Leaders of the Cherokee Nation resisted removal in many organized, political, and even legal ways, especially under Principal Chief John Ross.

Key Actions Cherokee Leaders Took

1. Building a Constitutional Government

Cherokee leaders created a written constitution in the 1820s to assert themselves as a sovereign nation, similar to the United States.

  • They formed a national council, courts, and elected a Principal Chief (John Ross), showing they were a functioning nation, not just scattered tribes.
  • In 1828, the Cherokee government passed a law making it treason for anyone to sign away Cherokee land without the consent of the national government, with death as a possible punishment.

2. Legal Resistance in U.S. Courts

Leaders turned to the American legal system to defend their land and political rights.

  • They supported major Supreme Court cases, including Worcester v. Georgia (1832), which recognized some Cherokee sovereignty, even though Georgia and President Jackson largely ignored it.
  • This legal strategy showed the Cherokee were using U.S. law, treaties, and courts to argue they should not be removed.

3. Negotiating and Lobbying in Washington

Principal Chief John Ross and other delegates repeatedly traveled to Washington, D.C., to argue against removal.

  • Ross met with President Andrew Jackson, trying to negotiate terms that would at least protect Cherokee rights and secure fair compensation if land had to be ceded.
  • He lobbied Congress and federal officials, insisting that most Cherokee opposed removal and that any treaty without national consent was invalid.

4. Using Petitions and Mass Political Mobilization

Cherokee leaders organized their people to show unified opposition.

  • They gathered thousands of signatures on petitions to Congress protesting the Treaty of New Echota (1835), which had been signed by a small “Treaty Party” without approval from the Cherokee government.
  • Ross and his supporters persuaded the national council not to ratify removal treaties and to denounce those who signed away land without consent.

5. Press, Education, and “Civilization” Strategy

Leaders used communication and education as tools of resistance.

  • They published laws, news, and political arguments in the Cherokee Phoenix, their national newspaper, to show their progress in “civilized life” and to appeal to white Americans’ sense of justice.
  • By promoting schools, Christianity, farming, and written laws, leaders hoped to prove that the Cherokee could coexist as a self-governing nation on their homeland.

6. Maintaining Unity and Internal Control

Unity was seen as essential to resisting removal.

  • Ross gave speeches stressing that the Cherokee must stand together and not sign individual agreements or sell land under pressure.
  • The 1828 “treason” law and threats of impeachment against leaders who cooperated with removal were attempts to keep the nation united against forced migration.

7. Resisting Forced Removal and Guiding Their Own Move

Even when removal became unavoidable, leaders resisted by trying to protect their people as much as possible.

  • Most Cherokee refused to “voluntarily” move west after the Treaty of New Echota and stayed on their land until soldiers came, which itself was a form of resistance.
  • After seeing the suffering caused by early forced removals, John Ross asked General Winfield Scott to allow Cherokee leadership to direct the remaining detachments so they could better care for their people on the journey.

In Short (TL;DR)

Cherokee leaders resisted removal by:

  1. Creating a constitutional government and laws to protect their land.
  1. Fighting removal in U.S. courts and through treaties.
  1. Lobbying in Washington and rejecting unauthorized treaties.
  1. Organizing mass petitions and stressing unity.
  1. Using newspapers, schools, and “civilized” institutions to argue for their right to stay.
  1. Refusing voluntary emigration and, when forced, insisting on Cherokee-led removal to lessen the suffering.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.