1 00:00:01,312 --> 00:00:03,271 Viewers like you make this program possible. 2 00:00:03,396 --> 00:00:05,438 Support your local PBS station. 3 00:00:07,438 --> 00:00:10,521 (man speaking Native American language) 4 00:00:28,771 --> 00:00:31,938 It is a story at the heart of America... 5 00:00:34,896 --> 00:00:41,646 one richer and more surprising than we've been told. 6 00:00:43,396 --> 00:00:48,354 (tribal drumming) 7 00:00:50,771 --> 00:00:54,646 American Experience presents a story 8 00:00:54,730 --> 00:00:59,396 that spans 300 years and a vast continent. 9 00:00:59,521 --> 00:01:05,271 WOMAN: The greatest thing a person can have is the power. 10 00:01:06,813 --> 00:01:10,563 Benegotsi. It's scary. 11 00:01:10,646 --> 00:01:12,312 It is a story of hope... 12 00:01:13,771 --> 00:01:15,312 courage... 13 00:01:15,396 --> 00:01:17,938 and survival. 14 00:01:18,062 --> 00:01:21,062 We were about to be obliterated culturally. 15 00:01:21,146 --> 00:01:22,438 Our spiritual way of life, 16 00:01:22,521 --> 00:01:25,438 our entire way of life, was about to be stamped out. 17 00:01:25,563 --> 00:01:27,563 (roaring) 18 00:01:30,438 --> 00:01:33,563 MAN: Every tribe in this country has a time of horror-- 19 00:01:33,688 --> 00:01:38,938 absolute horror-- when they were confronted by this invader. 20 00:01:39,062 --> 00:01:46,187 MAN: What we did to the Southeastern Indians, it's ethnic cleansing. 21 00:01:46,312 --> 00:01:48,563 MAN: It was done to them, 22 00:01:48,646 --> 00:01:50,312 so they did it back. 23 00:01:54,438 --> 00:01:56,187 But better. 24 00:01:56,271 --> 00:01:58,312 MAN: Whatever means and manner we could, 25 00:01:58,396 --> 00:02:00,938 since the Europeans arrived here, 26 00:02:01,062 --> 00:02:02,938 we've had to fight for our survival. 27 00:02:04,813 --> 00:02:07,438 An epic history of America... 28 00:02:07,563 --> 00:02:10,771 (whooping) 29 00:02:12,146 --> 00:02:14,146 seen through Native eyes... 30 00:02:16,021 --> 00:02:17,021 too remarkable... 31 00:02:19,271 --> 00:02:21,146 too inspiring... 32 00:02:22,271 --> 00:02:24,396 to ever forget. 33 00:02:25,604 --> 00:02:30,646 The master of life has appointed this place 34 00:02:30,730 --> 00:02:33,021 for us to light our fires... 35 00:02:35,396 --> 00:02:38,521 And here we shall remain. 36 00:03:13,396 --> 00:03:15,771 Well, gentlemen, 37 00:03:15,896 --> 00:03:17,521 I'm quite concerned. 38 00:03:17,646 --> 00:03:19,896 NARRATOR: He was called Kah-nung-d-cla-geh, 39 00:03:19,980 --> 00:03:22,021 "the one who goes on the mountaintop," 40 00:03:22,146 --> 00:03:24,271 or simply, "The Ridge." 41 00:03:26,896 --> 00:03:29,646 In the long struggle between Indians and Americans, 42 00:03:29,771 --> 00:03:31,396 few Native leaders clung to the hope 43 00:03:31,479 --> 00:03:33,021 of peaceful coexistence longer. 44 00:03:33,104 --> 00:03:36,896 Few others invested more in the professed protections 45 00:03:37,021 --> 00:03:39,271 of the American legal system. 46 00:03:39,354 --> 00:03:40,771 Few set more stock 47 00:03:40,855 --> 00:03:44,146 in the promises of the American government and its Constitution. 48 00:03:44,229 --> 00:03:46,146 We have accounts of education, 49 00:03:46,229 --> 00:03:49,521 religion and the arts. 50 00:03:49,646 --> 00:03:51,771 NARRATOR: By 1830, the Ridge had already struck a series 51 00:03:51,896 --> 00:03:54,396 of hard bargains with the United States. 52 00:03:54,521 --> 00:03:58,396 In return for the safety and security of the Cherokee people, 53 00:03:58,479 --> 00:04:01,896 and the right to remain on the land of their forefathers, 54 00:04:01,980 --> 00:04:03,771 the Ridge had taken pains to shed the life 55 00:04:03,855 --> 00:04:05,896 he had been raised to. 56 00:04:20,396 --> 00:04:24,438 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 57 00:04:39,438 --> 00:04:43,062 NARRATOR: He had been born in 1771, 58 00:04:43,187 --> 00:04:44,688 into a Cherokee Nation that stretched 59 00:04:44,813 --> 00:04:47,062 through the southern Appalachians 60 00:04:47,146 --> 00:04:48,688 and had come of age in the landscape 61 00:04:48,771 --> 00:04:52,438 on which the Cherokee story had been written. 62 00:04:52,521 --> 00:04:54,563 The wings of the Great Buzzard had carved the mountains 63 00:04:54,688 --> 00:04:55,813 and the valleys; 64 00:04:55,938 --> 00:04:58,563 Uktena, the horned serpent, 65 00:04:58,646 --> 00:05:01,688 had made his frightful marks on the tall rocks; 66 00:05:01,813 --> 00:05:04,938 the Creator had set the first man and woman in this very place. 67 00:05:08,521 --> 00:05:12,312 THEDA PERDUE: Christians had been cast out of their own Garden of Eden, 68 00:05:12,438 --> 00:05:15,312 but the Cherokees lived in their Eden. 69 00:05:18,938 --> 00:05:20,688 It's the land 70 00:05:20,813 --> 00:05:24,187 that they believed their ancestors had always inhabited. 71 00:05:30,563 --> 00:05:33,146 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 72 00:05:57,688 --> 00:05:58,938 NARRATOR: In the Ridge's youth, 73 00:05:59,062 --> 00:06:02,563 the Cherokee Nation had been under constant threat. 74 00:06:02,688 --> 00:06:05,938 As a young warrior, it was his duty to keep a wary eye 75 00:06:06,062 --> 00:06:09,062 on any encroachment by their near neighbors-- 76 00:06:09,187 --> 00:06:12,563 the Shawnees, the Creeks, Choctaws and Chickasaws, 77 00:06:12,688 --> 00:06:15,563 and then a new force in the Southeastern mountains: 78 00:06:15,688 --> 00:06:17,187 the Americans. 79 00:06:20,062 --> 00:06:23,312 The Cherokees picked the wrong side in the American Revolution 80 00:06:23,438 --> 00:06:25,187 and paid dearly. 81 00:06:27,813 --> 00:06:31,938 The Ridge watched American riflemen burn out his own town, 82 00:06:32,062 --> 00:06:36,688 one of 50 they destroyed in Cherokee territory. 83 00:06:36,771 --> 00:06:40,938 He lashed out, took his first American scalp at age 17 84 00:06:41,062 --> 00:06:44,396 and fought the United States past the point of hope. 85 00:06:47,771 --> 00:06:49,563 RUSSELL TOWNSEND: For a generation of Cherokees, 86 00:06:49,688 --> 00:06:55,062 that destruction was all they knew. 87 00:06:55,187 --> 00:06:59,021 They had seen their world kind of evaporate around them. 88 00:07:03,813 --> 00:07:07,688 NARRATOR: The Cherokee Nation was still on its knees in 1805. 89 00:07:07,813 --> 00:07:10,312 Its population had dwindled to 12,000, 90 00:07:10,396 --> 00:07:13,312 and it had lost more than half its land. 91 00:07:13,438 --> 00:07:15,688 (horse whinnies) 92 00:07:15,771 --> 00:07:18,062 Even after the Cherokees and other tribes 93 00:07:18,187 --> 00:07:20,688 had signed peace treaties with the United States, 94 00:07:20,813 --> 00:07:24,062 the Ridge knew the safety of his people was not a given thing. 95 00:07:25,813 --> 00:07:28,312 He understood that the central conflict still pertained-- 96 00:07:28,438 --> 00:07:31,688 the United States meant to have what was left 97 00:07:31,771 --> 00:07:33,813 of the Cherokee homeland. 98 00:07:33,938 --> 00:07:35,813 Ridge meant to save it. 99 00:07:35,938 --> 00:07:39,312 But he knew that this battle with the United States required 100 00:07:39,396 --> 00:07:42,813 a nimble and artful new approach. 101 00:07:42,938 --> 00:07:45,688 Preserving the Cherokee Nation meant walking for a time 102 00:07:45,813 --> 00:07:48,563 down the new path America was offering. 103 00:07:48,646 --> 00:07:50,813 Please accept this, Brother Ridge, as a small gift. 104 00:07:50,896 --> 00:07:53,312 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 105 00:08:02,187 --> 00:08:04,688 PERDUE: The United States at the end of the American Revolution 106 00:08:04,813 --> 00:08:08,813 developed a policy called "civilization." 107 00:08:08,896 --> 00:08:10,813 It helped fund missionary organizations 108 00:08:10,938 --> 00:08:14,688 to go into the Indian nations, particularly in the South, 109 00:08:14,771 --> 00:08:20,062 and teach Indians how to be Anglo Americans-- 110 00:08:20,146 --> 00:08:22,187 how to grow wheat instead of corn; 111 00:08:22,312 --> 00:08:24,813 how to eat meals at regular times 112 00:08:24,938 --> 00:08:26,688 instead of when they were hungry; 113 00:08:26,813 --> 00:08:29,563 how to dress in European clothing; 114 00:08:29,688 --> 00:08:32,521 how to speak the English language; 115 00:08:32,603 --> 00:08:36,146 how to pray in church at designated times; 116 00:08:36,228 --> 00:08:38,521 how to live the kind of life 117 00:08:38,646 --> 00:08:43,396 that Anglo Americans believed was a civilized life. 118 00:08:45,896 --> 00:08:49,021 GAYLE ROSS: The promises of the United States government 119 00:08:49,146 --> 00:08:52,896 were that if the Cherokees, the Creeks, the Choctaws, 120 00:08:52,980 --> 00:08:54,146 the Seminoles, 121 00:08:54,271 --> 00:09:01,396 the Chickasaws could somehow assimilate ways of living 122 00:09:01,521 --> 00:09:04,521 that were more like their white neighbors 123 00:09:04,646 --> 00:09:09,396 that they could be the political and social equal 124 00:09:09,521 --> 00:09:11,646 of their white neighbors. 125 00:09:13,855 --> 00:09:18,646 Literally Thomas Jefferson once assured the Indian leaders 126 00:09:18,771 --> 00:09:20,646 in a speech that he believed 127 00:09:20,771 --> 00:09:23,646 they could become the equal of white people. 128 00:09:26,021 --> 00:09:27,896 NARRATOR: "You will unite yourselves with us," 129 00:09:27,980 --> 00:09:29,771 President Jefferson said, 130 00:09:29,855 --> 00:09:32,896 "join our great councils and form one people with us. 131 00:09:33,021 --> 00:09:34,771 "And we shall all be Americans. 