Samuel Worcester
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Samuel Austin Worcester (January 19, 1798 – April 20, 1859), was an American
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
to the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
, translator of the
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
, printer, and defender of the
Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
sovereignty. He collaborated with
Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...
(Cherokee) in Georgia to establish the ''
Cherokee Phoenix The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' ( chr, ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ, translit=Tsalagi Tsulehisanvhi) is the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was pu ...
,'' the first Native American newspaper, which was printed in both English and the Cherokee syllabary. The Cherokee gave Worcester the honorary name ''A-tse-nu-sti'', which translates to "messenger" in English.Mize, Richard
"Worcester, Samuel Austin (1778-1859)
. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
Worcester was arrested in Georgia and convicted for disobeying the state's law restricting white missionaries from living in Cherokee territory without a state license. On appeal, he was the plaintiff in ''
Worcester v. Georgia ''Worcester v. Georgia'', 31 U.S. (6 Pet.) 515 (1832), was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court Vacated judgment, vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal ...
'' (1832), a case that went to the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
. The court held that Georgia's law was unconstitutional. Chief Justice
John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remains the longest-serving chief justice and fourth-longes ...
defined in his ''
dicta In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning. Legal writing In United States legal term ...
'' that the federal government had an exclusive relationship with the Indian nations and recognized the latter's sovereignty, above state laws. Both President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
and Governor George Gilmer ignored the ruling. After receiving a pardon from the subsequent governor, Worcester left Georgia on a promise to never return. He moved to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
in 1836 in the period of Cherokee removal on the
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
. His wife died there in 1839. Worcester resumed his ministry, and continued translating the Bible into Cherokee. He established the first printing press in that part of the United States, working with the Cherokee to publish their newspaper in Cherokee and English. In 1963, he was inducted into the
Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American W ...
of the
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native Americans in the United States, American Indian art works and Artifact (archaeology), ar ...
.


Early life and education

Worcester was born in
Peacham, Vermont Peacham is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. The population was 715 at the 2020 census. History In 1763, Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire gave a charter for the region to a group of proprietors, and the town was gi ...
, on January 19, 1798, to the Rev. Leonard Worcester, a minister and his wife. His father was the seventh generation of pastors in his family, dating to ancestors who lived in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. According to Charles Perry of the Peacham Historical Association, the father Leonard Worcester also worked as a
printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...
in the town. The young Worcester attended common schools and studied printing with his father.About North Georgia, "Samuel Austin Worcestor"
/ref> In 1819, he graduated with honors from the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
. Samuel Worcester became a
Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...
minister and decided to become a missionary. After graduating from
Andover Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary (1807–1965) was a Congregationalist seminary founded in 1807 and originally located in Andover, Massachusetts on the campus of Phillips Academy. From 1908 to 1931, it was located at Harvard University in Cambridge. ...
in 1823, he expected to be sent to India, Palestine, or the Sandwich Islands. Instead, the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...
(ABCFM) sent him to the American Southeast to minister to the local Native American tribes.Langguth, p. 74.


