The Cherokees of the Smoky Mountains

When the American Revolution began, the Cherokees were quick to support the British as the only bulwark against the frontiersmen's encroachment. In retaliation, colonial militia units destroyed a number of Indian villages, but for more than a decade after the Revolution there were intermittent raids against the settlers. Not until the 1790s were the Cherokees completely pacified. By then the United States government was embarking upon a new program of "civilizing" the Indian by encouraging - and forcing - him to live more like whites. This included instruction in the white agricultural techniques, conversion to Christianity, learning to read and write, and forsaking tribal landholding patterns. Such changes would have obvious advantages, for the more "settled" the Indians became the more land would be available for white expansion. This dual objective became the dominant theme of American Indian policy. Of all the tribes that adapted to white ways, the Cherokees have long been viewed as the most successful. By 1827 the Cherokee Nation could boast of a constitution and legislative, executive, and judicial bodies. Regardless of whether the Cherokees were becoming more "civilized" white southerners were increasingly vociferous in demanding their removal to the West. The fate of the Cherokee Nation was sealed by a fraudulent treaty negotiated in December 1835. After it was ratified in May 1836, the Cherokee Nation had two years to move to a new homeland in present-day Oklahoma.