Cherokee Phoenix

As the struggles with Georgia were in process, leaders of the Cherokee Nation were making plans to use written rhetoric to resist removal. In 1825, the Cherokee Nation set aside funds for the publication of a national newspaper. Cherokee scholar Elias Boudinot was selected to raise funds for the newspaper, and he began to tour the country, speaking to groups of whites about the progress Cherokees had made and how “civilized” they had become. Boudinot was later selected to edit the Phoenix (Littlefield and Parins 84). Boudinot was a wise choice as editor. He was educated at the Cornwall mission school where he learned Classical rhetoric. As a member of the middle-class elite, he had been exposed to European culture. He was a mixed-blood himself, though only about one-eighth white, and he identified as Cherokee. Even so, he was close enough to enough Europeans so that he was able to see from both cultural perspectives. He was known to be close friends with Samuel Worcester, the white missionary. He also married Harriett Gold, a white woman. Boudinot knew the European audience well, and he knew what kinds of rhetoric to use to sway them (Brandon 146).

The revenue from Boudinot’s lectures combined with funds from the Cherokee Nation and funds from the American Board of Foreign Missions were used to purchase equipment for the newspaper. White missionary Samuel Worcester was called upon to assist Boudinot with the paper (Littlefield and Parins 84). Worcester and Boudinot had previously worked together translating Christian hymns into Cherokee (Malone 164). After the funds for the new newspaper were secured, Worcester journeyed to Boston to arrange for the construction of type in the Cherokee syllabary and to purchase supplies. The printing press was set up in a newly-constructed office in New Echota. The building was a small log cabin structure which measured twenty by twenty-four feet and had a fireplace and two windows (Malone 165). John Wheeler and Isaac Harris were hired as printers. John Candy, a mixed-blood, served as Wheeler’s apprentice. Wheeler and Harris were white, and neither could speak Cherokee. Still, the goal of the paper was to feature articles in both English and the syllabary. Boudinot and Worcester handled most of the work with the syllabary while the printers struggled to learn Cherokee (Mooney 111).

The Phoenix was four pages in length, and featured five columns on each page. In size, it measured 21 inches in length and 14 inches in width (Awtrey 7). Each issue featured an announcement of the subscription price: $2.50 per year for advance payments, or one dollar more for accounts paid at the conclusion of the year.

Cherokees who spoke no English received a reduced rate and paid $2.00 in advance or $2.50 at the end of the year. It was a weekly paper and was initially available on Thursdays. However, on May 6, 1828, the paper’s weekly publication date moved to Wednesdays due to difficulties with the postal service (“To Readers and Correspondents” 3).

The masthead for the newspaper was strikingly beautiful and featured an emblem with a phoenix rising from flames and the word “protection” stylistically positioned between the tips of the bird’s wings. Cherokee letters on either side of the emblem spelled out the phrase Tsalagi Asdeliski, which means “Cherokee Phoenix” or literally, “Cherokee” “Resurrected One” (Mooney 539). The Phoenix title came from a fundraising speech that Elias Boudinot delivered to Europeans; in the speech Boudinot said “the Indian must rise like the Phoenix after having wallowed for ages in ignorance and barbarity” (“An Address to the Whites” 78-9).

The first issue of the Phoenix was published on Thursday, February 21, 1828. In that issue, Boudinot promised that the newspaper would contribute to the Cherokee Nation’s attempt at civilization. He stated:

We would now commit our feeble efforts to the good will and indulgence of the public, praying that God will attend them with his blessings, and hoping for that happy period, when all the Indian tribes of America shall arise, Phoenix-like, from their ashes, and when the terms “Indian depredations,” “war whoop,” “scalping-knife,” and the like, shall become obsolete, and forever be buried deep under ground. (“To the Public” 3)

Among other articles, the first issue included three articles of the Cherokee Constitution printed in both English and Cherokee and a Cherokee version of the Lord’s Prayer (later editions of the Phoenix would regularly feature Christian hymns and Bible verses translated into Cherokee).

In the second issue, Boudinot also included a prospectus for the newspaper which provided further detail concerning the purpose of the Phoenix. The prospectus stated that the newspaper would publish:

1. The laws and public documents of the Nation.
2. Account of the manners and customs of the Cherokees, and their progress in Education, Religion and the arts of civilized life; with such notices of other Indian tribes as our limited means of information will allow.
3. The principal interesting news of the day.
4. Miscellaneous articles, calculated to promote Literature, Civilization, and Religion among the Cherokees. (Boudinot, “Prospectus” 3)

Boudinot actively attempted to fulfill his promise, publishing the Constitution and laws of the Nation, National news, poetry, explanations of the Cherokee syllabary, and translations of Bible verses and hymns. While the first issue had featured an equal amount of Cherokee and English, the Cherokee portions soon shrank considerably.