Marriage and family

Worcester married Ann Orr of
Bedford, New Hampshire Bedford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 23,322, reflecting a growth of 10% from 2010. Bedford is a suburb of Manchester, New Hampshire's largest city. History In 1733, the P ...
, whom he had met at Andover. They moved to
Brainerd Mission The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History B ...
, where he was assigned as a missionary to the Cherokee in August 1825. The goals ABCFM set for them were, "...make the whole tribe English in their language, civilized in their habits and Christian in their religion." Other missionaries working among the Cherokee had already learned that they first needed to learn the Cherokee language. While living at Brainerd, the Worcesters had their first child, a daughter. Two years later, they moved to
New Echota New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Cherokee Nation in the Southeast United States from 1825 until their Cherokee removal, forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, Georgi ...
, established in 1825 as the capital of the nation on the headwaters of
Oostanaula River The Oostanaula River (pronounced "oo-stuh-NA-luh") is a principal tributary of the Coosa River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 27, 2011 formed by the ...
in what is now Georgia. Worcester worked with
Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...
(Cherokee) to establish the ''Cherokee Phoenix'' newspaper, the first published by a Native American nation. It was published in Cherokee, using the
syllabary In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
developed by
Sequoyah Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...
, and in English. The Worcesters had seven children together: Ann Eliza, Sarah, Jerusha, Hannah, Leonard, John Orr and Mary Eleanor. Ann Eliza followed her father in becoming a missionary. With her husband, William Schenck Robertson, she founded
Nuyaka Mission The Nuyaka Mission site is located in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, on McKeown Rd. (aka E0945 Rd) just off N 120 Rd (aka N3850 Rd), approximately 15.7 miles west of the intersection of U.S. Route 75 and Oklahoma State Highway 56, State Highway 56 (aka ...
in the
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
.Foreman, Carolyn Thomas
"Augusta Robinson Moore: A Sketch of Her Life and Times"
''Chronicles of Oklahoma''. 13(4). p. 399.
Dr. Samuel Worcester had served as the American Missionary Board's official corresponding secretary. His father died at Brainerd in 1821 and was buried there.


''Cherokee Phoenix''

Worcester was strongly influenced by a young Cherokee named ''Oowatie'' (later known by the English name he took, in honor of a mentor,
Elias Boudinot Elias Boudinot ( ; May 2, 1740 – October 24, 1821) was a lawyer and statesman from Elizabeth, New Jersey who was a delegate to the Continental Congress (more accurately referred to as the Congress of the Confederation) and served as Presiden ...
). The Cherokee Boudinot had been educated in New England schools and was the nephew of
Major Ridge Major Ridge, The Ridge (and sometimes Pathkiller II) (c. 1771 – 22 June 1839) (also known as ''Nunnehidihi'', and later ''Ganundalegi'') was a Cherokee leader, a member of the tribal council, and a lawmaker. As a warrior, he fought in the ...
, a wealthy and politically prominent Cherokee National Council member. The two men became close friends over the two years they had known each other.
Sequoyah Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...
, a Cherokee from Tennessee, had independently developed a
syllabary In the linguistic study of written languages, a syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent the syllables or (more frequently) moras which make up words. A symbol in a syllabary, called a syllabogram, typically represents an (optiona ...
to create a writing system for the Cherokee language. This was a singular achievement for a person from a pre-literate society. He and his people had admired the written papers of the European Americans, which they called the "Talking Leaves." Boudinot asked Worcester to use his printing experience to establish a Cherokee newspaper. Worcester believed the newspaper could be a tool for Cherokee literacy, and a means to draw the loose Cherokee community together; it would help promote a more unified Cherokee Nation. He wrote a prospectus for the paper that promised to publish laws and documents of the Cherokee Nation, articles on Cherokee manners and customs, as well as "news of the day."Langguth, p. 76. Using his missionary connection, Worcester secured funds to build a printing office, buy the printing press and ink, and cast the syllabary's characters. Since the 86-character syllabary was new, Worcester made the metal type for each character. The two men helped produce the ''
Cherokee Phoenix The ''Cherokee Phoenix'' ( chr, ᏣᎳᎩ ᏧᎴᎯᏌᏅᎯ, translit=Tsalagi Tsulehisanvhi) is the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and the first published in a Native American language. The first issue was pu ...
,'' which first rolled off the press on February 21, 1828 at
New Echota New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Cherokee Nation in the Southeast United States from 1825 until their Cherokee removal, forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, Georgi ...
(now
Calhoun, Georgia Calhoun is a city in Gordon County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,949. Calhoun is the county seat of Gordon County. History In December 1827, Georgia had already claimed the Cherokee lands that be ...
). This was the first Native American newspaper to be published. At some point, the Cherokees honored Worcester with a Cherokee name, ''A-tse-nu-tsi'', meaning "messenger."


