APRIL 15, 1830.] The Indians. [SENATE. tion to a project which has been steadily kept in view by This debt to be called the Indian fund: the interest to three administrations. To show what has been attempt-be paid semi-annually to defray the expenses of governing ed, I pray the Senate to attend to an extract of a letter and civilizing the Indians until they are incorporated as received from a most respectable and intelligent gentle-citizens of the United States; after that event the debt to man in one of the New England States. [Here Mr. F. be considered as extinguished. read the extract which follows:] A grant in fee simple to be made to each Indian family of acres for each member of it; not alienable before the year 1900, and no leases beyond one year to be valid. This land to be surveyed in a body, and good soil carefully selected. Twelve hundred and eighty acres to be set apart in the centre of the granted lands for public use as the seat of the Indian government. "An attempt is making in the Eastern States to create a great deal of sympathy for this people; and the attempt is making, so far as I can discover, by what is termed the "Christian party in politics." Petitions to Congress have been got up, printed and circulated through the New England States for signatures, without any post mark to indicate their starting point; they have been forwarded to every town; addressed to "Congregational clergyman of Government to be organized for the Indians by Conor either of his deacons," with instructions to have gress. A governor to be appointed by the President of them filled with as many signatures as can be obtained, the United States of white, or Indian, or mixed blood. and then forwarded to Congress with as little delay as possi- Three counsellors to be chosen by the chiefs of the tribes. ble. These petitions supplicate Congress to protect the Representatives, (according to the number of Indians) Indians in the occupancy and enjoyment of the lands but never less than ten, to be chosen by the Indians anwhere they reside, and the civil regulations they may adopt for their own government. Many of these petitions probably have reached Congress before this time." Considering the means employed, it is surprising, not that we have petitions before us, but that we have so few, and to the Southern section of the Union it is a consolation to know that these efforts to prejudice the question of their rights should have, in many instances, produced a fair investigation of them, and the expressions of popu lar opinion in their behalf, the more precious since they were spontaneous, the offspring of honest conviction and not of political arrangement. That many respectable persons have been deceived is not disputed. They have been the unresisting instruments of the artful and designing, and ministered to political malignity, while they believed themselves laboring in the cause of justice and humanity. nually. The governor and council to propose laws to the representatives, the governor having a veto on the proceedings of the representatives. The counsellors and representatives to be of Indian or mixed blood; their compensation and that of all the officers to be fixed by Congress. Judges to be nominated by the governor and council, and approved by representatives, removeable every ten years. Judges, to be white men, for twenty years. Jury trials to prevail; the jurors to be of Indian or mixed blood. Criminal and civil laws subject to the revision of Congress. System of education to be devised by Congress; all the Indian children under ten, to be embraced in the provision to be made, and their education not to be considered complete until they are twenty-one. Two evidences of such delusions are before me. A All Indians to become citizens in 1900. circular printed for the signature of the ladies, and for- Indians not willing to submit to these regulations to be warded to me with a note, "read with a view to eterni- removed beyond the Mississippi; hunting lands to be proty," as if I were in danger of eternal punishment if I did vided for them there, and a just indemnity made for the not abandon the defence of the position taken by Geor-expense and trouble of removal. gia, on which I have already periled my reputation as a Full of the idea [said Mr. F.] of conferring important politician, and stand responsible as an accountable being. benefits on this hapless race, I was on the point of proThe other, sir, is to judge by its contents, the work of posing a bill to be presented to the consideration of Conan amiable Revolutionary soldier, (Alpheus Camden, of gress. But I was led by the frequent occurrence of conLong Island, he signs himself) who expresses the deep-stitutional objections to this previons inquiry: Has the Goest conviction of the propriety of his opinions, and urges vernment of the United States the constitutional power me, as I dread the horrors of an Indian and a servile war, necessary to execute such a scheme? It involved the exto