Elias Boudinot (1804 - 1839), editor of the Cherokee Phoenix and a Cherokee leader during his people's political fight to remain a sovereign nation during the first third of the nineteenth century, remains a controversial figure in American history. Throughout most of his life, Boudinot, a Christian who was educated by Eastern missionaries, was a staunch opponent of the Indian removal movement. In 1835, however, Boudinot and a group of unauthorized “Treaty Party” men signed the Treaty of New Echota against the wishes of the majority of Cherokees - a treaty that sold the Cherokees' land to the United States and obligated them to emigrate from their homeland. For his part in the treaty, Boudinot was assassinated by a group of Cherokees. He has been remembered variously as a patriot and a traitor, but even some historians sympathetic to his position share common ground with his detractors in implying that Boudinot suffered from poor or corrupt judgment.
This thesis makes the case for Boudinot's “rational mind.” It draws on his published writings - a speech from 1826, personal letters, Cherokee Phoenix editorials, and an 1837 “apologia” - to trace the evolution of Boudinot's ideas concerning removal. It focuses on three distinct periods in Boudinot's life: early life, his tenure as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, and the years following his shift to treaty advocacy. From his early letters as a student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, through his Cherokee Phoenix editorials to his final published work, Boudinot's writings demonstrate his very rational mind. In 1832, convinced that Andrew Jackson would not uphold a decision by the Supreme Court that recognized Cherokee sovereignty, Boudinot determined that the Cherokees safety and progress in “civilization” lay in making the best deal possible with the United States and emigrating from their ancient homeland. This thesis shows that, like his earlier actions as an opponent of the removal movement, Boudinot's decision to sign the Treaty of New Echota was based on sound reasoning and a desire to “benefit the Cherokees.”