The Maximilian expedition begins exploring the American interior

Alexander Philipp Maximilian, a German prince and an amateur anthropologist, leads a two-year expedition up the Missouri River. Among the explorers is Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist hired to document the expedition. His detailed drawings and paintings will provide a meticulous record of western Indian life before extended contact with whites.

The Kickapoo under Kennekuk relocate to Kansas.

Following the terms of earlier treaties (see entry for 1819), a band of about 300 Kickapoo living in Illinois moves to present-day Kansas. For more than a decade, these Kickapoo resisted removal, largely through the efforts of their spiritual leader Kennekuk (also known as the Kickapoo Prophet). Kennekuk was able to delay their relocation by seeming to be willing to cooperate with U. S. officials while coming up with excuse after excuse for why his people could not leave their settlements just yet. The holy man’s skill at dealing with whites will also help his people cope with life in their western territory. Kennekuk will instruct his followers in a new religion that teaches them to live peacefully with non-Indians while refusing to relinquish any more of their lands to whites.

Black Hawk’s autobiography is published.

Sac rebellion leader Black Hawk (see entry for APRIL TO AUGUST 1832) tells his life story, in one of the first as-told-to Indian autobiographies. The book is dictated to French interpreter Antoine LeClair, who claims Black Hawk approached him to write the manuscript so “that the people of the United States. . . might know the causes that impelled him to act as he had done, and the principles by which he was governed.” White interest in Black Hawk was aroused during his government-sponsored tour of eastern cities after he was released from prison in late 1832.

January

Elias Boudinot resigns as the Cherokee Phoenix editor.

Editor of the Cherokee’s tribal newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix (see entry for FEBRUARY 21, 1828), Elias Boudinot begins reporting on the dissension within the Cherokee Tribal Council regarding Removal to lands to the west. Once a vocal opponent of Removal, Boudinot has begun to reverse his stance, largely because the aftermath of Worcester v. Georgia (see entry for 1832). The Supreme Court’s decision in this case held that Georgia law could not be applied to the Cherokee. This legal victory meant little in practice, however, because the federal government refused to protect the Cherokee from Georgia’s efforts to control their lands.

When Boudinot writes about some council members’ doubts about whether the Cherokee, without federal support, will be able to win the fight against Removal, Principal ChiefJohn Ross (see entry for 1828) orders him to stop. Boudinot refuses and resigns in protest. Ross appoints his brother-in-law Elijah Hicks as Boudinot’s successor, but publication becomes increasingly erratic as Georgia officials pressure the newspaper to close its doors. On May 31, 1834, the last issue of the Phoenix is published. The next year, the Cherokee’s printing press will be confiscated by Georgia authorities. (See also entries for DECEMBER 25, 1835, and for JUNE 22, 1839.)

“I could not consent to be the conductor of the [Cherokee Phoenix] without having the right and privilege of discussing these important matters; and from what I have seen and heard, were I to assume that privilege, my usefulness would be paralyzed by being considered, as I have already been, an enemy to the interests of my country and my people.”

—from Elias Boudinot’s letter of resignation as editor of the Cherokee Phoenix

March

Nez Perce and Flathead are reported to be eager for conversion.

Published in the Christian Advocate and Journal, a letter written by William Walker, a Wyandot convert to Christianity, provides an account of a Nez Perce and Flathead delegation’s 1831 trip to St. Louis. According to Walker, the delegates traveled more than

1,000 miles to ask that missionaries be sent to their tribal territories. Although the delegation most likely made the trip for another reason, the story will persuade many missionaries to set out for the West to work among the Indians there. Among them are Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, who will establish an ill-fated mission among the Cayuse (see entries for 1836 and for NOVEMBER 29, 1847).