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John Ross (Cherokee Chief)

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The Resume

    (October 3, 1790-August 1, 1866)
    Born in Turkeytown, Alabama
    Chief of the Cherokee Nation (1828-66)
    Plaintiff in the Cherokee Nation vs. Georgia (1831)
    Served in the War of 1812
    Led his people on the Trail of Tears (1836-38)
    Cherokee name was Koo-wis-gu-wi ('Mysterious Little White Bird')

Why he might be annoying:

    He got an elite education outside the Cherokee tribe and was even home schooled at one point.
    He made his vast fortune by harvesting tobacco in Tennessee.
    He had at least twenty black slaves to work the crops.
    He was disliked by other Native tribes for his promotion of assimilation.
    He believed that assimilation was the best defense against the federal government mistreating Indian communities (clearly, it didn't work).
    He failed to unify the Cherokee nation during the Civil War and it broke into factions. (He, himself, was generally pro-Union, but ended up signing a treaty with the Confederacy anyway.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    His father was Scottish but he was raised by his mother, who was Cherokee.
    His first wife died during the Trail of Tears march.
    He used all but physical force in advocating for tribal land rights, including lobbying Congress and appealing to the Supreme Court.
    The Supreme Court sided with him in his 1831 case petitioning against the Indian Removal Act, but ruled that they could not interfere with the federal government's actions.
    It wasn't until the following year, in the Worcester vs. Georgia ruling, that the Court explicitly denounced forced Indian Removal as unconstitutional - as the Cherokee were a 'Sovereign nation.'
    President Jackson - unbothered - famously said in response: <15273'Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!' (The removal continued as planned.)
    After the Trail of Tears, he helped write a new constitution for the United Cherokee Nation in 1839.
    He was chosen to be chief of the new Cherokee government and held the position until he died.
    He served as Cherokee Chief longer than any other person in the position.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying