Catharine Beecher's Campaign Against Indian Removal

Resource 11: Catharine Beecher’s Campaign Against Indian Removal Circular Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the United States

May 28, 1830 . The Trail of Tears— Ever since the existence of this nation, our general the forced march of the Cherokees government . . . [has] acknowledged . . . [the Indian] to Oklahoma Territory—began in people, as free and independent nations, and has protected 1838 . The failure of the women’s petition effort, and the reports of them in the quiet possession of their lands . . . . Cherokee deaths and suffering, led But the lands of this people are claimed to be embraced many to see parallels to the plan to within the limits of some of our Southern States, and as end slavery by sending freed slaves to Africa . Some in the antislavery they are fertile and valuable, they are demanded by the movement abandoned colonization whites as their own possessions, and efforts are making as unworkable and unjust, and be- to dispossess the Indians of their native soil . And such came full-fledged abolitionists . But is the singular state of concurring circumstances, that Catharine Beecher was not among it has become almost a certainty, that these people are them . She continued to favor colo- [Left] Attributed to W & F Langenheim, Catharine Beecher, 1848 . Daguerreotype . Schlesinger Library on the to have their lands torn from them, and to be driven History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, A102-438-1z . nization, and saw abolitionists like [Right] Augustus Washington, Lydia Sigourney, 1852 . Watkinson Library, Trinity College, Angelina Grimke Weld as danger- into western wilds and to final annihilation, unless Hartford, Connecticut . ous radicals . the feelings of a humane and Christian nation shall fter the Revolution, and impending Indian Removal Act . On Sources: Catharine Beecher, Essay on Slavery and be aroused to prevent the unhallowed sacrifice . . . . especially in the boom December 1, 1829, educator Catha- Abolitionism, Addressed to Miss A. D. Grimke (Philadelphia: Henry Perkins, 1837), http://utc .iath . Have not then the females of this country some duties times after the War of rine Beecher wrote this circular, which virginia .edu/abolitn/abesceba2t .html (accessed by M . 1812, white settlers and was published unsigned on Christmas Waters, 10-26-2016); Theda Purdue, The Cherokee devolving upon them in relation to this helpless race? Removal: A Brief History with Documents, rev . ed ., . . . It may be, that female petitioners can lawfully be individualA states claimed Cherokee Day . Beecher—older sister of Harriet (Boston: Bedford/St . Martin’s, 2016) . lands that occupied much of what Beecher Stowe—and Lydia Sigourney, heard, even by the highest rulers of our land . . . . is now the southeastern United her colleague at the Hartford Female States . In 1828, Georgia passed Seminary in Connecticut, organized Discussion Questions This communication was written and sent abroad solely laws that challenged Cherokee the petition effort, drawing on their by the female hand . Let every woman who peruses it . . . ✮✮ What does this circular reveal sovereignty within the state . After many contacts in education and be- about the political engagement endeavor by every suitable expedient to interest the feelings Andrew Jackson was inaugurated nevolent societies . Petitions were an of women in the 1820s? of her friends, relatives and acquaintances, in behalf of this in March 1829, he supported acceptable medium for women’s opin- people, that are ready to perish . A few weeks must decide Georgia’s claims, not surprisingly ions, but in Beecher and Sigourney’s ✮✮ What could women do to since he was elected largely because campaign, women worked collectively, express their disapproval of this interesting and important question, and after that he favored Indian removal . nationwide, on a heated political issue . a government policy? How time, sympathy and regret will all be in vain . They were venturing into areas where effective was this tactic? Eight months later, Jeremiah Evarts, they were expected to remain silent . ✮✮ Why was petitioning considered a missionary who worked among [Catharine Beecher], “Circular Addressed to Benevolent Ladies of the U . States,” December 1, 1929 . Theda an appropriate way for women Purdue, The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents, rev . ed . Boston: Bedford/St . Martin’s Press, the Cherokees, encouraged a mas- Despite these efforts, Congress to express their opinions? 2016 . The complete text is at http://www .wcu .edu/library/DigitalCollections/CherokeePhoenix/Vol2/no39/

Saving Washington: The New Republic and Early Reformers, 1790–1860