MEMORIAL OF JOHN ROSS AND OTHERS, DELEGATES OF THE CHROKEE INDIANS, FOR THE PASSAGE OF A LAW CREATING COMMISSIONERS TO EXAMINE THE VALIDITY OF CERTAIN RESERVATIONS IN TENNESSEE AND ALABAMA; TO ASCERTAIN THE VALUE, AND PAY THE RESERVEEES, &C

23rd Congress, 2d Session. February 13, 1835. 9" x 5 1/2" Disbound. 6pp. plus 2 blank pages at the rear. John Ross also known as Guwisguwi ("Little White Bird"), was the Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation from 1828 - 1866, serving during one of the most tumultuous periods of the tribe's history, a time of great factional debates in the 1830s over the issue of relocating to Indian Territory. As leader of the anti-removal faction (the "National Party") Ross spent a great deal of time in Washington, D.C., battling the U.S. government's unscrupulous seizure of ancestral tribal lands in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and other places east of the Mississippi and attempting to hold the government accountable for promises made through various treaties. After a small number of Cherokees "sold" the Cherokee ancestral lands east of the Mississippi, Ross unsuccessfully challenged that sale on behalf of the majority of the tribe through the legal system. He later had the unenviable task of leading his tribe to Oklahoma Territory west of the Mississippi in what became known as the Trail of Tears. This memorial, which pre-dates the removal to Oklahoma Territory was one of Ross' attempts to have the government live up to its promises and includes a printed letter the delegation had sent to President 9 Jackson (March 17, 1834) and the response sent by Lewis Cass, Secretary of War (March 19, 1834) telling the delegation that "Whatever relief you may be entitled to must be sought from Congress, which is alone competent to make the necessary appropriation, and to apply such a remedy as may be proper." The main portion of this publication is the delegation's memorial to the Senate and House of Representatives, stating the tribe's case over land taken from tribal members by the government and encouraging Congress to act accordingly. Light toning else near fine.…