Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

602 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
It was in a log house that this pioneer newspaper of North Georgia
was edited and published. The outfit was shipped from Boston to
Augusta and transported two hundred miles by wagon. Such was the
beginning of journalism in the Cherokee nation. After a precarious
existence of some six years, the Phoenix was suspended, owing to the
hostile action of the Georgia authorities; but its successor, the Advocate,
arose in 1844 at Tahlequah, under William P. Ross. Bibles, hymn-
books, school books, theological works, etc., were also printed in large
numbers. Besides being the first newspaper published in North
Georgia and the first newspaper in which the characters of the new
alphabet were used, it was also the first newspaper owned and edited
by the Indians of North America. Simultaneously with the decree
establishing the national press at New Echota, the Cherokee national
council, on July 26, 1827, adopted a constitution. John Ross was presi
dent of the convention. The choice of principal chief fell upon Charles
R. Hicks, a Moravian convert of mixed blood, but he was soon succeeded
by John Ross, who became the great leader of the national party, in
opposition to the policy of removal, and, first and last; amid the turbu
lent times in Georgia and throughout the long period of unrest in
Indian Territory, he remained steadily at the helm, a devoted servant
of his people for nearly forty years.