retrace my own steps, and correct the opinions of the ercise of these two important powers, to appropriate to State. These delusions will pass away; this venerable the exclusive use of the Indians, land, the jurisdiction man, like all others who have been misled, will soon know over which, with the soil itself, was claimed by the States, that they misunderstood both our principles and our pur- and without the consent of the States, and the power to poses, and have formed on this subject crude judgments establish exclusive municipal regulations for the governwithout the knowledge of the facts necessary to a correct ment of a class of persons within the State sovereignty. decision; and without due reflection upon the past or the Convinced, on a short examination, that neither power future. was conferred by any grant of authority in the constituIn common with all who have addressed the Senate, Ition, and neither fairly incidental to any specific grant in feel and have ever felt the strongest anxiety to do justice that instrument, I was reluctantly compelled to abandon to the Indian tribes. I have reflected much on the subject my project. since the project of congregating them beyond the Missis- Although not reconciled to the project of Mr. Monroe's sippi, and establishing a great Indian government, was administration, I was convinced that the basis of that profirst suggested during Mr. Monroe's administration. Iject--the removal of the Indians beyond the States and looked on that project as wild, visionary, and impracticable. Anticipating its discussion in 1823, I contemplated proposing a scheme of my own; fixed the outline, and arranged some of its details. This scheme would have embraced these provisions: That the land occupied by the Indians in all the States and Territories, should be taken possession of as the property of the Government in the new States, and of the States in the old; each tribe to be credited on the books of the treasury with per acre, bearing an interest of five per cent. for the land occupied by them. Territories--was the only mode by which the power of the General Government could be properly and exclusively exercised for their benefit. I do not believe that this removal will accelerate the civilization of the tribes. You might as reasonably expect that wild animals, incapable of being tamed in a park, would be domesticated by turning them loose in the forest. This desirable end cannot be obtained without destroying the tribal character, and subjecting the Indians, as individuals, to the regular action of well digested laws. Wild nature never was yet tamed but by coercive discipline. The recent experiment made on SENATE.] The Indians. [APRIL 15, 1830. the Arkansas has somewhat shaken my faith. It is under-white persons) should be required to pay all the expenses stood that the Cherokees, who removed to that country in of their transportation to the country allotted for them. 1817-18, with a view to continue the hunter's life, have Georgia, of the old States, stands on distinct ground. The advanced more rapidly than those who remained on this United States are bound by compact to pay all the cost of side of the Mississippi, in the arts of civilized life. Yet, extinguishing the Indian claim to lands lying within her doubting, as do, the effect of this measure as a means of limits. In the new States, the only benefit to be derived civilization, I shall vote for it, with a hope of relieving the by the United States from the removal of the Indians, is States from a population useless and burthensome, and from this: The lands occupied by them will be immediately suba conviction that the physical condition of the Indians will ject to survey, sale, and settlement. For the old and for be greatly improved by the change: a change not intend- the new States, this important object will be gained: a ed to be forced upon them, but to be the result of their race not admitted to be equal to the rest of the commuown judgment, under the persuasions of those who are nity; not governed as completely dependent; treated somequite as anxious for their prosperity and tranquillity, as the what like human beings, but not admitted to be freemen; self-constituted guardians of their rights, who have filled this not yet entitled, and probably never to be entitled, to equal Hall with essays and pamphlets in their favor. That all the civil and political rights, will be humanely provided for. Indians in the United States would be benefited by their I should be happy, if a sense of public duty permitted removal beyond the States, to a country appropriated for me to dismiss this subject with these brief remarks. The their exclusive residence, cannot be doubted by any dis- Senator from New Jersey has imposed upon me the neces passionate man who knows their condition. With one or sity of occupying much of the time of the Senate, in the two remarkable exceptions, all the tribes are rapidly di- examination of the charges made against the State