Read the two passages about a historical event. One is a primary source, and the other is a fictionalized version.
Primary Source:
The United States in account with the Cherokee nation, for expenses incurred under an agreement, with Major General Scott, for the removal of the Cherokee.
Detachment No. 3
For compensation to Jesse Bushyhead, conductor, from 3rd September 1838 to 27th February 1839, inclusive, making 178 days, at $5 per day $890.00
For compensation to assistant conductor, for same time, at $3 a day $534.00
For compensation to attending physician, from 1st September, 180 days, at $5, $900; allowance for returning $120
$1,020.00
For compensation to interpreter for physician, for same time, at $2.50 per day $450.00
For compensation to commissary and wagon master, from 3rd September
1838 to 27th February 1839, inclusive, 178 days, at $2.50 each $890.00
For compensation to assistant commissary and assistant wagon master, for same time, at $2 per day each
$712.00
For hire of 48 wagons and teams, for 950 persons, for same time, at $5 per day each, $42,720; allowance of 40 days each for returning, at $7 per day, including traveling expenses, $13,440 $56,160.00
For forage for 430 wagons and riding horses, from 16th of October 1838 to 27th February 1839, inclusive, making 135 days and 58,050 forage rations, at 40 cents
$23,220.00
. . . .
I certify that the above account is accurate and just.
JOHN ROSS, Principal Chief,
and Sup'g Agent of the Cherokee nation
for Cherokee removal
Novel: From Pushing the Bear by Diane Glancy
CHIEF JOHN ROSS
There were white men in Washington arguing for the Cherokee to stay on their land. There were Cherokee cooperating with the government to remove the Indians. None of the boundaries were clear. There were fractures and inconsistencies everywhere I turned.
I tried to explain the complications, but President Jackson sat at his desk thumbing through a newspaper. Jackson didn't want to hear. Sometimes the government would not recognize me. John Ross! The principal chief of the Cherokee nation. An educated man with the same responsibility for governing my people as Jackson had.
In the end, I asked for funds for removal.
In the end, I argued for anything that would get my people out of the stockades before they died there.
How many voices were there making nothing clear?
How does the fictionalized account use the information in the primary source?
The fictionalized account describes John Ross's visit to President Jackson to plead for the lives of his people, and the primary source comes from Ross’s visit to Jackson.
The primary source details the expenses involved in removing the Cherokee people from their homes, and the fictionalized account describes John Ross's reasoning for demanding those funds.
The primary source lists John Ross as the supervising agent for the removal of his people, and the fictionalized account dramatizes the signing of that agreement with the government.
The primary source details the expenses involved in removing the Cherokee people from their homes, and the fictionalized account describes how the purchased services were used.
