When John Rollin Ridge was born on March 19, 1827, in the Cherokee Nation, his people were in a state of turmoil. Like other American Indian groups at the time, the Cherokees were being pressured by white settlers and the federal government to leave their lands and emigrate to territories in the West not as yet reached by the advancing frontier. Ridge was born into an important Cherokee family; both his father and grandfather, John and Major Ridge, were leaders in the tribe, and they, like the majority of the Nation, at first opposed leaving their lands in Georgia and moving to the wilds of the West. As time went on, however, they and other educated Cherokees began to regard resistance to removal as futile. They entered into negotiations with the federal government, made the best bargain…
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Citation: Parins, James W.. "John Rollin Ridge". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 October 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3782, accessed 25 November 2024.]
