This collection of John Howard Payne’s Papers is a significant recovery of firsthand political and social histories of Indigenous cultures, particularly the Cherokees, a southeastern tribe, whose ancestral lands included parts of the present-day states of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. The papers enable readers to understand how the Cherokees and many other American Indians endured and persevered as they encountered forced removal in the 1830s due to the Indian Removal Act. The papers are also a source of cultural revitalization, elucidating the work of Sequoyah, a Cherokee genius, who in 1821 introduced his syllabary, a phonemic system with eighty-five symbols.

John Howard Payne (1791–1852), an American actor, poet, and playwright, was so taken by the Cherokees’ story that he lobbied Congress to forgo their removal and wrote articles in contemporary newspapers supporting Cherokees. In 1835 Payne journeyed to the Cherokee Nation and met with John Ross, Cherokee chief from 1828 to 1866, who found in Payne a colleague to assist him and other Cherokees with their cause against removal and in preserving their ancient social, spiritual, and political heritages. Payne gathered and recorded correspondence between Cherokees such as Ross, who was fluent in English, and U.S. officials. These papers include multiple correspondences, ratified and unratified treaties, contemporary newspaper articles, and resolutions sent to Congress appealing for justice for the Cherokees. Payne also assembled letters and writings by New England Congregationalist missionaries who resided in mission stations throughout the Cherokee Nation.

Available in print for the first time, this remarkable repository of information provides a fuller understanding of the political climates Cherokees encountered throughout the early to mid-nineteenth century.

Table of Contents:

[Volume 7]
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction   
Editorial Method and Symbols
List of Abbreviations and Definitions
Volume 7
1. Correspondence of Charles R. Hicks to John Ross, 1825–26
2. Message of the Principal Chief to the General Council of the Cherokee Nation, July 1830 000
3. “Memorial of the Cherokees,” December 1829
4. Message from the President of the U.S. regarding the Cherokee Council to Col. H. Montgomery, December 8, 1828
5. Correspondence and Documents regarding the Cherokee Council, 1817–27
6. Documents regarding the Cherokee Council, 1826–28
7. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross et al. regarding the Cherokee Council, 1828–29
8. Correspondence of John Ross to Richard Taylor, John Ridge, William Coodey, John Martin, and Others, November 19, 1830, and April 14, October 5, and December 1, 1831
9. Letters to and from Elizur Butler and His Friends and Family, 1831–32
10. “Release of the Imprisoned Missionaries,” regarding Elizur Butler and Samuel Worcester, by Church Missionary Society, March 1833
11. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross et al. and the Cherokee Council with U.S. Agents and Commissioners regarding the Cherokee Nation and the Issue of Removal, February 8, 1834–June 2, 1835, including Articles of a Treaty Agreed Upon at the City of Washington by J. F. Schermerhorn, and Andrew Jackson Letter to the Cherokee Nation
12. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross et al. and the Cherokee Council with U.S. Agents and Commissioners regarding the Cherokee Nation and the Issue of Removal, May 16–September 9, 1835
13. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross and the Cherokee Council with U.S. Agents and Commissioners regarding the Cherokee Nation and the 1835 Issue of Removal, October 12, 1835
14. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross et al. and the Cherokee Council with U.S. Agents and Commissioners regarding the Cherokee Nation and the Issue of Removal, October 25–December 2, 1835
15. Correspondence and Documents of John Ross and the Cherokee Council with U.S. Agents and Commissioners regarding the Cherokee Nation and the Issue of Removal, including J. F. Schermerhorn’s Document A and Notes for Ross’s Reply
16. Conference with Certain Chiefs and Warriors of the Cherokee Nation at Philadelphia, June 1794, part 2
17. Request for Resignation of John Ridge from the Coosoowatee District Committee, October 1833, including Cherokee Syllabary
18. Miscellaneous Newspaper Clippings, 1838
19. Newspaper Clipping from Cherokee Phoenix Extra, January 1, 1830
Notes to Volume 7
 
[Volumes 8–10]
List of Illustrations
Editorial Method and Symbols
List of Abbreviations and Definitions
Volume 8
1. Letters from Brainerd Missionary Station, May 16–July 16, 1828
2. Poems and Hymns Copied by John Ridge at Cornwall Mission School, February–March 1819
3. Mathematical School Lessons Apparently by John Ridge at the Cornwall Mission School 000
4. Correspondence of John Ridge with Albert Gallatin, February 27, 1826
5. Strictures on the Report of the Joint Committee on the State of the Republic in the Legislature of Georgia, on the Subject of the Cherokee Lands
6. Ledger Pages for Accounts of the Cherokee Nation for Expenses Incur’d under an Arrangement with Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott, August 2, 1838
Volume 9
1. Daniel S. Butrick to John H. Payne, January 12, 1841
2. George Gilmer to Elizur Butler, May 16, 1831
3. Rev. John Mercer to Elizur Butler, June 18, 1832
4. J. W. Sanford for Governor Gilmer to Elizur Butler, May 28, 1832
5. Daniel S. Butrick to John H. Payne, January 19, 1841
6. Daniel S. Butrick to John Ridge, June 24, 1836
7. Daniel S. Butrick to Elias Boudinot, July 2, 1836
8. Daniel S. Butrick to John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, November 5, 1836
9. Daniel S. Butrick to Rev. David Greene, June 24, 1836
10. Daniel S. Butrick to Rev. David Greene, September 5, 1836
11. Daniel S. Butrick to [?], November 26, 1836
12. Daniel S. Butrick to John H. Payne, April 4, 1839
13. Daniel S. Butrick to John H. Payne, June 6, 1839
Volume 10
1. A Topographical Description of the Creek Country in the Years 1798 and 1799 and State of the War Party in September, 1813, etc. by Benjamin Hawkins
2. A Description of the Emigration, Habits, etc. of the N. Western Indians, 1817, by William Turner
3. Customs and Manners of the Sioux by James Price Evans MD
4. Names Given by the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians to Rivers, Streams, Places, etc., 1833, by John Heckewelder
5. Correspondence of William Byrd Powell with John H. Payne, 1835–37
6. Correspondence of Gerard Troost with General Armstrong, November 20, 1839
7. Correspondence of Gerard Troost with John H. Payne, November 20, 1839
8. Gerard Troost’s Manuscript Memoir on Indian Mummies
Notes to Volume 8
Notes to Volume 9
Notes to Volume 10
 
[Volumes 11–14]
Editorial Method and Symbols
Abbreviations and Glossary
Volume 11
Early History of American Indians, Part 1: Comparison between Hindus and Persians with Mexicans and Peruvians
Early History of American Indians, Part 2: Chronological History of America (1512–1820)
Early History of American Indians, Part 3: European Chronology, “Giants,” etc.
Early History of American Indians, Part 4: Origin of the Mexicans, Names of Places, Mechanical Arts and Manufactures, etc.
Early History of American Indians, Part 5: Manners and Customs of the Indians, etc.
Volume 12
Memoranda and Letters Submitted in 1842 to Secretary of War in Reference to the Execution of the Cherokee Treaty of 1835 by John H. Payne
Volume 13
Memoranda in Regard to a Contemplated Examination into the Transactions of the Commissioners under the 17th Article of the Treaty of 1835 with the Cherokees by John H. Payne
Volume 14
Publications Justifying the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Missionary Case [by William Wirt]
Biography of John Howard Payne
Notes to Volume 11
Notes to Volume 12
Notes to Volume 13
Notes to Volume 14
Notes to Biography of John Howard Payne
Index