of minishing in number, from the operation of causes the Georgia. His amendment seems to have been manufacState Governments either will not, or do not, choose to re-tured for the purpose of assailing and vilifying the Statemove. The report made in 1820 to the War Department, I mean not to excuse nor to defend the State; neither is it by the agent, Morse, appointed to collect information on necessary. A fair exposition of facts is sufficient for her this subject, shows that there were then in New England triumphant vindication. She stands at present on the two thousand five hundred and twenty-six Indians; in New vantage ground. All the public functionaries, to whom York, five thousand one hundred and eighty-four; in Vir- the constitution gives the power to decide upon our preginia, North and South Carolina, four hundred and ninety-tensions, have admitted them to be just. The gentleman, seven; in Georgia, five thousand Cherokees; making an indeed, censures the President of the United States, for aggregate of thirteen thousand one hundred and seven in deciding an important question, which ought to have been the old States. All these Indians, with the exception of submitted to Congress. With what justice is this censure the Cherokees in Georgia, are in a state of involuntary mi- bestowed? Is it not the duty of the President to execute nority. Their property in the hands of trustees or agents, the laws, and observe the obligations of the United States? not chosen by themselves, but appointed for them, with The Cherokees demanded the intervention of the Presi but a nominal responsibility for the faithful performance dent, alleging an infraction of a compact made with them. of their duty. As individuals, they are responsible for Was the President to interfere because the Cherokees crimes, and punishable in the courts of justice of the complained? Was the President to decide against the States. But they can neither sue nor be sued, contract nor pretensions of a State, without examination into the merits be contracted with, without the intervention of their trus- of the question presented? It was his duty, under the tee. Without industry, and without incentives to im-high sanctions of his oath of office, to decide. He could provement, with the mark of degradation fixed upon them not escape a decision, had he a mind to evade it. This by State laws; without the control of their own resources, decision has been made, and if error has been committed, depending upon a precarious, because ill-directed, agri- it is in favor of the Cherokees. The President considers culture, they are little better than the wandering gypsies the obligation of the United States to guarantee to the Inof the old world, living by beggary or plunder. dians the enjoyment of their lands as paramount to the Of the new States, Ohio contains two thousand four hun- claims of the State-a decision which cannot be sustained. dred and seven; Indiana and Illinois, seventeen thousand; The land and the Indians are, according to the same prin Alabama, twenty thousand Creeks; Alabama, Tennessee, ciples, subject to the exclusive control of the State sove and North Carolina, eight thousand Cherokees; Missis-reignty, and such will be the decision, should the question sippi, twenty-eight thousand six hundred and twenty-five ever be judicially determined. I trust and believe that Choctaws and Chickasaws. In the Territory of Florida, the question will never be agitated; it will not be, unless there are five thousand; in Michigan, twenty-eight thou- the Senator from New Jersey should succeed in filling the sand three hundred and eighty; total, one hundred and minds of the Cherokees with vain hopes, and tempting nine thousand four hundred and eighteen. them to acts fatal to their security. The President lias, In some of these States the laws have been, and in oth-in conformity with his constitutional opinions, stated to the ers they probably will soon be, extended to the Indians Indians what is their true position. They must remove, as individuals. These Indians are partially regulated by or remain and be subjected to the State laws, whenever their own usages, yet subject to the operation of the crim- the States choose to exercise their power. The gentle inal law in the courts of the United States. In no part of the man assumes that this is a violation of a treaty stipulation country have the Indians an admitted right to the soil upon with an independent tribe, and on this assumption he rests which they live. They are looked upon as temporary occu- his condemnation of the Executive. Now, sir, the gen pants, who have not, and are not, intended to have a fee sim-tleman must perceive, that the President puts a different ple title to the land. They are hunters, whose game is every construction upon these compacts; that he construes them day diminishing, and who must change their place of resi- as made under the constitution of the United States, which dence, or their mode of procuring