CHAPTER 7

Turn back to Gilmer’s entry upon the Cherokee scene. The time was 1822, the place Washington, the man a representative in Congress from Georgia and chairman of a select committee appointed to report on the question: Was the United States attempting in good faith to carry out the agreement of 1802 to extinguish Indian titles within the limits of the State? Gilmer’s committee answered emphatically, No! He cited as evidence the fact that in other states than Georgia larger cessions of land had been obtained in the last twenty years. Yielding to Gilmer’s demand, Congress appropriated $30,000 to meet the