132 00:09:34,896 --> 00:09:37,271 "You will mix with us by marriage. 133 00:09:37,396 --> 00:09:39,521 "Your blood will run within our veins 134 00:09:39,646 --> 00:09:43,146 and will spread with us over this great continent." 135 00:09:56,646 --> 00:09:58,146 (speaking Cherokee) 136 00:10:00,771 --> 00:10:04,021 DANIEL ROSS: John, Flintlock. 137 00:10:07,980 --> 00:10:11,396 NARRATOR: John Ross, the future Cherokee chief, 138 00:10:11,521 --> 00:10:14,146 grew up at the crossroads of an emerging world 139 00:10:14,229 --> 00:10:16,646 where white settlers and Indians were just beginning 140 00:10:16,771 --> 00:10:18,646 a strange new dance of accommodation. 141 00:10:18,771 --> 00:10:21,271 (speaking Cherokee) 142 00:10:21,396 --> 00:10:23,146 John's mother Mollie, a member of the Bird clan, 143 00:10:23,229 --> 00:10:26,896 had married a Scotsman, Daniel Ross. 144 00:10:27,021 --> 00:10:29,396 Ross was among the growing number of white men 145 00:10:29,521 --> 00:10:32,146 who took Cherokee wives, and gained access to land and trade 146 00:10:32,271 --> 00:10:33,146 in the bargain. 147 00:10:33,271 --> 00:10:34,229 John? 148 00:10:39,396 --> 00:10:45,021 GAYLE ROSS: There would have been many different classes of Cherokee 149 00:10:45,146 --> 00:10:46,896 making their way in and out of the store, 150 00:10:47,021 --> 00:10:50,771 from full-blood traditional people 151 00:10:50,896 --> 00:10:54,146 to the wealthier mixed-blood families 152 00:10:54,271 --> 00:10:58,021 that were just beginning to establish themselves. 153 00:10:58,146 --> 00:10:59,771 (speaking Cherokee) 154 00:10:59,896 --> 00:11:01,646 NARRATOR: The Rosses spoke English at home; 155 00:11:01,771 --> 00:11:05,646 John had English-speaking tutors. 156 00:11:05,730 --> 00:11:09,146 But John Ross was a Cherokee because of his mother's blood, 157 00:11:09,229 --> 00:11:13,271 an accepted member of the Bird clan. 158 00:11:13,354 --> 00:11:15,771 He grew up surrounded by people 159 00:11:15,855 --> 00:11:18,396 whose lives ran to traditional Cherokee rhythms. 160 00:11:18,521 --> 00:11:22,896 He was proud to have a Cherokee name, "Koo-wees-koo-wee," 161 00:11:23,021 --> 00:11:25,730 or "Mysterious Little White Bird." 162 00:11:30,146 --> 00:11:31,521 John? 163 00:11:34,271 --> 00:11:39,771 GAYLE ROSS: There's a story that's told about the time when he was five. 164 00:11:39,896 --> 00:11:47,146 And his father had bought a new little suit for him to wear 165 00:11:47,229 --> 00:11:48,896 at the time of Green Corn Dance. 166 00:11:49,021 --> 00:11:54,896 And his mother dressed him up in his white man's suit. 167 00:11:54,980 --> 00:12:00,646 And the other children teased him so unmercifully 168 00:12:00,771 --> 00:12:03,021 that supposedly he came back home 169 00:12:03,146 --> 00:12:06,771 and insisted on being allowed to change into the everyday clothes 170 00:12:06,855 --> 00:12:08,896 of the other Cherokee children 171 00:12:08,980 --> 00:12:12,229 before he would go back out and join the festivities. 172 00:12:42,771 --> 00:12:45,271 (sticks clacking together) 173 00:13:06,896 --> 00:13:08,896 NARRATOR: Cherokee land-- all of it-- 174 00:13:09,021 --> 00:13:12,271 was owned in common by the tribe, 175 00:13:12,396 --> 00:13:14,146 but any Cherokee could work and improve 176 00:13:14,271 --> 00:13:18,271 as much land as personal energy and private resources allowed. 177 00:13:18,396 --> 00:13:20,521 And the Ridge and his wife, Susannah, 178 00:13:20,604 --> 00:13:23,521 were energetic and resourceful homesteaders; 179 00:13:23,646 --> 00:13:25,771 exemplars of "civilization." 180 00:13:27,271 --> 00:13:31,271 As the years went by and the Ridge's farming wealth grew, 181 00:13:31,396 --> 00:13:34,146 U.S. agents would occasionally receive optimistic reports 182 00:13:34,271 --> 00:13:36,271 from the Ridge family. 183 00:13:36,354 --> 00:13:39,146 Major Ridge, as he was now called, 184 00:13:39,229 --> 00:13:42,396 knew what they wanted to hear. 185 00:13:42,521 --> 00:13:44,771 "I take pleasure to state that every head of his household 186 00:13:44,896 --> 00:13:47,146 "has his house and farm. 187 00:13:47,229 --> 00:13:48,771 "The poorer class very contentedly perform 188 00:13:48,896 --> 00:13:50,771 "the duties of the kitchen. 189 00:13:50,896 --> 00:13:53,771 "They sew, they weave, they spin, they cook our meals 190 00:13:53,855 --> 00:13:55,855 and act well." 191 00:14:27,396 --> 00:14:29,271 Major Ridge's hope for the future 192 00:14:29,354 --> 00:14:31,771 was a group of educated young men 193 00:14:31,896 --> 00:14:33,771 who could build a strong new Cherokee Nation, 194 00:14:33,855 --> 00:14:35,771 reckon U.S. laws and government 195 00:14:35,896 --> 00:14:39,646 and outsmart federal negotiators who were after their land. 196 00:14:39,771 --> 00:14:42,521 His greatest hope was his own son. 197 00:14:42,646 --> 00:14:46,896 John Ridge was a frail boy, hampered by a disease 198 00:14:47,021 --> 00:14:50,646 that occasionally made it difficult to walk, 199 00:14:50,730 --> 00:14:54,146 but the Major recognized his son's strengths. 200 00:14:54,271 --> 00:14:56,521 When the U.S. War Department offered to pay tuition 201 00:14:56,646 --> 00:14:58,021 for John and his cousin, 202 00:14:58,104 --> 00:15:01,521 Elias Boudinot, at a missionary school in Connecticut, 203 00:15:01,604 --> 00:15:04,271 Major Ridge grabbed the chance. 204 00:15:04,396 --> 00:15:06,646 RIDGE (in Cherokee): 205 00:15:20,271 --> 00:15:22,146 SUSANNAH RIDGE (in Cherokee): 206 00:16:10,646 --> 00:16:12,146 ELIAS BOUDINOT: So, I read your essay. 207 00:16:12,271 --> 00:16:15,896 NARRATOR: John Ridge grew to manhood among white Christian educators, 208 00:16:16,021 --> 00:16:17,646 absorbing the lessons of the Bible 209 00:16:17,771 --> 00:16:20,271 and the U.S. Constitution alike. 210 00:16:20,396 --> 00:16:23,646 Even 900 miles away from Cherokee Territory, 211 00:16:23,771 --> 00:16:25,771 he never betrayed a hint of pain 212 00:16:25,896 --> 00:16:29,771 at his separation from home and family. 213 00:16:29,896 --> 00:16:32,146 JACE WEAVER: Even from his earliest school days, 214 00:16:32,271 --> 00:16:35,896 John Ridge is described by his teachers as being cold, 215 00:16:36,021 --> 00:16:41,896 a little bit aloof, as being haughty. 216 00:16:42,021 --> 00:16:43,646 They compare him to his cousin, Buck, 217 00:16:43,730 --> 00:16:45,646 who became Elias Boudinot, who was much friendlier, 218 00:16:45,771 --> 00:16:48,396 much more congenial, but not as good a student. 219 00:16:48,521 --> 00:16:50,479 John Ridge was brilliant. 220 00:16:53,229 --> 00:16:54,646 NARRATOR: The faculty selected John Ridge, 221 00:16:54,730 --> 00:16:56,771 out of all the Indian students at Cornwall, 222 00:16:56,855 --> 00:17:00,521 to prepare an essay for President James Monroe. 223 00:17:00,646 --> 00:17:03,896 In it, he sang the praises of his Christian benefactors 224 00:17:03,980 --> 00:17:06,186 and his own parents. 225 00:17:06,311 --> 00:17:10,061 "My father and mother are both ignorant of the English language, 226 00:17:10,146 --> 00:17:13,437 "but it is astonishing to see them exert all their power 227 00:17:13,521 --> 00:17:16,311 to have their children educated, like the whites." 228 00:17:20,812 --> 00:17:22,437 For all his scholarly achievements, 229 00:17:22,562 --> 00:17:24,437 John Ridge's fragile health failed 230 00:17:24,562 --> 00:17:26,311 in the New England winters. 231 00:17:26,437 --> 00:17:29,062 He spent much of his time in his room, 232 00:17:29,187 --> 00:17:32,813 attended by the school steward's daughter, Sarah Bird Northrup, 233 00:17:32,896 --> 00:17:34,688 until a doctor alerted her mother 234 00:17:34,813 --> 00:17:38,187 that the two seemed to have fallen in love. 235 00:17:38,312 --> 00:17:41,438 When Sarah confessed, the Northrups sent her away 236 00:17:41,521 --> 00:17:45,563 to live with relatives, the entire affair kept secret. 237 00:17:48,062 --> 00:17:52,813 It took nearly two years, but John won over Sarah's parents. 238 00:17:52,938 --> 00:17:55,688 He regained his health, qualified as a lawyer, 239 00:17:55,813 --> 00:17:57,813 and promised to take care of their daughter. 240 00:17:57,938 --> 00:18:02,062 MINISTER: Do you thus solemnly and sincerely engage and promise? 241 00:18:02,187 --> 00:18:05,563 I will, with the help of God. 242 00:18:05,688 --> 00:18:09,938 MINISTER: And you, Miss Sarah Bird Northrup, 243 00:18:10,062 --> 00:18:11,312 with your right hand, 244 00:18:11,438 --> 00:18:14,688 take Mr. John Ridge by his right hand. 245 00:18:14,813 --> 00:18:16,563 In the presence of God 246 00:18:16,688 --> 00:18:19,312 and these witnesses, (clamoring outside) 247 00:18:19,396 --> 00:18:20,563 do take John Ridge, whom you now hold by the hand, 248 00:18:20,688 --> 00:18:22,187 to be your wedded husband, 249 00:18:22,312 --> 00:18:24,938 to have and to hold from this day forward. 250 00:18:25,062 --> 00:18:28,688 Cherish and keep him in sickness and in health 251 00:18:28,813 --> 00:18:32,062 and forsaking all others, keep only unto him, 252 00:18:32,187 --> 00:18:35,438 conducting yourself toward him in all respects... 