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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 555
East Tennessee. Under the treaties both of 1817 and of 1819, the head
of any Cherokee family living in the ceded territory might, at his
option, remain in possession of his home, together with 640 acres of
land, to descend in fee simple to his heirs. But Georgia objected most
strenuously to these provisions and gradually within the next few years
all of the Cherokee family holdings in these ceded districts were
purchased.
Negotiations dragged until 1823 when George M. Troup came to the
governorship. At this time an effort was made by President Monroe
to negotiate a cession of land. Messrs. Duncan G. Campbell and James
Meriwether were appointed commissioners to visit the Cherokee nation
with this purpose in view, but the Indians stubbornly refused to cede
an acre of ground. Later, as we have seen, a delegation of Cherokees
was sent to Washington to register a solemn protest against any move
ment seeking to dispossess the nation. President Monroe received this
delegation with a diplomatic courtesy, the like of which was paid only
to sovereign powers.
At this time the eyes of the world were opened for the first time
to the wonderful progress achieved by the Cherokee Indians of Georgia
in the arts of civilization. Composing this delegation, there were four
Indian half-breeds: John Ross, Major Ridge, George Lowrey and
Elijah Hicks. These men were the very flower of the Cherokee nation,
eloquent of speech, bold in action, self-possessed in manner, unawed
even in the presence of the nation's supreme ruler. So impressed was
President Monroe with this visit that in a message to Congress he
refused to acknowledge any binding obligation resting upon the Fed
eral Government to remove the Cherokee Indians.
Thus encouraged, the deputation returned home. The capital of
the Southern Cherokees was at this time located at New Echota, in
what is now Gordon County, at the confluence of the Connesauga and
Coosawattee rivers. According to a census taken in 1825 the nation's
population was shown to be 13,563 Indians, 1,277 negro slaves, and 220
whites. Some time in the '20s, a Cherokee half-breed, Sequoya, having
invented an alphabet, there was set up at New Echota a printing press
from which a newspaper was published. In a subsequent chapter this
wonderful Cherokee alphabet will be discussed at some length. Such
was the stimulating effect of Sequoya's invention that steps were taken
to formulate a written constitution. The spirit of national self-con
sciousness and of national independence was also aroused to an un
wonted degree. On July 26, 1827, the Cherokees in convention assem
bled, formally adopted a constitution. This instrument provided for a
representative form of government, similar in character to that of the
United States. It also asserted that the Cherokee nation constituted
one of the sovereign and independent nations of the earth. To the
high-sounding phraseology of this contention, Governor Forsyth entered
an emphatic demurrer. He could not conceive of such a nation existing
within the borders of Georgia—itself a sovereign and independent com
monwealth of the American Union. Governor Gilmer, advancing a step
further, urged the passage of a law extending the state's jurisdiction
over all the Indian lands within its territorial borders. The Legisla
ture passed this act on December 20, 1828, though its provisions were