Elias Boudinot
TAHLEQUAH â After Sequoyah invented the Cherokee syllabary in the early 1800s, his written language was used primarily for Christian instruction, but tribal leaders saw the syllabary could also be used to inform Cherokee people via a newspaper.
âTo obtain a correct and complete knowledge of these people, there must exist a vehicle of Indian intelligence, altogether different from those which have heretofore been employed,â Elias Boudinot, the Cherokee Phoenixâs first editor, said.
The 23-year-old planned to print the news and other matters important to Cherokee people in columns of Cherokee and English. A 30-foot-by-20-foot news office was established in the new Cherokee capital at New Echota, Georgia