subsistence. gives to the General Government no power, by the instru will not In the removal of the Indians from the old States, for mentality of an Indian compact, to limit the jurisdiction which provision should be made, from motives of humani- or narrow the sovereignty of one of the States. ty, the United States have no interest. Should those re-now inquire who is right, the gentleman or the Executive. siding in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, North It is not my purpose to defend the President; he has done and South Carolina, be disposed to try their fortunes in what he believed his duty required, and is not justly the West, the States from which they remove, or the chargeable with any attempt to forestal opinion, or shut owners of the land upon which they now reside, (in many the door to inquiry. What prevents the Senator, if he wishes cases the land occupied by them has been granted to a decision of Congress, from presenting fairly and openly APRIL 15, 1830.] The Indians. [SENATE. the question, on the construction of these instruments? the object of contumely; we were right; we have finally obI should be glad to meet him on fair ground. I invite him tained the object in dispute; yet we are still reproached to present distinct resolutions, affirming that the Indians as if the charges of unjust pretension had been substantiatare independent Governments, beyond the control of all ed by evidence, and had received the sanctions of time. the States; that the fee simple of the land occupied by I ask the patient attention of the Senate to a brief sketch them is theirs; that neither the General Government nor of the history of our disputes. the States can regulate their affairs; that treaties can only The States claimed as common property our Western be made with them by the United States. Why is not this lands, as obtained by the expenditure of common blood done, sir? Is it not because the legislation of the United and common treasure. The State of New Jersey presentStates, the legislation of the States, the judicial decisions ed a remonstrance to the old Congress, claiming for the of the Federal tribunals, and the judicial decisions of the Confederation all the Western lands. Regardless of InState tribunals, all concur to prove that such positions are untenable? These opinions, sir, are the novelties of the present hour, got up for a special purpose, and to produce political effect; and can be productive of no injury, unless the Cherokees should be deluded by them. dian rights, and the independence of the tribes, now so dear to her Senator, New Jersey claimed the soil of the wild land for the Confederation; leaving the jurisdiction to the State where the land lay. The States north of the Roanoke made a transfer of their Western lands. GeorBut, sir, I am forgetting the main purpose of my ad- gia offered a transfer, but the conditions proposed were dressing the Senate. Georgia is the theme of the even- not satisfactory, and the transfer was not made. In order ing chant, and the matin song of all the calumniators of to press upon Georgia this surrender of her lands, questhe Union, who have taken the Cherokees into their holv tions were raised under the articles of Confederation about keeping. No epithet is too strong, no reproach too foul, the power of the States over the Indians. A war was to cast upon her, for having followed the example of ten threatened on the Southern frontier, by the Creeks and States, in the exercise of jurisdiction over the Indians with- Cherokees. Assistance was claimed under the articles of in their territory. All the New England States, New Confederation, and Congress, although bound by these York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Ma- articles to defend all the States, talked gravely of examinryland, escape censure for similar acts with those which ing into the justice of actual war, in order to determine on bare brought down upon us torrents of invective. I may the propriety of affording necessary aid to their white be permitted to point out some of the causes which brethren; and claimed, in defiance of the article in the have led to the great anxiety that is exhibited for the Confederation, exclusive control of Indian affairs. To Cherokee Government. tempt Georgia, a transfer of lands was suggested as the best The late Secretary of War points out some of the most practicable mode of settling all questions of relative power prominent. There are a great many white men, mission-between the States and the Confederation. By a majoriaries, and others connected with the missions, who have ty vote of Congress, treaties were required to be held, comfortable settlements on the land occupied by the whenever a majority of the States ordered them to be Cherokees, and a direct interest in preventing any change held. These difficulties continued until the constitution in their condition. These persons have been actively en- was adopted. The first President of the United States