253 00:18:35,521 --> 00:18:38,771 (minister's voice becomes distant, crowd clamoring louder) 254 00:18:43,646 --> 00:18:45,896 This marriage is a sin in God's eyes! 255 00:18:48,688 --> 00:18:50,771 (din of protestors grows louder) 256 00:19:02,896 --> 00:19:03,896 Go! 257 00:19:15,312 --> 00:19:18,813 WEAVER: The reaction of New England whites-- 258 00:19:18,938 --> 00:19:21,187 enlightened, progressive New England whites-- 259 00:19:21,312 --> 00:19:24,813 makes a mark on him. 260 00:19:24,938 --> 00:19:28,563 He had been told, "Get an education, 261 00:19:28,688 --> 00:19:33,438 take up Western ways, you can be part of us." 262 00:19:33,563 --> 00:19:38,938 He will never believe whites in exactly the same way again. 263 00:19:45,813 --> 00:19:48,438 JOHN RIDGE (dramatized): An Indian is almost considered accursed. 264 00:19:48,563 --> 00:19:52,563 The scum of the earth are considered sacred in comparison. 265 00:19:52,688 --> 00:19:54,688 If an Indian is educated... 266 00:19:54,771 --> 00:19:56,813 yet he is an Indian, 267 00:19:56,896 --> 00:19:59,938 and the most stupid and illiterate white man 268 00:20:00,062 --> 00:20:05,062 will disdain and triumph over this worthy individual. 269 00:20:18,438 --> 00:20:20,813 NARRATOR: While John Ridge was away in Connecticut, 270 00:20:20,896 --> 00:20:25,062 John Ross was a young man on the rise. 271 00:20:25,187 --> 00:20:28,312 A trader like his father, Ross cashed in selling food 272 00:20:28,438 --> 00:20:31,062 and provisions to the well-funded Christian missions 273 00:20:31,187 --> 00:20:33,563 sprouting around the Cherokee Nation. 274 00:20:33,688 --> 00:20:35,688 He married a Cherokee woman 275 00:20:35,813 --> 00:20:39,312 and made a home on 420 prime planting acres. 276 00:20:40,312 --> 00:20:42,062 But Ross was drawn more and more 277 00:20:42,146 --> 00:20:44,146 into the troubled state of Cherokee diplomacy. 278 00:20:46,771 --> 00:20:49,563 The Cherokee Nation's long alliance with the United States 279 00:20:49,688 --> 00:20:51,438 was fraying. 280 00:20:51,563 --> 00:20:53,563 Washington was dragging its feet on payments 281 00:20:53,688 --> 00:20:55,938 owed under the terms of earlier treaties 282 00:20:56,062 --> 00:20:59,688 and strong-arming the Cherokees to sell off more territory. 283 00:21:01,563 --> 00:21:03,062 The Cherokee Nation had formed 284 00:21:03,187 --> 00:21:05,563 a powerful new central government to push back, 285 00:21:05,688 --> 00:21:09,062 determined never again to cede one more foot of land. 286 00:21:09,187 --> 00:21:11,438 And they needed able English- speaking men-- 287 00:21:11,563 --> 00:21:13,438 like John Ross-- 288 00:21:13,563 --> 00:21:15,688 to articulate the Cherokee position 289 00:21:15,813 --> 00:21:18,688 to the United States government. 290 00:21:18,771 --> 00:21:22,312 WEAVER: John Ross was not from a prominent Cherokee family 291 00:21:22,396 --> 00:21:24,312 the way John Ridge was. 292 00:21:24,396 --> 00:21:29,187 But Ridge takes John Ross kind of under his wing as a protégé. 293 00:21:29,271 --> 00:21:31,312 Here in John Ross he's got someone 294 00:21:31,438 --> 00:21:34,438 who's only an eighth Cherokee, 295 00:21:34,563 --> 00:21:37,688 is very familiar with white society because of his father, 296 00:21:37,771 --> 00:21:41,062 equally adept at negotiating both of those worlds. 297 00:21:41,187 --> 00:21:42,563 ...much like yours. 298 00:21:44,187 --> 00:21:46,312 NARRATOR: With strong leaders like Ross and the Ridges, 299 00:21:46,396 --> 00:21:48,563 the Cherokees could hold the United States government 300 00:21:48,688 --> 00:21:50,563 to its word for a while, 301 00:21:50,646 --> 00:21:54,438 but the situation on the ground was changing nonetheless. 302 00:21:56,813 --> 00:21:59,438 As dreams of cotton wealth drove prospective planters 303 00:21:59,521 --> 00:22:01,688 deep into the interior South, 304 00:22:01,813 --> 00:22:05,813 other tribes were giving up huge swaths of neighboring lands. 305 00:22:05,896 --> 00:22:08,438 The 14,000 Cherokees found themselves surrounded 306 00:22:08,563 --> 00:22:10,938 on every side by American settlers; 307 00:22:11,062 --> 00:22:15,813 scores of whites began to scrabble onto Cherokee farmland. 308 00:22:15,938 --> 00:22:18,438 A small group of Cherokees had already taken America up 309 00:22:18,563 --> 00:22:21,312 on its offer of new land west of the Mississippi, 310 00:22:21,438 --> 00:22:23,312 in Arkansas Territory. 311 00:22:23,438 --> 00:22:25,688 But the Cherokee National Council, to a man, 312 00:22:25,813 --> 00:22:29,062 was still confident it had the strength to stand its ground. 313 00:22:32,521 --> 00:22:35,062 Major Ridge, for one, had much to defend: 314 00:22:35,187 --> 00:22:38,688 nearly 10 million acres owned in common by the tribe, 315 00:22:38,813 --> 00:22:40,813 and his own plantation. 316 00:22:40,938 --> 00:22:43,813 According to the U.S. Superintendent of Indian Affairs, 317 00:22:43,896 --> 00:22:47,938 Ridge's farm "was in a higher state of cultivation 318 00:22:48,021 --> 00:22:49,938 "and his buildings better than those of any other person 319 00:22:50,062 --> 00:22:53,062 in that region, the whites not excepted." 320 00:22:56,438 --> 00:23:00,688 In 20 years, Ridge had cleared nearly 300 acres for cash crops: 321 00:23:00,813 --> 00:23:02,938 cotton, tobacco, wheat and indigo. 322 00:23:03,021 --> 00:23:06,438 He oversaw his own orchard, dairy and vineyard 323 00:23:06,521 --> 00:23:08,938 and as many as 30 slaves. 324 00:23:09,062 --> 00:23:11,688 (speaking Cherokee) 325 00:23:16,271 --> 00:23:21,688 JOHN ROSS: John Ross owned slaves 326 00:23:21,813 --> 00:23:25,438 and John Ridge, when he got married, 327 00:23:25,521 --> 00:23:29,813 Major Ridge gave him like 20 slaves. 328 00:23:29,938 --> 00:23:32,438 And so he was a slave owner also. 329 00:23:34,312 --> 00:23:37,813 WEAVER: About eight percent of Cherokees owned slaves. 330 00:23:37,896 --> 00:23:41,438 They were mainly the mixed-blood elite. 331 00:23:41,563 --> 00:23:43,062 But more and more, 332 00:23:43,146 --> 00:23:46,813 that mixed-blood elite is adopting the lifestyle 333 00:23:46,896 --> 00:23:48,813 of the Southern planter culture. 334 00:23:48,938 --> 00:23:50,062 ...tobacco in the past 335 00:23:50,187 --> 00:23:51,813 that we're thinking of adding to that, 336 00:23:51,938 --> 00:23:54,062 or perhaps even some cattle. 337 00:23:54,187 --> 00:23:55,062 (speaking Cherokee) 338 00:23:55,187 --> 00:23:58,646 (speaking Cherokee) 339 00:24:06,312 --> 00:24:08,438 My father says the rains were heavy here 340 00:24:08,521 --> 00:24:09,813 and the cotton was planted late, 341 00:24:09,938 --> 00:24:13,312 but cotton prices are rising again. 342 00:24:13,396 --> 00:24:16,312 (speaking Cherokee) 343 00:24:18,062 --> 00:24:19,396 (laughter) 344 00:24:20,563 --> 00:24:23,062 My father apologizes to you, ma'am. 345 00:24:23,187 --> 00:24:26,438 He says the cost of your fine dresses is going up. 346 00:24:26,563 --> 00:24:28,187 (laughter) 347 00:24:40,271 --> 00:24:43,312 NARRATOR: Not all Cherokees welcomed these new opportunities. 348 00:24:46,521 --> 00:24:49,813 "Civilization" was beginning to draw hard class distinctions 349 00:24:49,896 --> 00:24:54,813 that had never existed in traditional Cherokee society. 350 00:24:54,896 --> 00:24:57,312 The lives of most full-blood Cherokees were still marked 351 00:24:57,438 --> 00:24:58,938 by loss. 352 00:24:59,062 --> 00:25:01,062 What little remained of their old hunting grounds 353 00:25:01,146 --> 00:25:02,563 was played out. 354 00:25:02,688 --> 00:25:06,187 They depended almost entirely on subsistence farming. 355 00:25:06,312 --> 00:25:08,688 And they worried that their leaders were in thrall 356 00:25:08,813 --> 00:25:10,688 to the ways of the whites. 357 00:25:12,062 --> 00:25:15,813 But there were still elemental ties that bound all Cherokees, 358 00:25:15,938 --> 00:25:18,062 and change that benefited all, 359 00:25:18,187 --> 00:25:23,312 including a signal advance by a Cherokee named Sequoyah. 360 00:25:23,396 --> 00:25:28,813 GAYLE ROSS: Sequoyah was devoted to enabling the Cherokee people 361 00:25:28,896 --> 00:25:34,813 to have at their command an essential power 362 00:25:34,896 --> 00:25:36,813 that he saw white society have, 363 00:25:36,896 --> 00:25:43,563 that being the ability to write in the Cherokee language. 364 00:25:46,021 --> 00:25:51,062 Ultimately he did something that no one has ever done, 365 00:25:51,146 --> 00:25:54,312 and that was create a system of reading and writing 366 00:25:54,396 --> 00:25:58,187 in a language when he himself could not read or write 367 00:25:58,271 --> 00:26:01,062 in any other language. 368 00:26:01,187 --> 00:26:04,312 CHIEF CHAD SMITH: There was one character for every syllable. 369 00:26:04,438 --> 00:26:08,062 So with 86 syllables a Cherokee speaker could learn to write 370 00:26:08,187 --> 00:26:09,813 in several weeks. 371 00:26:09,938 --> 00:26:11,938 And it's actually much more efficient and effective 372 00:26:12,062 --> 00:26:14,187 than you could ever ask of English. 373 00:26:16,312 --> 00:26:19,187 GAYLE ROSS: Within a matter of a few years, 374 00:26:19,312 --> 00:26:22,062 the Cherokee Nation was literate. 375 00:26:22,187 --> 00:26:23,688 The Cherokee Phoenix; 376 00:26:23,771 --> 00:26:27,938 the translation of the Bible into Cherokee; 377 00:26:28,062 --> 00:26:30,563 family stories were written down; 378 00:26:30,688 --> 00:26:34,938 medicine people wrote down all of their formulas for healing. 379 00:26:35,062 --> 00:26:39,062 It literally revolutionized Cherokee society. 