Samuel Worcester
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Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was a missionary to the Cherokees, translator of the Bible, printer and defender of the Cherokee's freedom. He was born in Peacham, Vermont on January 19, 1798 and died in Park Hill, Indian Territory on April 20, 1859.
Samuel Worcester was the 7th generation of pastors in his family, dating back to when his family lived in England. When Samuel was born his father, the Rev. Leonard Worcester, was a minister in Peacham, Vermont. According to Charles Perry of the Peacham Historical Association, Leonard also worked as a printer in the town during the week.
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[edit] Missionary to the Cherokee
Young Samuel exhibited an unusual strength in foreign languages. While studying in New England the minister met and befriended Buck Oowatie, a Cherokee Indian who had taken the name Elias Boudinot. Samuel and Elias became close friends. When Worcester joined the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions he requested assignment to a Cherokee village that was in particular need according to Boudinot. Within days of arriving at the community in the vicinity of present-day East Brainerd, Tennessee, Worcester was not only preaching, he had taken over duties as blacksmith, carpenter, translator and doctor. His Cherokee name was "The Messenger" (as-tes-nu-sti)
[edit] The Cherokee Phoenix
The influence of Boudinot cannot be understated. The two had become close friends over the two years they had known each other. When Sequoyah developed the "Talking Leaves," Boudinot asked Worcester to help in establishing a Cherokee paper. Worcester, a visionary, saw not only a newspaper, but a tool of Cherokee literacy, a means to draw the loose Cherokee community together and a way of establishing and promoting a Cherokee Nation. Using his missionary connection, Worcester secured funds to build a printing office, buy the printing press and ink, and cast the alphabet's characters(since the "talking leaves" were new, no type existed). The first edition of the Cherokee Phoenix rolled off the presses at New Echota (now Calhoun, Georgia) in 1828. From this point on, Worcester probably had input in most Cherokee publications until his death.
[edit] Westward Expansion
The westward push of white settlers had begun to dramatically affect the Cherokee. These valiant American Indians, with the help of Worcester and his benefactor, the American Board, formulated a plan to fight the encroachment in court, their last hope. No other civil authority would support the Cherokee right to live on the land they called home for hundreds of years. The board hired former U.S. Attorney General William Wirt to defend George Tassel, a Cherokee convicted of murder in Hall County, Georgia. A sympathetic Chief Justice John Marshall rejected the suit on technical grounds, but privately instructed Wirt in presenting an acceptable case.
Shortly after the failure of the first trial Georgia Governor George Gilmer and the state legislature officially adopted a policy of forcible Indian removal and began plans for the Georgia Land Lottery of 1832. Worcester and 11 other men of the cloth met at New Echota and published a resolution in protest of a law the assembly had passed requiring all whites to get a license to work on Native American land. Worcester reasoned correctly that obeying the law would, in effect, be tantamount to surrendering the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation. Gilmer ordered the militia to arrest Worcester and the others who signed the document. Quickly brought to trial and convicted, Worcester held firm to his beliefs while nine of the others swore oaths of allegiance to Georgia. William Wirt again argued the case and in late 1832 the Supreme Court ruled the Cherokee Nation was independent and all dealings with them fell under federal jurisdiction. The ruling was ignored by Gilmer and President Andrew Jackson, who continued to hold the men prisoner. Two cases are known to history and law issues as Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and Worcester v. Georgia.
Wilson Lumpkin assumed the governorship early the next year and faced with the Nullification Crisis in neighboring South Carolina he opted to set Worcester and the others free if they agreed to minor concessions. Having won the Supreme Court decision, Worcester thought that he would be more effective outside prison and left. After his release Worcester realized that the battle had been lost because the settlers refused to abide by the decision of their own courts. He moved to Oklahoma in 1835 to prepare for the coming of the Cherokee. Within three years the Cherokee Nation was forced to follow the "Trail of Tears".
[edit] Life In Oklahoma
After moving to Oklahoma Worcester continued to preach to the Indians and worked tirelessly to help resolved the differences between the Georgia Cherokees and the "Old Settlers", some of whom had been there since the late 1820's.
[edit] Worcester House
Worcester and his family were forced from the house in 1834 when it was confiscated by a Georgian who obtained title to Worcester house in the 1832 Land Lottery after Worcester and his family moved to Oklahoma with their Cherokee friends. The house was owned by many Georgians through the years until 1952. The house was turned to the state of Georgia under former government agency called Georgia Historical Commission in 1954 (later owned by Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, Department of Natural Resources). The house is only that surviving on the land of formerly New Echota. The rest of other buildings on New Echota were destroyed after Cherokees left Georgia. The house was restored in 1958-1959 as they rebuilt reconstructed buildings that once stood in new "New Echota Historic Site". The house became most important symbol of New Echota and Cherokees' history including Samuel Worcester. New Echota Historic Site was opened to the public in 1962 so many people came to see Worcester House where Samuel Worcester used to live with his family and shared his life with Cherokee friends.
[edit] References
- Bass, Athea, Cherokee Messenger., Published by University of Oklahoma Press (1936). ISBN 0806128798
- McLoughlin, William G., The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence"., Published by University of Georgia Press (December 1994) ISBN 0820316393
- New Echota Self-Guding Trail., Published by Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites (www.gastateparks.org)