gaged in correspondence with their friends, and the pa- found the country embarrassed by Indian hostilities, and trons of their missionary establishment. The Cherokee his attention was early directed to give tranquillity to our Government is in the hands of a few half-breeds and white frontier settlements. The State of Georgia had formed men, who, through its instrumentality, regulate the affairs treaties at Shoulderbone, Augusta, and Galphinton, and control all the funds of the tribe. There is a press with the Creek Indians. Their validity was disputed. established, supported by those funds: a press establish- General Washington asked the advice of the Senate of ed in a community of thirteen thousand souls, not five hun- the United States on these points: Should an inquiry be dred of whom can read or write! The money which made into the circumstances under which these treaties ought to be used to feed and clothe the common Indians, were held? If fairly held, should they be enforced by who are represented as half starved and naked wretches, the arms of the Union? If not valid, should they be is applied to the support of a printing press, to the estab-made the bases of new arrangements with the Southern lishment of exchanges of newspapers with the printers of tribes? These inquiries were all answered in the affirmathe United States. It is thus, sir, that the Cherokees have tive. Investigation into the validity of these treaties was been made so prominent. There is another, not less pow-made by the commissioners of the United States, Griffin erful agent, at work. The Cherokee Government have a and others; and the result was, a report that these comDelegation in Washington, sent here to defend the inde- pacts were made with all the usual formalities and fairness pendence of the tribe; and as the leaders understand the of Indian treaties. They were not enforced by the arm value of money, the Council have passed a resolution au- of the United States; an arrangement was preferred; and thorizing the Delegation to pay out of the public treasury territory previously surrendered to the State by the Infor any aid or advice that may be obtained in the execu- dians was restored to them as hunting grounds; and the tion of their trust. Of these printed circular letters, of intercourse act, of 1790, was passed to enforce this violathese printed memorials to Congress, of these pamphlets tion of State sovereignty. What did Georgia do on this and essays, which have been laid upon our tables, how palpable violation of her admitted right? Animated by a many have been fabricated under the hope or promise of love of the Union, by her respect for the peace and tranpresent reward' Let those who are confidential with the quillity of the country, to which her just claims had been Cherokee Delegation answer the question. unconstitutionally surrendered, she used no violence, she Ungrateful as they are, [said Mr. F.] reproach and cen- sought no redress by unhallowed means. She came here, sure are not new to us. Our Western lands and Indian sir, to protest against this new treaty, and against the law relations became fruitful sources of dispute between of 1790, as equally repugnant to her claims and to the Georgia and the United States, soon after the declaration constitution of the United States. She hoped for indemof independence, and have continued to be at intervals nity. It never was made. We have the satisfaction to see, subjects of controversy since that eventful period. Al-upon the public records, the acknowledgment that our ways abused for making unfounded and unjust preten- complaints were just. A committee of Congress reported sions, it has been our great good fortune to show, in the that injustice had been done to the State, and that indemprogress of time, that our claims were just; to have them nity was due. In the compact of 1802, there is found the always finally admitted. While justice has been done to admission of the United States that lands, formerly ceded the claims of the State, her character has not ceased to be by the Creeks to the State, had been taken, without equiVOL. VI.--42 SENATE.] The Indians. First, the payment, out of the public treasury, of one million five hundred thousand dollars in specie, bank or funded stock of the United States. [APRIL 15, 1830. valent, from the State. Without authority under the con- lands, so long the object of desire to the other members stitution, it certainly was wrested from us. I ask the ho- of the Union. In January, 1798, a convention having norable Senators from the East what would have been the been called to reform the constitution, the Legislature conduct of one of the New England States, had a similar adopted the report and resolution which I will read to the surrender of their territory been made, even under the Senate. [Mr. F. read the report and resolutions in the pressure of dire necessity, to a foreign government? What appendix No. 1.] The Legislature recommended the inis the feeling