The Cherokee text in the Phoenix was arduous because of the printers’ lack of fluency in the language, so in the second issue, Boudinot promised to include only Cherokee translations of shorter English articles below the English text (“Prospectus” 3). Boudinot seemed to do his best to publish as much material as possible in Cherokee. In the issue published May 6, 1828, Boudinot said “If any of our Cherokee readers think we have slighted them, we can assure them that it has not been through neglect…We have a heavy task” (“To Cherokee Correspondents” 3). His apology was followed by a request for submissions from readers fluent in the syllabary.

Boudinot and his co-workers faced a seemingly relentless barrage of difficulties while working on the Phoenix. The postal service was an unending problem for them in spite of the fact that Samuel Worcester was New Echota’s postmaster. Still, the paper had to switch its initial publication date from Thursday to Wednesday to accommodate the mail, and the difficulty of travel in the wilderness surrounding New Echota made transporting any kind of mail a laborious task. Georgians were often hostile to Cherokees, and this made traveling from New Echota a dangerous proposition (Malone 180). The difficulties with the mail prevented Boudinot from publishing news in as timely a manner as he would have liked, and many issues of the Phoenix feature apologies to subscribers concerning mail delays. On one occasion, a mail carrier fell into a creek soaking issues of the Phoenix. The papers were under water for seven hours, and by the time they were retrieved they were so degraded that it was impossible to read portions of them (Awtrey 13). In addition, the availability of paper and other supplies often hampered publication. Getting merchandise into New Echota was as difficult as getting newspapers out of the town, so some of the issues were delayed or not published due to lack of paper or ink (Awtrey 12-14).

The greatest threat to the paper, though, came from the mounting tension between the Cherokee Nation and its neighbors. Both Tennessee and Georgia, especially the latter, wanted the Cherokees to move out of their state boundaries. Since the Cherokee Phoenix was a symbol of the growing nationalism of the Cherokees it was viewed as a threat by advocates of removal. In addition, the Phoenix often published articles opposing removal, and the newspaper helped foster support from anti-removal whites. Perhaps because of the growing antagonism the newspaper’s name was changed to Cherokee Phoenix, and Indians’ Advocate on February 11, 1829 (Malone 180-1). The masthead omitted the phoenix emblem that had been used previously. The new masthead was used on the Phoenix until 1831, at which time the former masthead with the phoenix emblem was modified to include the new name of the newspaper.

When gold was discovered in Georgia in 1829, the already intense pressure on the Cherokee Nation from hostile Georgians increased dramatically. Cherokees had to face a swarm of gold miners entering their lands. To make matters worse, the state of Georgia did nothing to stop the miners. In fact, it encouraged their actions (Malone 181). Throughout this crisis, the Cherokee Phoenix published articles in favor of sovereignty, articles that condemned Georgians, even going so far as the call them “savages.” For example, an issue published on December 16^th, 1829 described three incidents in which “parties of whites from Georgia” engaged in “savage hostilities” toward Indians (“Savage Hostilities”). Another issue describes “savage whites who have outstripped the Indians in deeds of blood” (“Indian/White Conflict”). Yet another issue includes the following statement:

It is not the Indians that are so savage, quarrelsome and such lovers of blood. It is the whites who reside near them that are merciless and cruel. It is their meanness of spirit which causes in most instances what is termed the “Indian Outrages”—their skill in getting from the red man all he has that is valuable for a mere song. (“Indians and the Outrages”)

This rhetoric served two purposes. First, it reversed the meaning of the term “savage,” a term that had been used against Cherokees and other Indians. It separated the term “savage” from “Indian,” whereas previously, many whites had considered the two terms synonymous. This was a vitally important strategy, especially for gaining support from anti-removal whites. The message was clear: any “civilized” person should defend the Cherokees right to sovereignty. Second, the use of the term “savage” derided Georgians, implying that they were less civilized than Cherokees.

