Digital
History>eXplorations>Indian
Removal>Resistance to Indian
Removal>John Ross' Speech
John
Ross
Ever
since [the whites came] we have been made to drink of the bitter
cup of humiliation; treated like dogs...our country and the graves
of our Fathers torn from us...through a period of upwards of 200
years, rolled back, nation upon nation [until] we find ourselves
fugitives, vagrants and strangers in our own country....
The
existence of the Indian nations as distinct independent communities
within the limits of the United States seems to be drawing to
a close.... You are aware that our Brethren, the Choctaws, Chickasaws
and Creeks of the South have severally disposed of their country
to the United States and that a portion of our own Tribe have
also emigrated West of the Mississippi--but that the largest portion
of our Nation still remain firmly upon our ancient domain....Our
position there may be compared to a solitary tree in an open space,
where all the forest trees around have been prostrated by a furious
tornado.
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