John Ridge (1803-39) and his father, famed Cherokee leader Major Ridge,
believed that the only answer for the Cherokee nation's survival was
removal to the West.  Major Ridge and several other chiefs signed a treaty
with the Indian commissioners in New Ec hota, Georgia, selling their lands
to the United States in return for territory west of the Mississippi. 
John used the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper to propound his gather's beliefs. 
He and his cousin Elias Boudinot went on tours throughout the North in t
he 1820s seeking support for Indian rights in the Southeast.  Ridge later
went to Washington, D.C., as secretary and interpreter of the Cherokee
delegation to plead their case.  John Ross led a faction that opposed the
removal plan, calling Ridge a traito r, and the Cherokee nation was
divided against itself.  Ridge, his father, and Boudinot emigrated to
Indian Territory with their faction.  Later, when Ross and his followers
were also forced to go, they dragged Ridge from his bed in Park Hill
Mission and killed him.