand, had sided with General Andrew Jackson, and given troops and supplies. They welcomed the whites as brethren, and went so far as to save Jackson’s life in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Vipperman 104,105). Many Cherokees received medals such as Purple Hearts for the bravery and services. The Cherokee were considered to be the best and most fierce warriors of any Native tribe.

These combined efforts made for a strong case against removal, and those few Cherokee who were for it left voluntarily, and by 1821, most of them were from the Upper Towns in Tennessee, and had left the ancestral lands for those offered by Thomas Jefferson alongside the Arkansas and White rivers (Vipperman 104). Sequoyah was one such Cherokee, and Arkansas was where he completed his labor of Syllabary, which he called “Talking Leaves.” With the adoption of the Syllabary, republican government, eight jurisdictions and a supreme court, the case against removal was considerably stronger, and brought the Cherokee Nation together (Vipperman 106, Monteith 58-59, Boudinot).

President Monroe sympathized with both sides and, though it pained him to go against his own country, ultimately thought the Compact of 1802 was a promise simply to ask the Cherokee to move. He, along with Jefferson, thought it would be beneficial to all if the Cherokee would peacefully move west, where they should not be bothered by intruders and could live more fully in the traditional way. John C. Calhoun’s response was that the terms of the Compact should be fulfilled, and Monroe’s response was in agreement with Calhoun, but he admitted it was the Cherokee’s right to refuse, and there was nothing the Executive branch could do (Vipperman 106).

A missionary, Reverend Samuel Worcester, lived and learned as much as he taught the Cherokee people, and fought for them in the Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Marshall presiding. Marshall ruled in favor of the Cherokee, claiming it to be a Sovereign Nation outside the jurisdiction of the United States and all within her, including Georgia (Vipperman 108). Andrew Jackson is to have been quoted saying “…Then let him (Marshall) enforce it!”, which is one of the only known times in American History where a president has decided to ignore the explicit demands of the Supreme Court, and he should have been impeached.. Worcester and Elias Boudinot were also largely responsible for the first Native American newspaper, which was bilingual in Syllabary and English (Monteith 57-58).

Preceding Jackson and Monroe, the great Thomas Jefferson was present at a Cherokee campfire, where he bore witness to a speech given to the people by their chief, Ostenaco. As part of the Cherokee culture, after the evening meal it was customary for all to gather round the fire beneath furs in the winter time. Story-telling, announcements, comments, questions, and all other manner of address was made during this time for all to hear. Jefferson said of Ostenaco: “His sounding voice, distinct articulation, animated action, and the solemn silence of his people at their several fires, filled me with awe and veneration, although I did not understand a word he uttered.” (Strickland 375)

Speckled Snake, Woman Killer, Yonaguska, Junaluska, Ostenaco, Elias Boudinot, John “The” Ridge and many others took to nationwide rhetoric, preaching unity. It was greatly feared that a major split would weaken their cause. Elias Boudinot was an appointed agent by his people to raise funds for a seminary and bilingual printing press, English and Syllabary (Strickland). Elias gave speeches in Charleston, Boston, and Philadelphia. “An Address to the Whites” was given in the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. He pleaded with those present to keep his people from extinction, set aside all prejudices, and begin to accept the Cherokee as their brethren under God Almighty, the universal Parent to us all. He argued that the Cherokee were well on their way to civilization, having only ever worshipped a Supreme Being, known as the Creator (Boudinot), who had blessed the Cherokee with intelligence enough to have always had a democratic government, once described as a New England town meeting, and a gift for rhetoric (Strickland).

