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Adapted from the Memorial from the Ladies of Steubenville, Ohio, Protesting Indian Removal, February 15, 1830: Your memorialists would sincerely deprecate Any presumptuous interference On the part of their own sex With the ordinary political affairs of the country As wholly unbecoming The character of American Females. Even in private life We may not presume To direct the general conduct Or control the acts Of those who are in the near And guardian relations Of husbands and brothers. Yet all admit that there are times When duty and affection call on us To advise and persuade As well as to cheer and console. And if we approach the public representatives Of our husbands and brothers, Only in the humble character of suppliants In the cause of mercy and humanity, May we not hope That even the small voice of female sympathy Will be heard? When, therefore, injury and oppression Threaten to crush a hapless people Within our borders, We, the feeblest of the feeble, Appeal with confidence to those Who should be the representatives Of national virtues As they are the depositories Of national powers, And implore them To succor the weak and unfortunate. In despite of the undoubted natural right Which the Indians have To the land of their fathers, And in the face of solemn treaties Pledging the faith of the nation For their secure possession of those lands, It is intended, we are told, To force them from their native soil, And to compel them to seek new homes In a distant and dreary wilderness. To you, then, As the constitutional protectors Of the Indian within our territory, And as the peculiar guardians Of our national character And our country's welfare, We solemnly and earnestly appeal To save this remnant of a much-injured people From annihilation, To shield our country from the curses denounced On the cruel and ungrateful, And to shelter the American character From lasting dishonor. Copyright by Nicholas Gordon. Free for personal or non-commercial use. Audio and Video Music: Spirit of Fire.
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