Worcester in court and prison

The westward push of European-American settlers from coastal areas continued to encroach on the Cherokee, even after they had made some land cessions to the US government. With the help of Worcester and his sponsor, the American Board, they planned to fight the encroachment by using the courts. They wanted to take a case to the
US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
to define the relationship between the federal and state governments, and establish the sovereignty of the Cherokee nation. No other civil authority would support Cherokee sovereignty in their land and self-government in their territory. Hiring William Wirt, a former
U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
, the Cherokee argued their position before the US Supreme Court in '' Georgia v. Tassel'' (the Court granted a writ of error for a Cherokee convicted in a Georgia court for a murder occurring in Cherokee territory, though the state refused to accept the writ) and ''
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia ''Cherokee Nation v. Georgia'', 30 U.S. (5 Pet.) 1 (1831), was a United States Supreme Court case. The Cherokee Nation sought a federal injunction against laws passed by the U.S. state of Georgia depriving them of rights within its boundaries, but ...
'' (1831) (the court dismissed this on technical grounds for lack of jurisdiction)."'Worcester v. Georgia' (1832)"
, ''The New Georgia Encyclopedia.''
In writing the majority opinion, Chief Justice Marshall described the Cherokee Nation as a "domestic dependent nation" with no rights binding on a state. Worcester and eleven other missionaries had met at
New Echota New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation (1794–1907), Cherokee Nation in the Southeast United States from 1825 until their Cherokee removal, forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, Georgi ...
and published a resolution in protest of an 1830 Georgia law prohibiting white men from living on Native American land without a state license. While the state law was an effort to restrict white settlement on Cherokee territory, Worcester reasoned that obeying the law would, in effect, be surrendering the sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation to manage their own territory. Once the law had taken effect, Governor
George Rockingham Gilmer George Rockingham Gilmer (April 11, 1790 – November 16, 1859) was an American politician. He served two non-consecutive terms as the 34th Governor of Georgia, the first from 1829 to 1831 and the second from 1837 to 1839. He also served multipl ...
ordered the militia to arrest Worcester and the others who signed the document and refused to get a license. After two series of trials, all eleven men were convicted and sentenced to four years of hard labor at the state penitentiary in Milledgeville. Nine accepted pardons, but Worcester and Elizur Butler declined their pardons, so the Cherokee could take the case to the Supreme Court. William Wirt argued the case, but Georgia refused to have a legal counsel represent it, claiming that no Indian could drag it into court. In its late 1832 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was independent and only the federal government had the authority to deal with it or other Indian nations. It vacated the convictions of Worcester and Butler. President
Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
, who favored Indian Removal, ignored the ruling by continuing to lobby Congress for a new treaty with the Cherokee, and Governor Gilmer continued to hold the two men prisoner.
Wilson Lumpkin Wilson Lumpkin (January 14, 1783 – December 28, 1870) was an American planter, attorney, and politician. He served two terms as the governor of Georgia, from 1831 to 1835, in the period of Indian Removal of the Creek and Cherokee peoples to ...
assumed the governorship early the next year. Faced with the Nullification Crisis in neighboring
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
, he chose to free Worcester and Butler if they agreed to minor concessions. Having won the Supreme Court decision, Worcester believed that he would be more effective outside prison and left. He realized that the larger battle had been lost, because the state and settlers refused to abide by the decision of the Supreme Court. Within three years, the US used its military to force the Cherokee Nation out of the Southeast and on the "
Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was an ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of approximately 60,000 people of the "Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government. As part of the Indian removal, members of the Cherokee, ...
" to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
, lands west of the Mississippi River.


