Cherokee Phoenix Essay -- American History Journalism

Cherokee Phoenix In the early nineteenth century during the presidency of Andrew Jackson and the debate of the Indian Removal Bill came one of the most important accomplishments of the Cherokee Nation, their own newspaper written in their own language. This experiment in Indian journalism began on February 21, 1828 in the Cherokee capital of New Echota. The paper employed a minimum staff of three to four people throughout its duration, often dismissing and rehiring printers. However, the most noteworthy of these were the people who first employed by the paper: journeyman printer John F. Wheeler, printer Isaac Harris, and editor Elias Boudinot. These men helped to further Cherokee nationalism by using a simple syllabery script, developed by a mixed blood Cherokee named Sequayah, that allowed the Cherokee language to be written. The Phoenix was not only printed in Cherokee but also in English, for the non-Cherokee reading Indians as well as white subscribers who lived in Boston, New York, Richmond, Charleston, Nashville, Mobile, and Augusta. However, subscribers did not just receive an example of written Cherokee in this first installment, they were also provided with a list of what the Phoenix reader could expect from all the future issues. 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. .. ...to cede tribal territory in exchange for $5,700,00 and land in Indian Territory, and later several of that group were assassinated. In August of that same year Stand Watie of the Georgia Guard confiscated the Phoenix’s abandoned printing press, while federal troops began to forcibly evicting the Cherokees. Approximately one thousand escaped to the North Carolina mountains, purchased land and were incorporated into that state. The Phoenix became a principal voice for the nation, and met its goals by documenting their constitution, laws, and ongoing experiments in Jacksonian democracy. The paper was a religious journal that helped to convert Cherokees and inspire new religious thinking. The Cherokee Phoenix was also a proud voice for the cultural advancement and developing of the Cherokee people, sadly Phoenix was not a strong enough voice against removal. Cherokee Phoenix Essay -- American History Journalism Cherokee Phoenix In the early nineteenth century during the presidency of Andrew Jackson and the debate of the Indian Removal Bill came one of the most important accomplishments of the Cherokee Nation, their own newspaper written in their own language. This experiment in Indian journalism began on February 21, 1828 in the Cherokee capital of New Echota. The paper employed a minimum staff of three to four people throughout its duration, often dismissing and rehiring printers. However, the most noteworthy of these were the people who first employed by the paper: journeyman printer John F. Wheeler, printer Isaac Harris, and editor Elias Boudinot. These men helped to further Cherokee nationalism by using a simple syllabery script, developed by a mixed blood Cherokee named Sequayah, that allowed the Cherokee language to be written. The Phoenix was not only printed in Cherokee but also in English, for the non-Cherokee reading Indians as well as white subscribers who lived in Boston, New York, Richmond, Charleston, Nashville, Mobile, and Augusta. However, subscribers did not just receive an example of written Cherokee in this first installment, they were also provided with a list of what the Phoenix reader could expect from all the future issues. 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. .. ...to cede tribal territory in exchange for $5,700,00 and land in Indian Territory, and later several of that group were assassinated. In August of that same year Stand Watie of the Georgia Guard confiscated the Phoenix’s abandoned printing press, while federal troops began to forcibly evicting the Cherokees. Approximately one thousand escaped to the North Carolina mountains, purchased land and were incorporated into that state. The Phoenix became a principal voice for the nation, and met its goals by documenting their constitution, laws, and ongoing experiments in Jacksonian democracy. The paper was a religious journal that helped to convert Cherokees and inspire new religious thinking. The Cherokee Phoenix was also a proud voice for the cultural advancement and developing of the Cherokee people, sadly Phoenix was not a strong enough voice against removal.