380 00:26:45,938 --> 00:26:48,187 NARRATOR: At the end of the 1820s, 381 00:26:48,312 --> 00:26:52,062 Major Ridge saw a new Cherokee Nation on the rise. 382 00:26:52,146 --> 00:26:54,563 Cherokee population grew every year. 383 00:26:54,646 --> 00:26:57,187 Its National Council was stronger than ever 384 00:26:57,271 --> 00:27:01,062 and a new generation had come of age. 385 00:27:01,146 --> 00:27:04,563 John Ridge had taken a seat on the Council. 386 00:27:04,688 --> 00:27:09,312 And one of the most impressive new young leaders was John Ross. 387 00:27:09,438 --> 00:27:12,813 John Ross, he didn't look like a real full-blood Cherokee, 388 00:27:12,938 --> 00:27:17,396 but the full-bloods, the Cherokee people, trusted him. 389 00:27:19,688 --> 00:27:24,563 He was what they looked for in a leader, 390 00:27:24,646 --> 00:27:29,438 and he was in for the common people. 391 00:27:34,563 --> 00:27:36,938 NARRATOR: Among the traditional full-blood Cherokees-- 392 00:27:37,021 --> 00:27:39,563 who made up the overwhelming majority of the tribe-- 393 00:27:39,688 --> 00:27:43,187 John Ross gained a reputation for integrity. 394 00:27:43,271 --> 00:27:45,312 While serving under the principal chief, 395 00:27:45,438 --> 00:27:50,438 Ross had become an eager student of the abiding Cherokee ways. 396 00:27:50,521 --> 00:27:52,688 It was Ross who authored a new constitution 397 00:27:52,813 --> 00:27:55,021 that all Cherokees could embrace. 398 00:27:58,896 --> 00:28:00,312 Ross's constitution created 399 00:28:00,396 --> 00:28:02,563 a democratically elected government 400 00:28:02,688 --> 00:28:05,438 mirrored on the United States. 401 00:28:05,563 --> 00:28:07,062 There was an executive, a legislative 402 00:28:07,146 --> 00:28:09,688 and a judicial branch. 403 00:28:09,813 --> 00:28:12,062 A strong National Council was vested with the power 404 00:28:12,146 --> 00:28:14,187 to protect all Cherokee land. 405 00:28:16,688 --> 00:28:18,938 CAREY TILLEY: This is the culmination. 406 00:28:19,062 --> 00:28:20,312 This is the culmination of a movement 407 00:28:20,438 --> 00:28:22,187 and is probably the greatest unity 408 00:28:22,312 --> 00:28:24,062 that the Cherokee people had ever seen. 409 00:28:30,312 --> 00:28:33,312 NARRATOR: The new constitution drew bright and indisputable borders 410 00:28:33,438 --> 00:28:34,938 around Cherokee territory, 411 00:28:35,062 --> 00:28:38,312 and declared the Cherokee Nation's absolute sovereignty 412 00:28:38,438 --> 00:28:39,938 within those borders. 413 00:28:43,771 --> 00:28:46,312 WEAVER: Georgia reacts to the Cherokee passage of a constitution 414 00:28:46,438 --> 00:28:49,062 in 1827 very badly. 415 00:28:49,187 --> 00:28:51,187 They say, "If they set up a constitutional government, 416 00:28:51,312 --> 00:28:54,813 we'll never be able to get rid of them." 417 00:28:54,938 --> 00:28:58,688 NARRATOR: "The absolute title to the lands in controversy is in Georgia," 418 00:28:58,813 --> 00:29:02,062 read one resolution, "and she may rightfully possess herself 419 00:29:02,187 --> 00:29:05,813 of them when, and by what means, she pleases." 420 00:29:05,938 --> 00:29:07,563 "These misguided men," 421 00:29:07,646 --> 00:29:09,938 a state legislator said of the Cherokees, 422 00:29:10,021 --> 00:29:12,187 "should be taught that there is no alternative 423 00:29:12,271 --> 00:29:13,938 "between their removal beyond the limits 424 00:29:14,062 --> 00:29:15,187 "of the state of Georgia 425 00:29:15,312 --> 00:29:17,062 and their extinction." 426 00:29:27,021 --> 00:29:29,396 (rooster crows) 427 00:29:47,312 --> 00:29:49,813 (man singing in Cherokee) 428 00:29:49,938 --> 00:29:54,187 NARRATOR: As the Georgia legislature began to kick back, 429 00:29:54,271 --> 00:29:56,771 other, more ominous events, were unfolding... 430 00:29:59,646 --> 00:30:02,187 The discovery of gold in Cherokee territory, 431 00:30:02,312 --> 00:30:05,187 which caused a stampede of white prospectors, 432 00:30:05,312 --> 00:30:08,312 and the first stirring of a populist political movement 433 00:30:08,438 --> 00:30:12,062 that sent tremors through Indian lands all over the East. 434 00:30:12,146 --> 00:30:16,688 This hard-edged new movement found voice in Andrew Jackson, 435 00:30:16,813 --> 00:30:19,438 whose ascent to the presidency in 1829 436 00:30:19,521 --> 00:30:24,438 owed to the newly enfranchised Southern frontiersmen. 437 00:30:24,563 --> 00:30:26,312 In his first address to Congress, 438 00:30:26,396 --> 00:30:28,688 President Jackson announced his intention 439 00:30:28,771 --> 00:30:31,438 to do as his voters pleased, 440 00:30:31,563 --> 00:30:33,438 which is to say rid the East of the Indian tribes 441 00:30:33,521 --> 00:30:35,438 once and for all. 442 00:30:35,563 --> 00:30:36,938 He championed new legislation 443 00:30:37,062 --> 00:30:39,187 giving him power to offer the tribes 444 00:30:39,271 --> 00:30:43,688 land west of the Mississippi... if they would go nicely. 445 00:30:43,813 --> 00:30:46,062 GAYLE ROSS: The Indian removal bill 446 00:30:46,146 --> 00:30:50,938 was Jackson's first priority once he was in office. 447 00:30:51,021 --> 00:30:56,062 It became the first major focus of his administration. 448 00:30:59,062 --> 00:31:03,187 It did reflect a fundamental shift 449 00:31:03,312 --> 00:31:08,813 in the way that America was beginning to define itself. 450 00:31:08,896 --> 00:31:13,438 Not very many people in Georgia and Tennessee, 451 00:31:13,521 --> 00:31:15,312 Alabama, at that time, 452 00:31:15,396 --> 00:31:18,312 were willing to even go so far as to say 453 00:31:18,438 --> 00:31:23,938 that Indian people were people. 454 00:31:24,021 --> 00:31:27,187 TILLEY: The thinking of the day becomes more racist, 455 00:31:27,312 --> 00:31:35,062 that the Cherokees are inferior and cannot be like the whites. 456 00:31:35,146 --> 00:31:38,813 It's convenient rhetoric to say that Cherokees are inferior 457 00:31:38,938 --> 00:31:41,187 and we need to get them out of the way, out of harm's way, 458 00:31:41,312 --> 00:31:42,938 as Jackson would put it. 459 00:31:45,688 --> 00:31:48,312 NARRATOR: Other tribes read the bleak signs 460 00:31:48,438 --> 00:31:51,062 and reluctantly began to prepare for removal. 461 00:31:51,187 --> 00:31:53,688 But the Cherokees reached out for support among their friends 462 00:31:53,771 --> 00:31:55,938 and benefactors along the Eastern seaboard. 463 00:31:56,062 --> 00:31:59,688 WEAVER: The Cherokees were one of the "civilized" tribes. 464 00:31:59,813 --> 00:32:02,563 They had made such strides. 465 00:32:02,688 --> 00:32:05,563 So they cut a sympathetic figure to Northeasterners. 466 00:32:05,688 --> 00:32:07,312 I ask you-- 467 00:32:07,438 --> 00:32:10,438 shall red men live, or shall they be swept from the earth? 468 00:32:13,312 --> 00:32:16,813 It is with you, and this public at large, 469 00:32:16,938 --> 00:32:18,062 the decision chiefly rests. 470 00:32:18,146 --> 00:32:21,187 Must they perish? 471 00:32:21,312 --> 00:32:23,896 Will you push them from you or will you save them? 472 00:32:27,813 --> 00:32:30,062 NARRATOR: The Congressional debate over the Indian removal bill 473 00:32:30,187 --> 00:32:33,062 was a sectional brawl that drew the entire country's attention. 474 00:32:33,146 --> 00:32:36,062 A campaign organized by Benevolent Ladies 475 00:32:36,187 --> 00:32:38,938 flooded Congress with pro-Indian letters and petitions. 476 00:32:39,021 --> 00:32:43,312 "Who can look an Indian in the face," one senator thundered, 477 00:32:43,438 --> 00:32:45,813 "and say to him, 'For more than 40 years we have made to you 478 00:32:45,938 --> 00:32:48,312 "'the most solemn of promises; 479 00:32:48,396 --> 00:32:50,938 "'we now violate and trample upon them all, 480 00:32:51,062 --> 00:32:55,938 but offer you, in their stead, another guarantee.'" 481 00:32:56,062 --> 00:33:00,312 New England senators voted 11-1 against Jackson's removal bill. 482 00:33:00,396 --> 00:33:02,187 But the unanimous bloc of Southerners 483 00:33:02,312 --> 00:33:04,563 assured its passage in the Senate. 484 00:33:04,688 --> 00:33:08,438 The vote was closer in the House-- 102 to 97. 485 00:33:08,563 --> 00:33:10,688 But the legislation passed. 486 00:33:10,813 --> 00:33:13,438 And President Andrew Jackson's signature made Indian removal 487 00:33:13,563 --> 00:33:15,312 the law of the land. 488 00:33:18,646 --> 00:33:22,312 TILLEY: The state of Georgia basically said to its citizens, 489 00:33:22,438 --> 00:33:25,062 "This land is yours." 490 00:33:25,187 --> 00:33:28,312 They divided up with the land lottery 491 00:33:28,438 --> 00:33:32,438 and basically told their people to have at it. 492 00:33:47,396 --> 00:33:50,062 NARRATOR: While white settlers bought up lottery tickets 493 00:33:50,146 --> 00:33:52,563 and a chance at Cherokee land, 494 00:33:52,688 --> 00:33:55,438 the Georgia legislature bent itself to obliterating the state 495 00:33:55,563 --> 00:33:57,187 within its state, 496 00:33:57,312 --> 00:34:01,312 passing new laws overriding Cherokee sovereignty. 497 00:34:01,438 --> 00:34:03,062 Meetings of the Cherokee legislature 498 00:34:03,187 --> 00:34:05,688 and courts were deemed illegal. 499 00:34:05,771 --> 00:34:08,021 All people residing on Cherokee land 500 00:34:08,146 --> 00:34:10,771 were now subject to Georgia law. 501 00:34:10,896 --> 00:34:13,271 Missionaries who had lived among the Cherokees for years 502 00:34:13,396 --> 00:34:16,271 were forced to sign oaths of allegiance to Georgia. 