of the East on this point may be learned from sertion of a clause in the new constitution, authorizing the correspondence of the Governor of Maine, and the the Legislature to sell the Western lands on these conlate Secretary of State, on the Northeastern boundary of ditions: the United States, now a question of arbitration with Great Britain. An inspection of that correspondence will show that some warmth is felt, even in the cold regions of the North. The blood can run amidst the snows of Maine, Second, that the United States should extinguish, (at in a heady current, not less than under the influence of a their sole and proper expense,) the Indian claims to all the southern sun. Fortunately for Governor Lincoln, he lived land not ceded by Georgia, within certain designated pein a favored region; and his doctrines of State rights and riods of time. All the lands between the temporary line sovereignty brought down no invectives upon his head, al- separating the whites and Indians, and the river Ocmulthough, in theory, and in language too, he did not lag far gee, within two years from the date of cession. The land behind the fiery Georgian. The Senate will perceive, sir, lying between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers, within seven from the protest of the State, that the Senator from New years; between the Flint and Cattahoochie, within fifteen Jersey mistakes, when he asserts that Georgia has always ac-years. quiesced in his favorite doctrines. The first encroachment Third, that the United States should guaranty the abupon her sovereignty was resisted in the only practicable and solute right and title to the northward and eastward of the peaceable form. The claim to all the Western lands lying Cattahoochie forever. on the Mississippi, as the property of the United States, Fourth, That the territory ceded should be admitted was revived under the Constitution, on the old ground, into the Union whenever the number of inhabitants entiand a new claim set up, on a new ground, to that portion of tled it to a Representative in Congress as a free and indethe State of Georgia, which lay between latitude thirty-pendent State. one degrees North, and latitude thirty-two degrees and This legislative recommendation was effectual: the conthirty minutes North, on this singular pretext. The strip vention incorporated a clause in the constitution of Georof territory formed a part of Georgia or South Carolina, gia, authorizing a cession to the United States. Under until the Floridas belonged to Great Britain, and was an- acts of Congress and of the Siate Legislature, Commisnexed to West Florida, by Great Britain, prior to 1770. sioners were subsequently appointed, and the compact of The treaty of peace with Great Britain having surrendered 1802 was formed. It will be found, by reference to the to the latitude thirty-one degrees, the surrender was made compact, that the conditions proposed by the Legislature to the confederation, and not to Georgia or South Carolina. of Georgia were not obtained. For one million five hunIn the negotiation with Spain to fix the southern boundary dred thousand dollars in specie, bank stock, or funded of the United States, latitude thirty-one degrees was claim- stock, was substituted one million two hundred and fifty ed as the boundary of Georgia. When that boundary was thousand dollars, payable out of the proceeds of the land admitted by Spain, latitude thirty-one degrees became, in ceded. For the extinguishment of Indian claims within the language of the United States, not the boundary of fifteen years, was substituted a promise to extinguish that Georgia, but the boundary of a territory surrendered to claim as soon as it could be done peaceably and on reasonthe confederation, by the treaty of 1783, with Great Bri-able terms. For the guarantee of the absolute right and tain. Pressed by these claims, and anxious to strengthen title to the land east of the Cattahoochie, was substituted the State in her territorial pretensions, the Legislature of a cession of the right of the United States to the jurisdicGeorgia, in an evil hour, made sale to companies, in the tion and soil. The act was nevertheless ratified by Georyear 1794, of large portions of her Western lands. Im-gia, and it was fondly hoped that no future disputes about proper means having been used to secure the passage of Indians and Indian lands could possibly arise. Relying the legislative enactments for these sales, they were de- upon the faith of the United States, Georgia, from the clared void by a subsequent Legislature, and by a conven- date of the compact until recently, refrained from all extion which met in the succeeding year to alter the State ercise or claim of authority over these subjects, looking constitution. The Yazoo fraud, as it is usually called, is a confidently forward to a period not remote, when all her constant theme of reproach to the State. No one remem-just claims would, without effort on her part, be satisfied