Posts Tagged ‘John Ross’
Jacksonland: President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and a Great American Land Grab
From Steve Inskeep, NPR Host and author, Jacksonland is the thrilling narrative history of two men—President Andrew Jackson and Cherokee chief John Ross—who led their respective nations at a crossroads of American history. Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis.
Read MoreThe Shifting Racial Identity of John Ross
. Ross was a man of mixed race. He lived for years near the border between the Cherokee Nation and the “whiteside,” as he sometimes called the territory of white settlers. And in an era when Cherokees commonly wore white styles of clothing, Ross sometimes slid across the line.
Read MoreJohn Ross’s Home, Near a Crossing Point Between Worlds
“I am the Mayor of Rossville and I took this photo this past February.”
This gorgeous photo offers some sense of what it might have looked like to approach John Ross’s house in the early 1800’s. (Taken from another angle, a photo might show a coin laundry or even the back of the modern-day Rossville post office.) Documents and scientific study of the logs indicate that this house, which has been moved slightly from its original location, was Ross’s home in the years that he began operating a ferry across the Tennessee River a short distance away.
Read MoreInauguration Day, 1829
This painting suggests the crowds that swamped the building now called the White House after Andrew Jackson’s inauguration in March 1829. Jackson took the oath at the East Front of the Capitol, and had some difficulty making it to his new residence. So many people filled the ceremonial rooms that the new President had to be wedged out again with the help of friends.
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