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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 of 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 In addition to listing these four points dealing with what the papers articles would focus on, Boudinot wrote what he expected to accomplish by presenting them in a newspaper. Such a paper, comprising a summary of religious and political events, Etc. on the one hand; and on the other, exhibiting the feelings, disposition, improvements, and prospects of the Indian; their traditions, their true character, as it once was and as it now is; the ways and means most likely to throw the mantle of civilization over all tribes; and such other matter as will tend to diffuse proper and correct impressions in regard to their condition-such a paper could not fail to create much interest in the American community, favorable to the aborigines, and to have a powerful influence, on the advancement of the Indians themselves. The Cherokee Phoenix was the first of many Indian newspapers, and, through its columns as Boudinot intended, gave a voice to the political struggles, religious conversion, and cultural advancement to the newly formed Cherokee Nation. In the first publication of the Cherokee Phoenix the constitution of the Cherokee Nation was printed to inform all the Indians of their rights and guaranteed general welfare. This issue not only informed the white population of this new republic, but also the Cherokees themselves. The Phoenix told about district elections, named candidates, and featured editorials by Boudinot commenting on the progress of their new government. The Indian readers of this newspaper began to identify themselves as a group with a common identity and this, according to Henry Thomas Malone in Cherokees of the Old South, ”Marked the greatest expression of their Nationalism.” As well as greatly affecting the inner working of the Cherokee Nation the impact of the Phoenix reached far beyond its borders. Editorials about the removal bill soon reached all over the United States, along with published pleas for support and statements against Georgia and President Jackson. In this arena the newspaper exceeded all expectation, and soon after the Cherokees received the support through other respected newspapers like the Christian Soldier in Boston, which told the Cherokees not “to give up the Ship.” Other newspapers also commented on removal through their editorials with a uniform message that told the Cherokee Nation to hold out against the Indian Removal Bill until a new administration took control of Washington on March 4, 1833. However, not all of the Cherokees’ supporters were from New England where Boudinot, Principal Chief John Ross, and other leading Cherokees were educated. Support came from as far South as Nashville, where the National Banner said that threats against Boudinot were the “highest disgrace” of the Georgia government. Despite the growing support for the fight against removal and the 1832 Supreme Court decision that ruled the Georgia Legislation unconstitutional for outlawing the Cherokee government and confiscated tribal lands, President Jackson followed through on his policies. The Phoenix fought back by publishing accounts of the Georgia Guard’s arrests and injustices done to the Indians in an attempt to compromise the honor of Georgia. Notwithstanding, the newspaper continued to report “White intrusion” and the illegal extradition of its people; however, the heated attacks began to wane as Boudinot’s views about removal changed. ‘The political rights of the Cherokee cannot be restored or secured by a continued investigation, or a repetition of the numerous and aggravated grievances which they have already laid before the American People.’ As Boudinot continued to publish his views favored Indian removal in the Cherokee Phoenix, he was pressured by the council to resign, for not representing the official position of the Cherokee Nation and printing “dissident” positions that would confuse the people. He did so in August of 1832. According to Cullen Joe Holland in The Cherokee Newspapers, 1928-1906 : The Tribal Voice of a People in Transition, there was “No doubt that he [Boudinot] considered it futile to oppose Georgia and the general government further.” The Phoenix continued under Elijah Hicks, Boudinot’s brother-in-law, but the quality of the paper declined because he lacked the emotional editorials that Boudinot provided his readers. The relating of political news and government documents was only one of the goals of Cherokee Phoenix, and in some ways the paper acted as a religious journal to the Cherokee Indians. The driving force behind using the paper as a religious medium was Samuel A. Worchester, a New England missionary. Worchester saw the potential of using the Cherokee language in hymns and scripture, which was the main reason he supported the endeavor to obtain a printing press. Worchester was also the son of a printer and helped the Cherokees in knowing what specific equipment was needed. The Cherokee Phoenix contributed to the Christianizing effort by the “dissemination” of religious education, including scriptural translations, hymns, and testaments from other converted Indians of all denomination. However, Worchester was not alone in this endeavor, when Boudinot had time he helped Worchester, and in the first publication, several translated chapters of the Gospel of Matthew appeared. Boudinot also began printing articles of practical guidance to missionaries and various other religious leaders. The Cherokee Phoenix continued to give the Cherokee’s religious activities publicity which became a boon to the missionaries. This soon changed when the authenticity of the Phoenix was challenged. During the first year of the paper, the “whites” did not believe an Indian could write, edit, and print a widely circulated paper. Rumors began to circulate that Worchester and other missionaries were the ones responsible for the publication in an effort to “christianizing the American aborigines.” Worchester made several attempts to refute these accusations, and Boudinot also refuted them by issuing statements to that fact in his editorials. “He [a colonel in the Georgia Guard] intimated that the missionaries were the authors of those articles, and he blamed me for claiming them as mine. He requested me to make this correction, which I have done now according to my best understanding if his language.” While various other advocates of removal and the Georgia Guard continued to equate the Cherokees as uncivilized and uncultured barbarians, Boudinot portrayed the Cherokees as a civilized people in order to effluence society. Boudinot’s reasoning stemmed from the fact that if “whites” called them “savages”, it would be all the excuse they needed to justify removal. On account of this, the Cherokee Phoenix devoted space to upholding the Cherokee’s progress. Worchester often promoted education by publishing lessons on sentence structure, spelling, conjugation, pronouns, and devoted many columns to the literacy of the new alphabet. The unique achievements of the Cherokee were also a favorite of Boudinot. These articles promoted the fact that the Cherokees had adopted the plantation system, European tools, modes of dress, and mastered the English language. In this light, the Phoenix showed Cherokee life similar to that of nearby Nonetheless, Boudinot realized that without the support of the United States, the Cherokees would never truly be a respected country, and on May 31, 1834 the Cherokee Phoenix ceased publication. In 1835, 500 leading Cherokees agreed 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. Bibliography: Word Count: 1757
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