American Minute with Bill Federer
Trail of Tears, Oklahoma History, & Will Rogers
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Gold
had been discovered in
Georgia
in 1828, resulting in a
Democrat-controlled Congress
rushing through the
Indian Removal Act,
which passed by a
single vote
in 1830.
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It was signed by
Democrat President Andrew Jackson
and carried out by
Democrat President Martin Van Buren.
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Though unauthorized by the Tribe, prominent
Cherokees John Ridge and Elias Boudino
t felt Indian removal was inevitable and negotiated with Washington politicians to sign the
Treaty of New Echota of 1835.
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Elias Boudinot,
publisher of the
Cherokee Phoenix
- the first newspaper published by an American Indian tribe - wrote in editorials that the removal was unavoidable.
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Indian removal was opposed by the
Scot-Cherokee Chief John Ross,
founder of
Ross' Landing
in Tennessee, which was later renamed
"Chattanooga."
Over
12,000 Cherokees
signed a petition in
protest of the Indian Removal Act.
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Condemning the Federal Government's mandate were members of the
National Republican
and
Whig Parties,
including:
- Rep. Abraham Lincoln (IL);
- Senator Henry Clay (KY);
- Senator Daniel Webster (MA); and
- Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen (NJ).
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Tennessee Congressmen Davy Crockett
gave an impassioned speech in defense of the Indians.
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The
Cherokee
were largely literate Christians, having their own language and
alphabet
, created in 1821 by
Cherokee silversmith Sequoyah.
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Christian missionaries,
such as
Jeremiah Evarts,
led resistance to the Federal Government's removal of the Indians, with
many missionaries being arrested by the State of Georgia
and sentenced to years of hard labor.
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Christian missionaries
Samuel Worcester
and
Elizur Butler
were arrested for their opposition to
Indian removal
and their case went to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
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Chief Justice John Marshall
ruled in favor of the
Cherokee
in
Worcester v. Georgia
(1832), writing that the
Cherokee Nation
was a
"distinct community"
with
self-government
"in which the laws of Georgia can have no force."
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Justice Joseph Story
wrote March 4, 1832:
"Thanks be to God, the Court can wash their hands clean of the
iniquity of oppressing the Indians
and disregarding their rights."
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Noting that the
Supreme Court
had no power to enforce its edicts, but had to rely on the President to actually implement them,
Democrat President Jackson
was attributed with saying:
"John Marshall
has made his decision; now let him enforce it!"
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Choctaw Indian leader George W. Harkins
wrote a
Farewell to the American People,
1831:
"Having determined to emigrate west of the Mississippi river this fall, I have thought proper in bidding you farewell ...
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... We as
Choctaws
rather chose to suffer and be free, than live under the degrading influence of laws, which our voice could not be heard in their formation."
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Alexis de Tocqueville,
the French philosopher, witnessed the
Choctaw removals
while in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1831, writing:
"In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung.
The Indians were tranquil, but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why the
Chactas
were leaving their country. 'To be free,' he answered."
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General John E. Wool
had sympathy for the Indians and hesitated carrying out the inhumane removal, resulting in
Democrat President Martin Van Buren
replacing him with
General Winfield Scott.
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46,000 Indians
were
removed
by 1837.
Then came the
freezing weather of 1838-1839.
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The last
17,000 Cherokee Indians
were forcibly removed by the Federal Government from
Georgia,
Tennessee,
Alabama,
and
South Carolina
to the
Oklahoma territory.
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Samuel Carter
wrote in
Cherokee Sunset: A Nation Betrayed: A Narrative of Travail and Triumph, Persecution and Exile
(Doubleday, First Edition, 1976):
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"Then ... there came the reign of terror.
From the jagged-walled stockades the troops fanned out across the Nation, invading every hamlet, every cabin, rooting out the inhabitants at bayonet point.
The
Cherokees
hardly had time to realize what was happening as they were prodded like so many sheep toward the concentration camps, threatened with knives and pistols, beaten with rifle butts if they resisted."
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Christians
ministered to the Indians along the trail, bringing them food and blankets.
Not able give their dead a full burial, they simply sang
Amazing Grace
, resulting in that song being considered as a
"Cherokee National Anthem."
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President Ronald Reagan
commemorated the estimated 5,000 who died from the Federal Government's policy by designating the
"Trail of Tears"
a
National Historic Trail
in 1987.
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Oklahoma,
which is the
Choctaw
word for
"red people,"
became home to the
Five Civilized Tribes:
- Chickasaw,
- Choctaw,
- Creek,
- Seminole,
- Cherokee;
- along with other tribes who had been forcibly removed to the territory.
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The remaining territory opened for settlement with a gunshot at high noon on APRIL 22, 1889, beginning the famous
Oklahoma Land Rush.
Within 9 hours some two million acres became the private property of settlers who staked their claims for 160 acres to homestead.
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Riding as fast as they could, many found desirable plots already taken by
"Boomers"
who began intruding ten years earlier, and
"Sooners,"
individuals who entered the territory just days or hours sooner than was permitted.
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In 1859,
Lewis Ross,
a brother of
Cherokee Chief John Ross,
was drilling for saltwater-brine to use as a food preservative and found a pocket of oil that produced ten barrels of oil a day for nearly a year.
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In 1890, near the town
Chelsea, Rogers County, Oklahoma, Edward Byrd
drilled and found oil at a depth of only 36 feet, but was hampered by severe government regulations.
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In 1897, the well
"Nellie Johnstone No. 1"
was drilled in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma,
and struck oil at 1,320 feet, beginning the
Oklahoma Oil Boom.
Oil production rose quickly and impetus grew for
Oklahoma
to become the
46th State in 1907.
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Within 10 years,
Oklahoma
became the
largest oil-producing entity in the world.
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The
oil industry saved the whale
from extinction, as prior to petroleum fossil fuel, the
major source of oil
was from
whaling ships
, which
killed whales for their blubber
from which
oil
was extracted.
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Oklahoma
remained the leading oil producing State into the 1920's, hitting its peak in 1930.
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In 1938,
Standard Oil of California
struck oil in
Saudi Arabia.
This began a shift in world politics, as
Saudi Arabia
became the main sponsor of the spread of extremist
Wahhabi Islam.
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Due to
recent technological innovations
in extracting oil,
Oklahoma
is once again among the major producers.
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The Preamble of the
Oklahoma State Constitution, 1907,
states:
"Invoking the guidance of
Almighty God,
in order to secure and perpetuate the blessing of liberty; to secure just and rightful government; to promote our mutual welfare and happiness, we, the people of the
State of Oklahoma,
do ordain and establish this Constitution."
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A
Cherokee delegate
to the
Oklahoma State Constitutional Convention
was
Clement Rogers
of
Rogers County.
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His son,
William Penn Adair 'Will' Rogers
became a popular 1920's radio and movie star.
Will Rogers
was offered the nomination to be
Oklahoma's Governor,
but he declined.
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Will Rogers
stated:
"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
"With Congress — every time they make a joke it’s a law. And every time they make a law it’s a joke."
"If you ever injected truth into politics you'd have no politics."
"Hitler got his start in a beer hall and before he’s through he’ll give the world a hangover."
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"The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has."
"If we ever pass out as a great nation we ought to put on our tombstone 'America died from a delusion that she had moral leadership.'"
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With his cowboy philosopher wit,
Rogers
said:
"The Lord constituted everybody that no matter what color you are, you require the same amount of nourishment."
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He remarked:
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip."
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Will Rogers
quipped:
"Lord, let me live until I die,"
and
"The trouble with our praying is, we just do it as a means of last resort."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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