In response, Georgia enacted a special legislative session, concluding that in 1830, Georgia laws would supersede all Cherokee laws (Malone 181). Georgia was now in a better position than previously because Andrew Jackson had become president in 1828 (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 21). Jackson passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and was by all accounts opposed to tribal sovereignty (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 24-5). As a part of the enactment, Georgia required that all missionaries living in Cherokee territory swear an oath of allegiance to the state of Georgia. Many of the missionaries refused to do this, and several were imprisoned for their refusal (Malone 182). One of the missionaries imprisoned was Samuel Worcester. Worcester was imprisoned twice; he was released the first time because his position of postmaster gave him the status of “federal agent,” so he was exempt from the law. However, immediately after his release, Worcester was stripped of his position and re-arrested (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 25).

Compounding the pressure on the Cherokee Nation, Andrew Jackson withheld the Cherokee Nation’s annual annuity. The annuity was a sum owed to the Cherokees as part of previous land cessation agreements. The withholding of these funds created a desperate climate, especially for the Cherokee Phoenix. Funds from subscriptions were meager, and the newspaper relied on the annuity. As a result, in the middle of this crisis, Boudinot was forced to tour the country to raise funds for the paper (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 24-5).

The Cherokee Nation fought the state of Georgia both in the courts and in the pages of the Phoenix. The articles of the Phoenix helped the Nation gain support from whites; as a result of the increased support, court cases were often flooded with petitions from white supporters and missionaries. Editorials in the Phoenix then responded by criticizing the Georgia Guard for their ill treatment of captured missionaries. Soon, Boudinot began receiving threats because Georgians were displeased with the “unsavory” articles that appeared about them in the Phoenix (Malone 182-3).

Two landmark cases, the Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (to re-establish the Nation’s sovereignty over Georgia laws) and Worcester v. Georgia (to secure Worcester’s release from prison), went to the Supreme Court. In both cases, the Cherokees were victorious, but the rulings were ignored by Georgia and the White House (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 25).

In 1832, Boudinot returned from his fund-raising tour. Something had happened to change his view on relocation. Boudinot became disillusioned and put his name on the Treaty of New Echota, a petition favoring removal, in July of 1832. Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, John Ross, heard of Boudinot’s change of position, and was concerned. Boudinot wished to publish articles in the Phoenix that reflected the pro-removal stance, to give the Cherokee people the other side of the issue. However, Ross wished to face the pressure from the United States with a unified front (Perdue, Cherokee Editor 25). Ross asked Boudinot to resign from his position as editor of the Phoenix, and in the August 11 issue of the year 1832, Boudinot announced his resignation (Malone 185). On September 8, 1832, Boudinot was replaced by Elijah Hicks, Ross’ brother-in-law (Malone 186).

Although Hicks was against removal, he lacked Boudinot’s abilities, experience, and rhetorical skill. The paper seemed to decline after Boudinot left. Hicks also faced extreme pressure, as the situation was worsening in Georgia. The new postmaster, that replaced Worcester was pro-removal and actively sought to delay the paper whenever possible. The president had also approved a lottery, and as a result, sections of Cherokee lands were given to whites who invaded Cherokee territory freely (Malone 186-7). Finally, on May 31 of 1834, the last issue of the Phoenix was published. In it, Hicks said that the paper would cease publication temporarily due to lack of funds and the editor’s ill health (Malone 188). The hiatus proved to be permanent. In October of 1835, the Georgia Guard invaded the press office. Though the Cherokee Nation attempted to get the press, the State of Georgia refused to return it to them. It is not known what happened to the press, but it is likely that it was destroyed by the Georgian authorities (Awtrey 16-17).

Without question, literacy in English was harmful to the Cherokee Nation. However, what sets the Cherokee’s situation apart is that they became literate in their own language, in characters created by a Cherokee, and not related to the Latin alphabet. Because of Sequoya’s syllabary and the Cherokee Phoenix, Cherokees are seen by non-Indians and by other Indian groups as “the Indians who write.” It sets Cherokees apart from other tribes, because the popular stereotype of the Indian warrior hunting buffalo and living in a tipi, doesn’t fit with the Cherokee scribe image. So the very image of a tribe of writing Indians works against harmful stereotypes. However, that doesn’t mean it is an entirely positive image; it is an image that has, in fact, been manipulated by forces in favor of acculturation. But what writing in Cherokee really means, and has meant to Cherokees is complex and often misunderstood by the dominant society. The introduction of literacy changed the Cherokee Nation and the way the Nation was perceived by others; ultimately, though, the Cherokee syllabary helped preserve Cherokee culture and spirituality.