republic that incorporated many aspects of Cherokee tradition. Perhaps because the adoption of a new constitution had provoked an outcry from representatives of bordering states, the tribe was under tremendous pressure to make additional land cessions to Georgia and North Carolina. The Council chose to put in place an interim government in order to better deal with the situation. At its meeting in October 1827 at New Echota, it named William Hicks as principal chief, Ross as second chief, and Elijah Hicks as President of the National Committee. William Hicks served until October 1828 during a time of great tension. Events while in office In December 1827, Georgia made an appeal to President John Quincy Adams, and claimed that Cherokee territory was under its jurisdiction. The Council addressed this when U.S. federal treaty commissioners requested a meeting with the body at Hiwassee. The Council declined, saying those meetings were only about ceding land to the United States, and the Cherokee had no more land to give. Relieved of duty John Ross became Principal Chief in October 1828. He was of European and Cherokee ancestry, and had been educated in American schools, was bilingual, and was among the mixed-race elite leaders of the tribe, who were more acculturated to European-American ways. Most of the rest of the tribe did not speak English. George Lowery was elected Second Principal Chief, Lewis Ross as President of the National Committee, Going Snake as Speaker of the Council, John Martin as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. William Hicks and Major Ridge were made counselors to the chiefs. Later life and death Hicks was disappointed that Ross was chosen as Principal Chief over him. He had become eccentric in the eyes of the tribal members. Ross took him with a delegation to Washington, however, to discuss land issues, but afterward Hicks' actions became increasingly erratic. Hicks died at age 68 at Oothkalooga Creek before The Removal. Marriage and family Hicks married Lydia Qua-La-Yu-Ga Halfbreed, born about 1792 in Spring Place, Georgia. Their son, Chief George Augustus Hicks, was a conductor on the Trail of Tears that went through Ft. Smith Arkansas. In 1804, he married his second wife, Sarah "Sallie" Bathia Foreman, born about 1788 in Cherokee territory in present-day Tennessee She died September 1, 1839 in Fairfield, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory, on the Trail of Tears. See also Andrew Jackson Notes References Sources Hicks,