503 00:34:16,396 --> 00:34:18,896 Those who refused were jailed. 504 00:34:19,021 --> 00:34:20,271 (gavel bangs) 505 00:34:21,729 --> 00:34:24,146 JOHN ROSS: And Jackson basically told Cherokees 506 00:34:24,271 --> 00:34:27,646 that he couldn't do anything about it. 507 00:34:27,771 --> 00:34:29,271 It was state rights. 508 00:34:29,396 --> 00:34:31,771 And, you know, they couldn't have any protection 509 00:34:31,896 --> 00:34:33,896 from the federal government. 510 00:34:34,021 --> 00:34:37,146 The only way they were going to get protection 511 00:34:37,271 --> 00:34:38,979 was if they moved. 512 00:34:53,604 --> 00:34:56,271 NARRATOR: Making a plan to battle Andrew Jackson and Georgia 513 00:34:56,396 --> 00:35:00,021 fell to the Cherokees' newly elected principal chief. 514 00:35:00,146 --> 00:35:03,021 Major Ridge had decided not to run for the office, 515 00:35:03,104 --> 00:35:05,021 asserting that the Cherokees would be best served 516 00:35:05,146 --> 00:35:07,646 by an English-speaking chief. 517 00:35:07,771 --> 00:35:12,896 His own son was too young, so the Ridge backed John Ross. 518 00:35:12,980 --> 00:35:17,521 At 38, Ross himself was barely eligible, 519 00:35:17,646 --> 00:35:19,021 but he won election easily. 520 00:35:19,146 --> 00:35:21,646 And one of his first acts in office-- 521 00:35:21,771 --> 00:35:24,896 rewriting the blood law-- sent a clear signal: 522 00:35:25,021 --> 00:35:31,021 any Cherokee who made a deal to sell land to the United States 523 00:35:31,146 --> 00:35:34,021 without the consent of the entire tribe 524 00:35:34,104 --> 00:35:36,646 faced dire and certain consequences. 525 00:35:36,771 --> 00:35:39,146 "Citizens of this nation," the law read, 526 00:35:39,271 --> 00:35:41,521 "may kill him or them so offending, 527 00:35:41,646 --> 00:35:45,396 in any manner most convenient." 528 00:35:45,521 --> 00:35:48,021 Chief Ross then set out to shame Jackson 529 00:35:48,146 --> 00:35:50,896 and the supporters of Indian removal, 530 00:35:51,021 --> 00:35:54,646 and he was going to use the United States federal courts to do it. 531 00:35:54,730 --> 00:35:56,771 Along with America's most esteemed advocate-- 532 00:35:56,855 --> 00:36:00,146 former attorney general William Wirt-- 533 00:36:00,229 --> 00:36:01,896 Ross and his closest advisers began to frame 534 00:36:02,021 --> 00:36:04,146 the Cherokees' argument for self-determination 535 00:36:04,271 --> 00:36:05,521 in their own territory. 536 00:36:05,646 --> 00:36:07,396 CHEROKEE LEADER (in Cherokee): 537 00:36:22,354 --> 00:36:23,646 NARRATOR: The Cherokee Nation and their supporters 538 00:36:23,730 --> 00:36:27,021 filed more than a dozen separate suits in federal court; 539 00:36:27,104 --> 00:36:30,771 two made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. 540 00:36:33,146 --> 00:36:35,146 The question in both cases was the flash point 541 00:36:35,229 --> 00:36:37,896 of American politics in 1830. 542 00:36:38,021 --> 00:36:41,896 Where did federal authority end and states' rights begin? 543 00:36:42,021 --> 00:36:43,771 Did federal treaties with the Cherokee Nation 544 00:36:43,896 --> 00:36:46,271 supersede Georgia state law? 545 00:36:46,354 --> 00:36:49,396 Or could Georgia do as she pleased within her borders? 546 00:36:49,521 --> 00:36:54,021 The Court dodged the question in the first case, 547 00:36:54,146 --> 00:36:57,396 but in the second, Worcester v. Georgia, it could not. 548 00:36:57,521 --> 00:36:58,646 Samuel Worcester, 549 00:36:58,730 --> 00:37:01,396 a missionary who lived in the Cherokee Nation, 550 00:37:01,521 --> 00:37:03,396 had been jailed by Georgia officials for refusing 551 00:37:03,521 --> 00:37:06,021 to take an oath of allegiance. 552 00:37:06,104 --> 00:37:09,146 Wirt argued that his arrest was unconstitutional, 553 00:37:09,229 --> 00:37:11,646 that Cherokee tribal laws could not be written over 554 00:37:11,771 --> 00:37:13,896 by the state of Georgia. 555 00:37:14,021 --> 00:37:15,146 The opinion of the Court, 556 00:37:15,271 --> 00:37:18,021 written by Chief Justice John Marshall, 557 00:37:18,146 --> 00:37:20,146 could not have been more clear. 558 00:37:23,646 --> 00:37:26,271 "The Cherokee nation is a distinct community," 559 00:37:26,354 --> 00:37:30,396 Marshall wrote, "occupying its own territory, 560 00:37:30,479 --> 00:37:33,396 "with boundaries accurately described, 561 00:37:33,521 --> 00:37:35,521 "in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, 562 00:37:35,646 --> 00:37:40,146 "and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter 563 00:37:40,229 --> 00:37:42,896 but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves." 564 00:37:47,646 --> 00:37:49,271 SMITH: What else could you ask for 565 00:37:49,354 --> 00:37:51,896 but a very clear and sympathetic order 566 00:37:51,980 --> 00:37:54,396 of the highest court in the land 567 00:37:54,521 --> 00:37:57,896 interpreting the supreme law of the land. 568 00:37:58,021 --> 00:38:01,646 The Cherokees just were ecstatic. 569 00:38:01,730 --> 00:38:03,896 GAYLE ROSS: They followed the law. 570 00:38:04,021 --> 00:38:06,646 They followed this policy 571 00:38:06,771 --> 00:38:11,146 of a government-to-government relationship. 572 00:38:11,229 --> 00:38:16,146 And the Supreme Court decision was a complete vindication. 573 00:38:17,771 --> 00:38:21,396 WEAVER: Now, finally, this is their victory. 574 00:38:21,479 --> 00:38:23,104 Now they'll have some protection. 575 00:38:27,604 --> 00:38:30,396 NARRATOR: John Ridge was still in Washington when he got word 576 00:38:30,479 --> 00:38:32,521 that the state of Georgia was refusing to recognize 577 00:38:32,646 --> 00:38:34,271 the Supreme Court decision 578 00:38:34,354 --> 00:38:38,521 or the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. 579 00:38:38,604 --> 00:38:40,396 WEAVER: He goes to the White House 580 00:38:40,521 --> 00:38:42,396 and gets an audience with President Jackson. 581 00:38:42,521 --> 00:38:47,896 He asked him bluntly if he will force Georgia to comply 582 00:38:48,021 --> 00:38:50,021 with the Supreme Court's order, 583 00:38:50,146 --> 00:38:53,521 and Jackson says he will not. 584 00:38:53,646 --> 00:38:55,396 GAYLE ROSS: Andrew Jackson, 585 00:38:55,479 --> 00:38:57,896 the only president in the history of the United States 586 00:38:58,021 --> 00:39:01,146 to openly defy a Supreme Court order. 587 00:39:01,229 --> 00:39:03,271 He is said to have remarked 588 00:39:03,396 --> 00:39:06,021 that Chief Justice Marshall made his decision, 589 00:39:06,104 --> 00:39:08,771 let him enforce it. 590 00:39:08,855 --> 00:39:12,521 And to the Georgians he said, "Light a fire under them. 591 00:39:12,646 --> 00:39:15,146 They'll move." 592 00:39:26,771 --> 00:39:28,354 It's over. 593 00:39:33,146 --> 00:39:34,896 He wants us gone. 594 00:39:35,021 --> 00:39:38,021 Even those we call friends say we can't resist anymore. 595 00:39:39,521 --> 00:39:40,604 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 596 00:39:55,021 --> 00:39:57,646 SMITH: The political reality is setting in. 597 00:39:57,771 --> 00:40:02,271 The issues became more clear. 598 00:40:02,354 --> 00:40:07,021 You could stay and fight or stay and resist or leave. 599 00:40:07,146 --> 00:40:09,396 And it was a very painful decision. 600 00:40:09,479 --> 00:40:11,896 It was an emotional decision. 601 00:40:11,980 --> 00:40:15,396 It was the United States driving us intentionally 602 00:40:15,521 --> 00:40:17,646 into that choice. 603 00:40:17,771 --> 00:40:21,896 (speaking Cherokee) 604 00:40:23,604 --> 00:40:26,646 NARRATOR: Once Jackson had openly sided with Georgia, 605 00:40:26,730 --> 00:40:30,146 every day brought fresh stories of Cherokees being whipped, 606 00:40:30,229 --> 00:40:34,146 run from their farms, and even killed by white Georgians; 607 00:40:34,271 --> 00:40:37,104 and the Cherokee Nation didn't have the strength to fight them off. 608 00:40:40,396 --> 00:40:42,646 When the United States renewed its offer of a cash settlement 609 00:40:42,771 --> 00:40:45,271 for Cherokee territory and a grant of land 610 00:40:45,354 --> 00:40:48,646 west of the Mississippi, the Ridges were ready to listen. 611 00:40:51,396 --> 00:40:55,271 TILLEY: At this point, the Ridges see the yielding of land 612 00:40:55,354 --> 00:40:58,146 as inevitable. 613 00:40:58,229 --> 00:41:00,396 What it's coming down to in their minds 614 00:41:00,479 --> 00:41:03,521 is a choice between preserving their land 615 00:41:03,646 --> 00:41:06,396 or preserving their sovereignty. 616 00:41:06,521 --> 00:41:07,896 So they believe it's more important 617 00:41:07,980 --> 00:41:09,271 to remain a sovereign nation 618 00:41:09,354 --> 00:41:15,521 and distance themselves from the threat that's imminent. 619 00:41:15,646 --> 00:41:18,021 JOHN RIDGE: I'm told it is much like here. 620 00:41:18,146 --> 00:41:20,229 We will come to think of it as home. 621 00:41:24,521 --> 00:41:26,021 (in Cherokee): 622 00:41:33,730 --> 00:41:35,896 Well, it is far. 623 00:41:36,021 --> 00:41:39,146 Too far for others, but not for us. 624 00:41:56,896 --> 00:42:00,521 They would have us leave our land, 625 00:42:00,646 --> 00:42:04,146 and take up way out to the west, here. 626 00:42:04,229 --> 00:42:06,771 (in Cherokee): 627 00:42:31,521 --> 00:42:33,646 NARRATOR: John Ross was a man in the middle. 