Throughout the history of the Cherokee Nation, long before any white set foot on Turtle Island, Cherokee for North America, democracy was the government. Tribal council, war chief, peace chief, and a voice for all were the key components. The child learned early on that every person has the right to be heard, and even he could speak in council. That has always been the way of the Cherokee: to give all equal voice (Strickland 376). From a certain historian, the Cherokee government was “a pure democracy. The Cherokees never knew the dominion of a king, an oligarchy, or an aristocracy…Discussion was free to each and all…Propositions were freely discussed and decisions reached by majority vote. (qtd in Strickland 376, actual historian unknown)”

Because of the tradition that all may speak freely, those who chose to speak had to do so briefly. The Cherokee style was concise, clean, and to the point. Each word had a distinct reason for being included (Strickland 377). The Ridge and Woman Killer were immensely popular among their people, because their style brought back memories of the chiefs of old. Woman Killer was eighty when she began speaking for the Cherokee cause, and her age only gained her popularity due to the respect Elders are always given (Strickland 378, 379).

In council, of course, all had the right to speak, including women. The Cherokee are matriarchal and matrilineal, and the Gi-gwa, or Beloved Woman, represented the entire tribe for government related issues. She was powerful, and the voice of her people. It was often the Gi-gwa who decided when to go to war, and she was rumored to sometimes be blessed by the Creator, if one is to believe the lore. The battles and theoretical fights the whites have had to undergo were never experienced by the Cherokee Nation, except within America’s voting. Women always had voice, there was always democracy, and none were believed better than another.

There are three distinct dialects agreed upon, and two others that were never completely founded. Each dialect has three names, depending on the system. Elati, Kituwah, and Otali are the native terms for these three, but most know them as Eastern, Middle, and Western. The third system is Lower, Middle, and Overhill (Mooney1 17, King 10).

The Eastern dialect is extinct, and was spoken by one man in 1888, and he was living on the Qualla Boundary in North Carolina (Mooney1 17). The Eastern dialect was the harshest of the three. It had very hard consonants and a rolling “r” sound. Those who spoke the Eastern dialect lived along the “Keowee and Tugaloo, head-streams of the Savannah river, in South Carolina and the adjacent portion of Georgia”, and were scattered throughout the Cherokee Nation after the Revolution, because those lands were taken by the United States (Mooney1 16, 17). The term Cherokee originates from the tribal term “tsa-ra-gi” which English settlers of North Carolina corrupted into Cherokee (Mooney1 16).

The Middle dialect, or Kituwah, is a blend of Eastern and Western. Kituwah is still widely spoken on the Qualla Boundary and was generally spoken in Western North Carolina, and along the Tennessee border. Along the “Tuckasegee and the headwaters of the Little Tennessee (Mooney1 17)”, the towns spoke Kituwah, as well as the Oconaluftee and Nantahala rivers (King 10). Those who remain on the Qualla Boundary are the descendants of those brave Cherokee who hid in the mountains or returned from the Trail of Tears, such as those descendants of Comeback Wolfe. He was born on the return trip, and his family named him Comeback as an omen of good fortune. This family is still living in the Big Cove community.

The Western Dialect, Overhill, Otali, was spoken in East Tennessee and Upper Georgia, and along the North Carolina rivers of Hiawassee and Cheowa. It is the softest and most musical of the dialects with a liquid “l” and softer consonants. Western is the basis of Syllabary, and is mainly spoken in Oklahoma (Mooney1 17).

The two unfounded dialects were located in Snowbird, North Carolina (King 10) and deep within the Nantahala Gorge (Mooney1 17). The Snowbird dialect is more heavily blended between Middle and Western (King 10). It has more of a Western structure with Middle translations. The Nantahala dialect is reminiscent of the Eastern dialect, without the “r” but with the harsh consonants.

The Syllabary was a wonderful gift to the Cherokee Nation by one of its own members. Sequoyah, a.k.a. George Gist or Guest (it varies), spent around twelve years constructing a written system of communication of Cherokee language, and is the only person in the world to have done so while being completely illiterate in any language, though he could solely speak and comprehend Western Cherokee. It was met with great distrust at first, but he proved the functionality at Tribal Council with his daughter Ayoka in 1821 (Smith). He called his work “Talking Leaves,” and after a couple of years, the Syllabary bonded the Nation together, and strengthened the tribal resolve to remain on the ancestral lands.

