The Cherokee Removal of 1838–1839 unfolded against a complex backdrop of competing ideologies, self-interest, party politics, altruism, and ambition. Using documents that convey Cherokee voices, government policy, and white citizens’ views, Theda Perdue and Michael D. Green present a multifaceted account of this complicated moment in American history. The second edition of this successful, class-tested volume contains four new sources, including the Cherokee Constitution of 1827 and a modern Cherokee’s perspective on the removal. The introduction provides students with succinct historical background. Document headnotes contextualize the selections and draw attention to historical methodology. To aid students’ investigation of this compelling topic, suggestions for further reading, photographs, and a chronology of the Cherokee removal are also included.
Michael D. Green is Professor of History and American Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his field of research is the history of the Creeks.
THEDA PERDUE is professor of history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her publications include Slavery and the Evolution of Cherokee Society, 1540-1865 (1979), Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Five Civilized Tribes (1980), Cherokee Editor (1983), Native Carolinians (1985), The Cherokees (1988), Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835 (1998), Sifters: Native American Women's Lives (2001), The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast (2001), and "Mixed Blood" Indians: Racial Construction in the Early South (2003).
MICHAEL D. GREEN is professor of history and American studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His publications include The Creeks: A Critical Bibliography (1979), The Politics of Indian Removal: Creek Government and Society in Crisis (1985), The Creeks: A Tribal History (1990), and The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Southeast (2001).