628 00:42:33,771 --> 00:42:36,771 He knew where the people stood, 629 00:42:36,896 --> 00:42:39,646 but the Ridges were Cherokee aristocracy, 630 00:42:39,771 --> 00:42:42,396 esteemed leaders in the Nation. 631 00:42:42,521 --> 00:42:45,646 The family had plenty of friends in the U.S. government. 632 00:42:45,771 --> 00:42:47,271 And Ross was not happy that John Ridge 633 00:42:47,396 --> 00:42:49,771 was preparing to run against him for principal chief 634 00:42:49,896 --> 00:42:53,396 in the upcoming tribal elections. 635 00:42:53,521 --> 00:42:56,521 This infighting, Ross believed, invited peril. 636 00:42:56,646 --> 00:42:58,771 He'd seen federal negotiators divide and conquer 637 00:42:58,896 --> 00:43:02,271 the leadership of every other nearby tribe. 638 00:43:02,396 --> 00:43:06,396 Unity, he knew, had been the Cherokees' salvation; 639 00:43:06,521 --> 00:43:11,896 the tribe had to speak to the United States with one voice. 640 00:43:12,021 --> 00:43:14,146 TOWNSEND: I think he heard the traditional voice 641 00:43:14,229 --> 00:43:18,646 and felt compelled by it, felt a sense of duty to it. 642 00:43:18,771 --> 00:43:23,896 Certainly he had 16,000 people telling him to stay. 643 00:43:24,021 --> 00:43:26,021 I think he wanted to do 644 00:43:26,104 --> 00:43:28,021 what those voices were telling him to do. 645 00:43:28,146 --> 00:43:31,396 TILLEY: The Ridges kept saying publicly, 646 00:43:31,479 --> 00:43:34,521 "If we could just talk to the Cherokee people, 647 00:43:34,646 --> 00:43:38,771 then we could convince them that this is our only option." 648 00:43:38,896 --> 00:43:42,396 And they felt like John Ross was being heavy handed 649 00:43:42,479 --> 00:43:45,021 in keeping them from speaking as openly as they'd like to. 650 00:43:45,104 --> 00:43:48,146 NARRATOR: "The duty of the minority to yield and unite 651 00:43:48,271 --> 00:43:51,646 is sanctioned by patriotism and virtue," Ross proclaimed. 652 00:43:51,730 --> 00:43:54,396 Then, citing a national emergency, 653 00:43:54,521 --> 00:43:57,229 he suspended the upcoming tribal elections. 654 00:43:58,896 --> 00:44:01,021 WEAVER: When John Ross cancels elections, 655 00:44:01,146 --> 00:44:05,271 now there's a real block to John Ridge 656 00:44:05,396 --> 00:44:09,271 ever assuming what he knows to be his rightful position. 657 00:44:09,396 --> 00:44:12,271 He sees John Ross as a dictator 658 00:44:12,354 --> 00:44:16,855 and he grows to hate the man in a very visceral way. 659 00:44:20,479 --> 00:44:22,896 NARRATOR: The United States and Georgia got the scent of blood 660 00:44:23,021 --> 00:44:25,146 and dug deep at the rift that had opened 661 00:44:25,271 --> 00:44:26,646 between Chief Ross and the Ridges. 662 00:44:28,229 --> 00:44:31,771 Federal agents kept close contact with members 663 00:44:31,855 --> 00:44:35,646 of the Ridge faction and let it be known among all Cherokees. 664 00:44:35,730 --> 00:44:37,646 Ross's allies fanned rumors 665 00:44:37,771 --> 00:44:40,896 that the Ridges were illegally negotiating away Cherokee land 666 00:44:41,021 --> 00:44:42,396 and reminded the Ridge Party 667 00:44:42,479 --> 00:44:43,771 that the penalty for selling land 668 00:44:43,896 --> 00:44:45,521 without the consent of the tribe 669 00:44:45,604 --> 00:44:47,271 was death. 670 00:44:49,146 --> 00:44:50,771 By the time the tribal leaders gathered 671 00:44:50,896 --> 00:44:53,146 for an emergency session at the Red Clay Council Grounds 672 00:44:53,229 --> 00:44:55,771 in the summer of 1834, 673 00:44:55,855 --> 00:44:59,896 John Ross had taken aim at his old friend, Major Ridge. 674 00:45:00,021 --> 00:45:01,146 (gavel bangs) 675 00:45:02,646 --> 00:45:04,896 My fellow countrymen, 676 00:45:04,980 --> 00:45:09,271 the matter before us is most urgent. 677 00:45:09,354 --> 00:45:12,396 If the United States shall withdraw 678 00:45:12,479 --> 00:45:15,896 their solemn pledges of protection, 679 00:45:15,980 --> 00:45:18,771 deprive us of the right of self-government 680 00:45:18,855 --> 00:45:20,771 and wrest from us our land, 681 00:45:20,855 --> 00:45:24,271 then, in deep anguish of our misfortune, 682 00:45:24,396 --> 00:45:30,146 we may justly say there is no place for us. 683 00:45:30,229 --> 00:45:32,271 (audience clamors) 684 00:45:32,396 --> 00:45:37,646 No confidence left that the United States shall be more 685 00:45:37,771 --> 00:45:41,521 just and faithful towards us 686 00:45:41,646 --> 00:45:44,021 in the barren prairies of the west 687 00:45:44,104 --> 00:45:45,896 than when we occupied the soil 688 00:45:46,021 --> 00:45:50,146 inherited from the Great Author of our existence. 689 00:45:50,271 --> 00:45:52,521 (audience clamors) 690 00:46:06,521 --> 00:46:09,021 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 691 00:47:00,271 --> 00:47:04,021 (all talking at once) 692 00:47:04,104 --> 00:47:07,396 My father has, with distinguished zeal and ability, 693 00:47:07,479 --> 00:47:08,771 served his country. 694 00:47:08,896 --> 00:47:10,646 (audience shouting in Cherokee) 695 00:47:10,771 --> 00:47:13,146 Is a man to be denounced for his opinion? 696 00:47:13,229 --> 00:47:14,896 (audience shouting) 697 00:47:15,021 --> 00:47:17,771 If a man saw a cloud charged with rain and thunder 698 00:47:17,896 --> 00:47:20,646 and urged the people to take care, 699 00:47:20,730 --> 00:47:22,646 is that man to be hated 700 00:47:22,730 --> 00:47:24,771 or respected? 701 00:47:24,896 --> 00:47:28,271 (audience shouting) 702 00:47:28,396 --> 00:47:31,021 WEAVER: There's a lengthy discussion 703 00:47:31,146 --> 00:47:36,521 and it's decided to impeach John Ridge, Major Ridge, 704 00:47:36,646 --> 00:47:38,396 from the National Council. 705 00:47:41,855 --> 00:47:46,146 Amidst all of this, a member of the Ridge faction, 706 00:47:46,271 --> 00:47:49,104 John Walker Jr., leaves early. 707 00:47:53,479 --> 00:47:55,980 (owl hoots) 708 00:47:57,980 --> 00:48:01,021 And he is bushwhacked. 709 00:48:01,104 --> 00:48:03,646 His body is left out on the road as a signal. 710 00:48:05,021 --> 00:48:07,771 TILLEY: It's not just rhetoric anymore. 711 00:48:07,855 --> 00:48:10,771 People have to fear for their lives. 712 00:48:14,479 --> 00:48:17,271 NARRATOR: There was no reconciling after Red Clay. 713 00:48:17,396 --> 00:48:21,146 John Ross insisted that if the Cherokees held tight, 714 00:48:21,271 --> 00:48:23,771 they could outlast the Jackson administration. 715 00:48:23,896 --> 00:48:26,521 A new president would surely honor 716 00:48:26,604 --> 00:48:29,271 the Supreme Court decision. 717 00:48:29,396 --> 00:48:31,646 The Ridges believed that what was left of American tolerance 718 00:48:31,771 --> 00:48:35,396 for Indian people was evaporating fast. 719 00:48:35,521 --> 00:48:37,271 It was time for the Cherokee leaders to take 720 00:48:37,396 --> 00:48:39,396 the best cash offer from Washington 721 00:48:39,521 --> 00:48:43,271 and get their people to safety west of the Mississippi. 722 00:48:58,604 --> 00:49:00,146 In the last days of 1835, 723 00:49:00,271 --> 00:49:04,146 in defiance of Chief Ross and the National Council, 724 00:49:04,229 --> 00:49:06,646 a self-appointed group of Cherokee leaders met 725 00:49:06,730 --> 00:49:08,354 at the home of Elias Boudinot. 726 00:49:10,521 --> 00:49:13,146 In front of them was the newly negotiated Treaty of New Echota. 727 00:49:16,771 --> 00:49:19,771 In return for ceding all the tribal lands in the Southeast, 728 00:49:19,855 --> 00:49:23,646 the Cherokee Nation would be paid five million dollars, 729 00:49:23,730 --> 00:49:26,646 providing funds to relocate west of the Mississippi 730 00:49:26,771 --> 00:49:31,396 and to build schools, churches and homes in their new land. 731 00:49:31,479 --> 00:49:35,146 The treaty party did not stand to benefit financially, 732 00:49:35,271 --> 00:49:36,521 but they knew that would be little comfort 733 00:49:36,646 --> 00:49:38,521 to their fellow citizens. 734 00:49:40,604 --> 00:49:42,021 WEAVER: None of them were under any illusions 735 00:49:42,146 --> 00:49:43,646 as to what they were doing. 736 00:49:43,730 --> 00:49:45,896 They knew it was contrary to the wishes 737 00:49:46,021 --> 00:49:48,896 of the majority of Cherokees. 738 00:49:49,021 --> 00:49:52,271 They knew that they had no authority to sign that treaty. 739 00:49:52,396 --> 00:49:54,730 They all knew that. 740 00:49:56,354 --> 00:49:58,021 GAYLE ROSS: To a large extent 741 00:49:58,146 --> 00:50:02,646 they had come to believe what they had been telling themselves 742 00:50:02,730 --> 00:50:05,646 from the time of the Worcester decision. 743 00:50:05,730 --> 00:50:07,271 "We see. 744 00:50:07,396 --> 00:50:09,021 "We're the ones who know. 745 00:50:09,146 --> 00:50:11,146 "We're the ones who have to take action 746 00:50:11,229 --> 00:50:16,396 to protect these people who don't understand." 747 00:50:16,521 --> 00:50:19,271 It must have been a very heavy load 748 00:50:19,396 --> 00:50:22,646 knowing that the vast majority of Cherokee people 749 00:50:22,771 --> 00:50:28,021 would see them as traitors and worthy of the death penalty. 750 00:51:20,354 --> 00:51:23,271 (sobbing) 751 00:51:43,021 --> 00:51:47,521 MAJOR RIDGE (in Cherokee): 752 00:53:07,021 --> 00:53:09,396 NARRATOR: Soon after the Treaty of New Echota was ratified 753 00:53:09,521 --> 00:53:13,771 in the United States Senate-- by a margin of just one vote-- 754 00:53:13,855 --> 00:53:16,021 Major Ridge and his son, John, left their homes 755 00:53:16,146 --> 00:53:18,396 and moved to the land west of the Mississippi 756 00:53:18,521 --> 00:53:21,646 to establish a new Cherokee Nation. 