Because of Sequoyah’s gift to his people, the Cherokee gained a sense of cultural identity beyond the rhetorical skills. They now had a printing press in which they could publish for all of America to see. Thanks to Reverend Samuel Worcester, Elias Boudinot, and Sequoyah, the Cherokee Nation was establishing their roots even deeper, and was gaining more support from sympathizers of all races (synthesized from the letters and stories of Webster, Bushyhead, and Burnett).

Analysis of the Federal Census of 1835, which looked at the relationships between blood degree in the family, slave ownership, skills and literacy, showed that

“Families with no full bloods correlate positively with slave-owning and English reading and have a strong negative correlation regarding Cherokee reading and acquired skills. The mixed bloods were somewhat in between; they had positive correlations to slave ownership, acquired skills, and the ability to read Cherokee and English, yet a negative correlation to Cherokee reading. The full blood families had a strong negative correction with slave owning and English reading and had a strong positive correlation with Cherokee reading. (Monteith 65)”

Basically, the families that did not have a single member of full blood degree were more likely to own slaves and read English, and less likely to read and write Cherokee. The families that had some but not 100% full blood families were likely to own slaves and understand English and Cherokee, though less likely to read Cherokee. The completely full blooded families were less likely to own slaves and read English, and more likely to read Cherokee. This information is strong evidence that the cultural norms of the antebellum South strongly affected those Cherokee who had interracial origins.

The educational and cultural benefits of the Syllabary are both simple in concept and complex in design. Margaret Bender, author of Signs of Cherokee Culture Sequoyah’s Syllabary in Eastern Cherokee Life, theorizes that there is a hierarchy of the language, in easy phonetics and Syllabary and all the steps in between. She thinks that Syllabary is an iconic code of cultural identity, and it is only to be used for serious activities and publications.

Bender also goes into the tribally funded and teacher initiated project to teach and preserve the language, so as to increase the number of high school graduates who speak fluent Cherokee. Her findings, beginning on page 157, detail the communal agreements among the Eastern Cherokees. On page 164, she delves into the different treatments of Syllabary in tourism and hierarchical speaking standards. The speakers of Kituwah can be divided into categories of speakers, such as medicine men, teachers, and elders.

With the reputation of being fierce and passionate warriors, the Cherokee have been involved in many wars fighting for the United States, including World War II. The letters sent between fighters and families of Cherokee were often written in Syllabary, and were even adopted by the military as a form of code. No one who did not already know Syllabary or even Cherokee could decipher the messages. These speakers were called Code-Talkers, and would use their native language to benefit the United States military. Because Cherokee is in the Iroquoian family of languages, which is also native to North America, only someone familiar with Native American tongues could even hope to decipher it.

Syllabary would have come about with or without the Trail of Tears, though the possible dialects of Snowbird and Nantahala would probably have never existed. Snowbird is located between stops along the Trail and the Qualla Boundary, so the blending of the two would not have occurred were it not for the Trail. As for Nantahala, it remains shrouded in mystery. Though not a direct link to the Trail, had it not been for the Revolutionary War, the Eastern dialect may well be thriving today.

Many influential people were involved in the fight of removal, and in the end, one might could say, the Cherokee lost. They were not the only tribe to be removed, but they are the most famous for their strong fight and peaceable assimilation. Presidents Jefferson, Monroe, and Jackson, Chief Justice John Marshall, Chiefs Speckled Snake, Yonaguska, Ostenaco, and many other native people were involved. John Ridge, Woman Killer, Elias Boudinot, and John Ross each fought hard and fast with rhetoric, press, and emotion. Many lives were ruined and lost, and many were heartbroken, but the cultural identity of the Cherokee people is still strong and thriving.

Author's Note

Please correct any mistakes of any kind you may find in your review

Reviews

[Dolores]

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Thanks for sharing this paper.

[Starting Over]

Wow that is such a great paper! I hope you did really well on your Senior Project! I loved it Kat!!!!

[Emily B]

This is good work. Important work. I feel like I've learned something worthwhile today.