Memorial of the Cherokee, 1829

We have already stated to your honorable bodies, that our forefathers were found in possession of this soil in full sovereignty, by the first European settlers; and as we have never ceded nor forfeited the occupancy of the soil and the sovereignty over it, we do solemnly protest against being forced to leave it, either by direct or indirect measures.
Their existence and future happiness are at stake—divest them of their liberty and country, and you sink them in degradation, and put a check, if not a final stop, to their present progress in the arts of civilized life, and in the knowledge of the christian religion. Your memorialists humbly conceive, that such an act would be in the highest degree oppressive.

Memorial of the Cherokee 1829

Members of the Cherokee Nation argued in this petition to Congress that they had not ceded the right to their ancestral lands. They urged the Government to uphold its treaties and stop plans for their removal.

National Archives, Records of the U.S. House of Representatives