757 00:53:21,771 --> 00:53:24,771 The Ridges were going the way of other tribes around them-- 758 00:53:24,896 --> 00:53:28,771 the Creeks, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws. 759 00:53:28,896 --> 00:53:32,396 But less than 2,000 of the 18,000 Cherokee citizens 760 00:53:32,521 --> 00:53:34,771 joined the Ridges in their journey west. 761 00:53:46,021 --> 00:53:48,771 TILLEY: The people are told they have two years 762 00:53:48,896 --> 00:53:51,771 to remove themselves peacefully 763 00:53:51,896 --> 00:53:53,521 with support from the federal government-- 764 00:53:53,646 --> 00:53:57,396 supply them and make sure that they get their payments. 765 00:53:59,896 --> 00:54:03,896 And only a handful of people leave. 766 00:54:03,980 --> 00:54:05,896 They continue planting their fields 767 00:54:05,980 --> 00:54:08,396 and making improvements on their farms. 768 00:54:08,479 --> 00:54:10,896 That was their land; they weren't going to leave. 769 00:54:11,021 --> 00:54:13,771 (woman speaking Cherokee) 770 00:54:22,229 --> 00:54:25,021 SMITH: For the vast majority of the Cherokee people, 771 00:54:25,146 --> 00:54:27,271 removal was not an option. 772 00:54:27,396 --> 00:54:29,396 It just was not. 773 00:54:30,771 --> 00:54:33,396 They couldn't comprehend removal. 774 00:54:33,521 --> 00:54:36,896 They couldn't comprehend that a handful of people 775 00:54:37,021 --> 00:54:40,396 signing a piece of paper would be enough to remove them 776 00:54:40,479 --> 00:54:42,521 from their homelands. 777 00:54:46,646 --> 00:54:50,521 WEAVER: John Ross is trying to hold the Nation together, 778 00:54:50,646 --> 00:54:52,896 to keep it in place. 779 00:54:53,021 --> 00:54:57,021 He's desperately seeking a way, any possible way, 780 00:54:57,146 --> 00:54:59,271 that the Cherokees can remain in the East. 781 00:55:02,604 --> 00:55:03,604 I need your help. 782 00:55:04,771 --> 00:55:06,021 A paper will come soon. 783 00:55:06,146 --> 00:55:07,146 Please sign it. 784 00:55:08,730 --> 00:55:10,730 You can trust me to fight this. 785 00:55:15,730 --> 00:55:19,396 NARRATOR: The Cherokee chief knew he was working against time. 786 00:55:19,521 --> 00:55:22,896 Deadline for removal was May 1838, 787 00:55:23,021 --> 00:55:26,521 and 7,000 federal troops had ringed Cherokee territory. 788 00:55:26,604 --> 00:55:31,146 White settlers began to close the circle, "Like vultures," 789 00:55:31,271 --> 00:55:34,146 said one federal officer, "ready to strip the Cherokees 790 00:55:34,271 --> 00:55:36,771 of everything they have." 791 00:55:36,896 --> 00:55:38,896 Still John Ross had faith 792 00:55:38,980 --> 00:55:41,521 in the common decency of white Americans. 793 00:55:41,646 --> 00:55:44,146 He thought the Ridges' narrowly ratified treaty 794 00:55:44,271 --> 00:55:47,646 could be overturned, and he took one last shot, 795 00:55:47,771 --> 00:55:50,271 authoring a bold statement from the Cherokee Nation-- 796 00:55:50,396 --> 00:55:52,521 in the form of a written petition-- 797 00:55:52,604 --> 00:55:54,855 to be laid before the United States Senate. 798 00:55:57,604 --> 00:55:59,146 "We acknowledge our own feebleness," 799 00:55:59,271 --> 00:56:00,896 the Cherokees said. 800 00:56:01,021 --> 00:56:04,646 "Our only fortress is the justice of our cause. 801 00:56:04,730 --> 00:56:07,771 Our only appeal on earth is to your tribunal." 802 00:56:10,604 --> 00:56:13,146 The petition arrived at Ross's hotel in Washington 803 00:56:13,229 --> 00:56:15,646 just weeks before the removal deadline; 804 00:56:15,730 --> 00:56:19,646 it had been signed by 15,665 people-- 805 00:56:19,771 --> 00:56:23,771 virtually every Cherokee in the East. 806 00:56:23,855 --> 00:56:25,271 SMITH: There were some sheets that were blue; 807 00:56:25,354 --> 00:56:28,146 some were white; some were almost orange; some were long; 808 00:56:28,229 --> 00:56:30,896 some were wide. 809 00:56:31,021 --> 00:56:34,521 And they sewed those all together in a scroll. 810 00:56:34,646 --> 00:56:37,896 And if you laid those out they'd be over 160 feet long. 811 00:56:40,771 --> 00:56:44,271 And John Ross had prepared for one of the Cherokees' friends 812 00:56:44,396 --> 00:56:47,646 in the Senate to place that upon the table in the Senate-- 813 00:56:47,771 --> 00:56:49,396 that protest-- 814 00:56:49,479 --> 00:56:54,896 so they would reconsider the execution of that treaty. 815 00:56:54,980 --> 00:56:58,271 And before that senator could present it, 816 00:56:58,396 --> 00:57:04,271 a congressman from Kentucky and one from Maine had a duel. 817 00:57:04,396 --> 00:57:06,896 Then one killed the other. 818 00:57:07,021 --> 00:57:08,730 And Congress adjourned. 819 00:57:11,646 --> 00:57:14,146 NARRATOR: While a frustrated John Ross waited out 820 00:57:14,271 --> 00:57:16,771 the Congressional recess that followed the killing, 821 00:57:16,896 --> 00:57:19,521 he wrote home to his sister-in-law, 822 00:57:19,646 --> 00:57:22,396 "As soon as they bury their illustrious brother, 823 00:57:22,521 --> 00:57:24,521 "Congress can get back to the business of dealing 824 00:57:24,646 --> 00:57:26,021 with us savages." 825 00:57:27,896 --> 00:57:29,771 Congress, however, did not circle back 826 00:57:29,855 --> 00:57:34,521 to Chief Ross's petition; it was simply pushed aside. 827 00:57:34,646 --> 00:57:36,646 The Cherokee people's near-unanimous plea 828 00:57:36,771 --> 00:57:40,896 never received the consideration of the United States Senate. 829 00:57:48,396 --> 00:57:50,771 On the morning of May 26, 1838-- 830 00:57:50,855 --> 00:57:54,146 three days after the removal deadline-- 831 00:57:54,271 --> 00:57:57,021 federal troops and state militia began 832 00:57:57,146 --> 00:57:58,896 what they called the assembly of the Cherokee people. 833 00:57:59,021 --> 00:58:00,396 Everyone has to leave. 834 00:58:00,521 --> 00:58:02,646 Everyone has to go right now. 835 00:58:02,771 --> 00:58:05,146 TOM BELT: Everything that wasn't actually on the person 836 00:58:05,271 --> 00:58:07,646 now belonged to the state. 837 00:58:08,896 --> 00:58:13,521 And they were forced out into yards and onto the roads 838 00:58:13,604 --> 00:58:16,146 with whatever they had on their back. 839 00:58:16,229 --> 00:58:18,646 MILITIAMAN: Come on Reverend, get 'em loose. 840 00:58:23,604 --> 00:58:30,021 GAYLE ROSS: There were staging areas around the Cherokee Nation 841 00:58:30,146 --> 00:58:32,146 with wooden stockades, 842 00:58:32,271 --> 00:58:36,021 and the people were herded into what were literally cattle pens. 843 00:58:36,146 --> 00:58:37,521 Come on, keep moving. 844 00:59:13,021 --> 00:59:16,021 NARRATOR: A few weeks after the roundup began, 845 00:59:16,146 --> 00:59:19,021 the first detachments of Cherokees were shipped west 846 00:59:19,146 --> 00:59:21,771 under military guard. 847 00:59:21,896 --> 00:59:24,271 Word quickly got back to the stockades: 848 00:59:24,354 --> 00:59:28,896 drought and summer disease had made the trip a march of death. 849 00:59:29,021 --> 00:59:31,896 Chief Ross was frantic to avoid further loss. 850 00:59:31,980 --> 00:59:33,396 He convinced U.S. military officials 851 00:59:33,479 --> 00:59:34,771 to let him take over the organization 852 00:59:34,896 --> 00:59:37,271 and supply of removal, 853 00:59:37,396 --> 00:59:39,021 and to let his people sit tight until fall, 854 00:59:39,146 --> 00:59:44,021 after the season of disease had passed. 855 00:59:44,146 --> 00:59:45,146 A few hundred Cherokees 856 00:59:45,271 --> 00:59:47,521 who agreed to renounce tribal citizenship 857 00:59:47,646 --> 00:59:50,396 were allowed to remain on their farms in North Carolina. 858 00:59:50,521 --> 00:59:54,146 The rest, more than 12,000 captive Cherokees, 859 00:59:54,229 --> 00:59:57,855 waited in the fetid stockades. 860 01:00:07,896 --> 01:00:10,896 "Prisoners," one missionary remembered, 861 01:00:10,980 --> 01:00:13,646 "were obliged to lie at night on the naked ground, 862 01:00:13,771 --> 01:00:18,646 "in the open air, exposed to wind and rain, and in this way, 863 01:00:18,771 --> 01:00:21,354 "many are hastening to a premature grave. 864 01:00:23,479 --> 01:00:27,646 "Half the infants and all the aged have died directly, 865 01:00:27,771 --> 01:00:29,271 and one fourth of the remainder." 866 01:00:33,521 --> 01:00:38,021 Through June, July, August and September they waited 867 01:00:38,104 --> 01:00:40,521 until, at the beginning of October, 868 01:00:40,604 --> 01:00:43,271 the Cherokee Nation was finally pushed west. 869 01:00:52,396 --> 01:00:53,521 It was early December 870 01:00:53,646 --> 01:00:57,771 before the final group began the 850-mile trip. 871 01:00:57,896 --> 01:01:00,896 By then, the long line of Cherokee travelers stretched 872 01:01:01,021 --> 01:01:02,771 from Illinois into Kentucky, 873 01:01:02,896 --> 01:01:06,021 unbroken in places for three miles. 874 01:01:09,271 --> 01:01:11,146 John Ross had seen that the detachments were well supplied 875 01:01:11,271 --> 01:01:15,271 for the three- to four-month trek, 876 01:01:15,396 --> 01:01:18,896 but winter storms made the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers impassable, 877 01:01:19,021 --> 01:01:20,896 stranding thousands for a full month. 