Later life

After being released, Worcester and his wife determined to move their family to
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
to prepare for the arrival of the Cherokee. In 1835 he and his family moved to Tennessee, where they lived a short while before beginning their major trip by flatboat and steamer in 1836. They lost much of their household goods when a steamer sank. The journey to Dwight Presbyterian Mission in Indian Territory took seven weeks, during which Ann contracted a fever.Langguth, p. 265. After reaching Dwight Presbyterian Mission, Worcester continued to preach to the Cherokee who had already moved to Indian Territory (they were later known within the nation as the Old Settlers, in contrast to the new migrants from the Southeast). In 1836, they moved to Union Mission on Grand River, then finally to Park Hill. Worcester's work included setting up the first printing press in that part of the country, translating the Bible and several hymns into Cherokee, and running the mission. In 1839, his wife Ann died; she had been serving as an assistant missionary. He remained in Park Hill, where he married again in 1842, to Erminia Nash. Worcester worked tirelessly to help resolve the differences between the Georgia Cherokee and the "Old Settlers", some of whom had relocated there in the late 1820s. On April 20, 1859, he died in Park Hill,
Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...
.


Worcester House

Worcester House is the only surviving original house on the land of the former Cherokee community of New Echota. The remainder of the buildings were destroyed by European-American settlers after the Cherokee were forced to remove in 1838. The Worcester house was constructed in 1828 as a two-story building. The Worcesters lived in the house from 1828 until 1834. It was confiscated by a Georgian who obtained title in the
1832 Land Lottery The 1832 Land Lottery was the sixth lottery of the Georgia Land Lotteries, a lottery system used by the U.S. state of Georgia between the years 1805 and 1833 to redistribute stolen Cherokee and Muscogee land to white settlers. The 1832 lottery was a ...
. The house was owned by many Georgians through the years until 1952. That year the house was transferred to the state of Georgia, and in 1954 to the
Georgia Historical Commission The Georgia Historical Commission was an organization created by the U.S. state of Georgia for purposes of historic preservation. The Georgia legislature created it in February 1951 to promote and increase knowledge and understanding of the hist ...
. It is managed by the Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, a division of the
Georgia Department of Natural Resources The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resources, and has five ...
. In 1962, the
New Echota Historic Site New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation in the Southeast United States from 1825 until their forced removal in the late 1830s. New Echota is located in present-day Gordon County, in northwest Georgia, 3.68 miles north of Calhoun. I ...
was opened to the public. In 1973 it was designated as a
National Historic Landmark District National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...
and is operated by the state. The Cherokee Council House was reconstructed here. The site recognizes Cherokee civilization.


See also

*
Brainerd Mission The Brainerd Mission was a Christian mission to the Cherokee in present-day Chattanooga, Tennessee. The associated Brainerd Mission Cemetery is the only part that remains, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. History B ...
*
Daniel Sabin Butrick (Buttrick) Rev. Daniel Sabin Butrick (or Buttrick) (August 25, 1789 – June 8, 1851) was commissioned in 1817 as a minister of the Word of God, in the service of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). His subsequent 25 years were ...


References


Sources

*Bass, Athea, ''Cherokee Messenger'',
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...
Press (1936), . *Langguth, A. J. ''Driven West: Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears to the Civil War''. New York, Simon & Schuster. 2010. . * McLoughlin, William G., ''The Cherokees and Christianity, 1794-1870: Essays on Acculturation and Cultural Persistence,''
University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...
Press (December 1994), . *''New Echota Self-Guiding Trail'', Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites
www.gastateparks.org
. *Joseph C. Burke, "The Cherokee Cases: A Study in Law, Politics, and Morality,", 21 ''Stanford Law Review'': 500 (1969).


External links



Oklahoma Historical Society
New Echota Historic Site
Georgia State Parks *
Old and New Testaments Cherokee Bible ProjectDr. Elizur and Esther Butler Missionaries to the Cherokees
historical marker {{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester, Samuel 1798 births 1859 deaths American Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in the United States Native Americans' rights activists Translators of the Bible into indigenous languages of the Americas People of Indian Territory People from Worcester, Massachusetts University of Vermont alumni 19th-century American translators Native American linguists 18th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) American newspaper chain founders Missionary linguists