John Ross: Address to a General Council of the Cherokee Nation

Chief John Ross authored numerous speeches and personal communications as he guided the Cherokee Nation through the crisis of their removal from the state of Georgia. They reveal much about Ross’s personality and political tactics, showing him to have been an optimistic pragmatist and a skilled politician. He was an ardent advocate for his nation and a reassuring but candid communicator to its citizens. In his 1839 Address to a General Council of the Cherokee Nation, Ross calls on the Cherokee people to reunify in their new home in the Indian Territory and rebuild their nation.