878 01:01:30,021 --> 01:01:35,646 GAYLE ROSS: No one could have predicted that one of the hardest winters 879 01:01:35,730 --> 01:01:38,521 in memory would strike that year. 880 01:01:45,896 --> 01:01:48,396 When they reached the Mississippi River, 881 01:01:48,521 --> 01:01:49,646 the river was frozen. 882 01:01:49,771 --> 01:01:53,396 There were three different detachments trapped 883 01:01:53,479 --> 01:01:56,521 between the Mississippi and another river frozen behind them. 884 01:01:56,604 --> 01:01:57,896 And there they sat 885 01:01:58,021 --> 01:02:04,229 for weeks in deep, deep snow and ice. 886 01:02:06,146 --> 01:02:08,896 As long as they were moving maybe it wasn't so bad. 887 01:02:09,021 --> 01:02:11,771 But when you actually had to wait for the ice 888 01:02:11,896 --> 01:02:14,896 and sit there and maybe you're sleeping on snow 889 01:02:14,980 --> 01:02:17,771 but you're probably sleeping on melted mud 890 01:02:17,855 --> 01:02:21,521 and you're sick, your baby's sick, 891 01:02:21,646 --> 01:02:22,896 your grandmother's sick 892 01:02:22,980 --> 01:02:24,396 and there's nothing you can do about it. 893 01:02:24,521 --> 01:02:27,730 (coughing) 894 01:02:32,855 --> 01:02:34,771 NARRATOR: The harsh weather so slowed progress 895 01:02:34,896 --> 01:02:39,521 that supplies of dried corn and salt pork began to run short; 896 01:02:39,604 --> 01:02:41,146 when white settlers along the road 897 01:02:41,229 --> 01:02:45,521 recognized the Cherokees' need, a few offered help. 898 01:02:45,604 --> 01:02:48,271 Others took the opportunity to cash in on the woe, 899 01:02:48,396 --> 01:02:51,896 charging wildly inflated prices for grain. 900 01:02:51,980 --> 01:02:57,396 Cherokee men were soon too depleted to hunt wild game. 901 01:02:57,521 --> 01:03:00,021 A New Englander passing through western Kentucky 902 01:03:00,104 --> 01:03:02,021 noted the sad procession. 903 01:03:02,146 --> 01:03:06,646 "Two thousand people sick and feeble, many near death. 904 01:03:06,771 --> 01:03:08,521 "One woman was carrying her youngest child, 905 01:03:08,646 --> 01:03:12,021 "who was dying in her arms. 906 01:03:12,146 --> 01:03:13,896 "Multitudes go on foot. 907 01:03:14,021 --> 01:03:17,021 "Even aged females were traveling with heavy burdens 908 01:03:17,104 --> 01:03:19,646 "attached to their back, on sometimes frozen ground 909 01:03:19,771 --> 01:03:22,146 "with no covering for the feet 910 01:03:22,271 --> 01:03:24,771 "except what nature had given them. 911 01:03:24,855 --> 01:03:30,271 The Indians buried 14 or 15 at every stopping place." 912 01:03:40,229 --> 01:03:42,396 WEAVER: Because of the civilization project, 913 01:03:42,521 --> 01:03:46,896 a great many of those coming on the trail were Christians. 914 01:03:46,980 --> 01:03:54,021 And a lot of times on the trail they would sing Christian hymns. 915 01:03:54,104 --> 01:04:01,896 Here these thousands of people making this forced march, 916 01:04:01,980 --> 01:04:06,396 one quarter of them dying en route, 917 01:04:06,479 --> 01:04:10,521 and they're singing, "Guide me oh thou great Jehovah, 918 01:04:10,646 --> 01:04:15,855 "guide me, God, pilgrim that I am in this barren land. 919 01:04:18,229 --> 01:04:20,896 "I am weak and you are mighty. 920 01:04:21,021 --> 01:04:23,980 Guide us." 921 01:04:31,855 --> 01:04:36,646 TOWNSEND: The United States gained a lot of land 922 01:04:36,771 --> 01:04:41,229 and farms and taverns and ferries and things like that. 923 01:04:45,021 --> 01:04:52,146 But a loss for the American government is the blemish, 924 01:04:52,229 --> 01:04:56,271 the stain it places upon our national honor. 925 01:04:58,771 --> 01:05:04,521 What we did in the 1830s to the Southeastern Indians, 926 01:05:04,604 --> 01:05:07,146 it's ethnic cleansing. 927 01:05:42,771 --> 01:05:48,521 THOMAS BELT: The removal had caused the deaths of some 4,000 people. 928 01:05:48,646 --> 01:05:50,646 Someone had to answer for that, 929 01:05:50,730 --> 01:05:54,771 someone had to answer for those lives. 930 01:05:54,855 --> 01:05:58,396 A life taken in that way must be balanced out. 931 01:06:02,771 --> 01:06:05,229 (screaming) 932 01:06:30,646 --> 01:06:33,271 WEAVER: They stabbed him repeatedly. 933 01:06:33,396 --> 01:06:35,021 They beat him. 934 01:06:35,146 --> 01:06:39,521 Took turns kicking the body and jumping up and down, 935 01:06:39,646 --> 01:06:41,521 caving in his chest. 936 01:06:54,646 --> 01:07:00,521 JOHN ROSS: The same morning, four men came to Elias Boudinot 937 01:07:00,646 --> 01:07:03,646 and asked for medicine. 938 01:07:05,521 --> 01:07:12,646 And as he turned to greet the people, he was stabbed. 939 01:07:12,771 --> 01:07:18,855 And another used a hatchet to the head. 940 01:07:36,771 --> 01:07:39,021 (gunshots) 941 01:07:39,104 --> 01:07:45,146 Major Ridge was shot five times and he was killed. 942 01:07:48,604 --> 01:07:50,896 Three murders in the same day. 943 01:07:52,771 --> 01:07:55,021 Three outstanding people. 944 01:07:55,146 --> 01:08:05,646 The Cherokee people, we lost them, brilliant minds, that day. 945 01:08:10,396 --> 01:08:16,938 And I think it was a loss for the whole Nation. 946 01:08:34,438 --> 01:08:38,813 NARRATOR: There was no easy balm for the wounds caused by removal; 947 01:08:38,938 --> 01:08:42,438 angry talk, bitter accusation and violent reprisal flared 948 01:08:42,521 --> 01:08:44,938 among the Cherokees for the next 30 years. 949 01:08:48,062 --> 01:08:49,438 It fell to John Ross, 950 01:08:49,563 --> 01:08:51,438 who retained the office of principal chief, 951 01:08:51,521 --> 01:08:54,312 to heal his Nation, 952 01:08:54,396 --> 01:08:57,938 to realize the dream he and the Ridges had always shared: 953 01:08:58,062 --> 01:09:01,271 the continuation of a strong and sovereign Cherokee Nation. 954 01:09:12,062 --> 01:09:15,688 By 1860, after a quarter century at remove 955 01:09:15,813 --> 01:09:17,187 from the United States, 956 01:09:17,312 --> 01:09:20,062 Ross had managed to restore the heart of his Nation. 957 01:09:22,688 --> 01:09:25,563 Its government had been reconstituted; 958 01:09:25,688 --> 01:09:28,688 its businesses flourished; it had the finest system 959 01:09:28,813 --> 01:09:33,187 of public education in all America, for men and women. 960 01:09:36,438 --> 01:09:40,646 Cherokee population had nearly doubled to 21,000. 961 01:09:42,312 --> 01:09:44,438 Ancient tribal traditions like the Green Corn Dance 962 01:09:44,563 --> 01:09:49,187 and the clan system were still honored. 963 01:09:51,688 --> 01:09:56,187 John Ross was in his 70s, had been chief nearly 40 years, 964 01:09:56,271 --> 01:09:57,938 when, after the Civil War, 965 01:09:58,062 --> 01:10:00,938 the United States began to force its way, once again, 966 01:10:01,062 --> 01:10:03,312 into Cherokee territory, 967 01:10:03,438 --> 01:10:07,438 demanding the tribe cede part of its western lands. 968 01:10:07,563 --> 01:10:09,688 In the summer of 1866, 969 01:10:09,813 --> 01:10:12,938 while he was in Washington negotiating anew with the U.S., 970 01:10:13,062 --> 01:10:14,938 John Ross fell ill. 971 01:10:17,062 --> 01:10:19,938 As he neared death, Ross knew the Cherokee Nation 972 01:10:20,062 --> 01:10:22,563 faced big challenges in the coming years-- 973 01:10:22,646 --> 01:10:24,438 and new kinds of encroachments. 974 01:10:28,062 --> 01:10:29,563 But the chief took comfort in the fact 975 01:10:29,646 --> 01:10:31,813 that the Cherokees had re-established themselves 976 01:10:31,896 --> 01:10:34,187 as a strong and sovereign nation, 977 01:10:34,312 --> 01:10:36,938 deeply connected to the land on which they lived 978 01:10:37,062 --> 01:10:40,938 and prepared to fight for it. 979 01:10:41,021 --> 01:10:42,938 WEAVER: In this one respect they're lucky... 980 01:10:47,396 --> 01:10:52,563 in that where they came to looks kind of like where they left. 981 01:10:54,646 --> 01:10:56,938 They look at the hills here and they say, 982 01:10:57,021 --> 01:10:59,187 "Those look like the hills in old Cherokee country. 983 01:10:59,312 --> 01:11:00,688 "They must have been carved out 984 01:11:00,813 --> 01:11:05,438 by the same buzzard that carved out the Smokies." 985 01:11:05,521 --> 01:11:07,062 And they look at the scratches in the rock 986 01:11:07,187 --> 01:11:09,438 and they say, "Those look just like the scratches in the rock 987 01:11:09,521 --> 01:11:11,312 "made by the Uktena back in Georgia. 988 01:11:11,438 --> 01:11:13,813 They must have been made by the Uktena here, too." 989 01:11:18,771 --> 01:11:22,688 Part-Cherokee writer Scott Momaday talks about 990 01:11:22,813 --> 01:11:25,688 stories in the blood, or memory in the blood. 991 01:11:25,813 --> 01:11:28,938 Stories are told generation after generation 992 01:11:29,062 --> 01:11:34,813 so that in many ways they are carried in our blood. 993 01:11:34,896 --> 01:11:41,688 And although I don't know what it was like to make that march, 994 01:11:41,813 --> 01:11:45,312 my ancestors did come on the trail. 995 01:11:45,438 --> 01:11:46,771 I've heard the stories. 996 01:11:51,688 --> 01:11:55,563 GAYLE ROSS: In listening to the stories of your ancestors, 997 01:11:55,688 --> 01:12:01,187 you're taught who you are 998 01:12:01,312 --> 01:12:05,938 and what your ancestors sacrificed 999 01:12:06,062 --> 01:12:09,062 so that you could be Cherokee. 1000 01:12:14,688 --> 01:12:19,896 Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org