- Elias Boudinot and the Cherokee Newspaper
- "Language is as much an art and as sure a refuge as painting or music or literature"
- -Jane Ellen Harrison
- Sequoyah, a native American of the Cherokee tribe, was called the American Cadmus after the Greek hero who started the Greek language. Sequoyah developed the written Cherokee alphabet. At first, he set out to create a symbol for each word and then he revised his system to have each character stand for a sound in the Cherokee tongue.
- In the beginning, he met opposition because of his eccentric studies. He had to leave his village and family in order to get his work done. In 1821, he showed the result of his efforts. He was able to teach children how to write with the new Cherokee characters. Western tribe members could now communicate with members who lived in the East. Sequoyah was the only person to single-handedly develop a written language from the spoken word. He was instantly a hero to his people, but he was too old to carry the work further.
- Elias Boudinot was a young Cherokee male who was sent to a mission school in Cornwall, Connecticut. The objective was to teach the Indians the ways of the Whites. Elias was an excellent student. While there, he fell in love and married 19-year old Harriet Gold. Their interracial marriage was publicly opposed and led to the closing of the school. The rejected couple moved back to the Cherokee nation.
- Boudinot again embraced in his people's affairs and culture, but now with a new passion for its survival as well as his own. The Cherokees had created a government based on the American system. They had a two-house legislature. Executive power was given to a Chief who was elected for a four-year term. Their court system was similar to the U.S. courts. They even adopted a preamble to their constitution that was like the United States constitution.
- They were a prosperous nation and had business and agriculture similar to that of their White neighbors. Other less desirable aspects of American life were adopted. In the South, they planted the same crops which caused them to adopt slavery. Woman lost their previous right to vote as did any person with any African-American blood.
- Many began to see little value in Sequoyah's new system of writing as the nation assimilated White ways. The Cherokee could adopt the English alphabet as well as other American customs.
- Boudinot and Sequoyah believed that the Cherokee could never establish an independent culture if they relied on another system of communication. They were driven by a love of their people and culture.
- The tribal council, in 1825, voted to establish a permanent capital in a town they named New Echota in Georgia. The idea was that this town would be the political and intellectual capital of the Cherokee nation. Boudinot saw a need for a unique Cherokee education and raised money to buy a printing press to continue Sequoyah's work.
- The first edition of the Cherokee Phoenix was printed February 21, 1828. Elias Boudinot served as editor. It was printed in both English and Cherokee. In his opening editorial he called for a new peace between Whites and Cherokees. He wished the terms "'Indian depredations', 'war whoop', 'scalping knife' and the like would become obsolete and for ever be buried under deep ground."
- He printed copies of the Cherokee constitution, the Lord's Prayer, and local laws in the newspaper. Articles appeared on the benefits of laughter, excavations of the ancient city of Pompeii, and the possible collision between the earth and a comet.
- The newspaper had great influence beyond the Cherokee nation. It was read by Whites in Tennessee and by the nations leaders in Washington. It inspired the publication of native American newspapers in Oklahoma in 1844. The Cherokee Messenger and The Cherokee Advocate, both started in the same year in Oklahoma.
- Elias Boudinot, a printer and publisher, carried on the work of the great Sequoyah and in doing so helped preserve the culture of the Cherokee nation.
Copyright (C) 1997 by Frank Granger
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