John Ross (Cherokee Chief) - The Cherokee Moses

The Cherokee Moses

Ross' life had a pattern similar to those of prominent Anglo-Métis in North America and Canada. Scots and English fur traders in North America were typically men of social status and financial standing who married high-ranking Native American women. Both sides believed these were strategic alliances, helping the Native Americans and the traders. They educated their children in bi-cultural and multilingual environments. The mixed-race children often married and rose to positions of stature in society, both in political and economic terms.

In the quickly changing political environment of the 19th century, the Cherokee needed the skills and language which Ross had developed. The majority of Cherokee supported Ross, electing him as their principal chief in every election from 1828 through 1860. Given the controversy over the struggle over territory, a vocal minority of Cherokee and a generation of political leaders in Washington considered Ross to be dictatorial, greedy, and an "aristocratic leader sought to defraud" the Cherokee Nation. Ross also had influential supporters in Washington, including Thomas L. McKenney, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs (1824–1830). He described Ross as the father of the Cherokee Nation, a Moses who "led...his people in their exodus from the land of their nativity to a new country, and from the savage state to that of civilization."