bers the stern integrity that prevented its success. Not by the General Government. To this compact the honorsatisfied with a barren claim to our Western lands, the able Senator from New Jersey may look for an answer to United States deemed it expedient, in 1798, to make a di- his repeated inquiry, why did Georgia acquiesce in the exrect attack upon the State sovereignty, by the erection of ercise of the treaty-making power by the Federal Governa government--the territorial government of Mississippi-ment? Georg a, ha ing imposed upon the United States within our boundaries. It is true, sir, as if in ridicule of the obligation to extinguish the Indian title, did not consiour pretensions, there is a solemn reservation in the act of der herself authorized to interfere in the manner in which the right of the State to the soil and jurisdiction. The that obligation was performed. Why she has been comSovereignty is assumed. Exclusive legislation exercised pelled to interfere will be seen by a short history of the by the United States, with a saving of the rights of soil execution of the compact. The money stipulated has and jurisdiction thus openly violated. Within the period been, after some difficulties, paid. Of the land, after the embraced by these transactions, the State was harassed expiration of twenty-eight years, a large territory still reby Indian depredations and Indian wars. Irritating ques-mains occupied by the Indians. When it is borne in mind, tions were perpetually arising between the State and the [said Mr. F.] that since the year 1802, countless millions United States. The agitation produced by the sale of of acres of land have been purchased by the United States our lands to private companies, and the subsequent annulment of the act of sale; the usurpation by the hand of power of our sovereign and territorial rights, and the irritating questions produced by the savages within our limits, almost compelled the State to a surrender of the Western from Indian tribes; independent States created, and territorial governments formed upon it, is it surprising that the Georgian, should inquire, why it is, that this compact has not been fully and faithfully executed? To say nothing of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and the APRIL 15, 1830.] The Indians. [SENATE. Territories of Michigan and Arkansas, compare the pur-the poor creatures who were disposed to remove, terrified chases made by the United States in Ohio, from Indians, by their head men, were afraid publicly to approach to and the effect of these purchases on the political power of consult him, or to enrol their names as required by the the South and West. On the 30th of April, 1802, the act contract: they crept to his tent in the silence and darkpassed authorizing the people of Ohio to form a constitu- ness of midnight, to whisper their wishes and their fears. tion. How stands Ohio compared with Georgia--an inde-Uniting prudence to firmness, he was able to overcome pendent State of the Revolution--in 1802 represented by opposition, and his official statement of 1818, to the Sethree Representatives in Congress! At this moment Ohio cretary of War, authorizes me to say, that, by a strict adis cursed by the presence of but a few Indians, occupying herence to the contract of 1817, justice would have been a small body of land, while in political power she stands, speedily done to Georgia. to adopt expressions vauntingly used in this House, by the Without apparent reasonable cause, the contract of 1817 side of the great States of New York, Pennsylvania, and was formally abandoned, and that of 1819 substituted. Virginia. Ohio has been fostered, and the promise to The Cherokees in Georgia remained in Georgia, and to Georgia has not been performed. Ohio has fifteen Repre- the whole tribe was held out the idea of a permanent resentatives in Congress, Georgia but seven. Why is this, sidence on the spot they then occupied, with a view to sir? Were there greater difficulties in making Indian pur- their civilization. This new arrangement led us to believe chases from the Southern tribes than from the Northern that Mr. Monroe's administration was not disposed to act Indians? If such is the fact, a sufficient cause existed to fairly towards the State. I mean not to prove or to assert repress our complaints. The United States, from 1805 to that this belief was well founded. I seek to produce no 1819, purchased for other States twenty-nine millions six unpleasant feelings, but merely to show the simple fact hundred and seventy-eight thousand five hundred and for- that the belief prevailed. Under the impression that we ty acres, not one foot of which lies in Georgia, from the were suffering by premeditated injustice, we quarrelled Southern tribes. Vast acquisitions have been made, with- with Mr. Monroe, as we would have quarrelled with any out difficulty, for the United States: difficulties have al- other President. We expressed our opinion in strong ways occurred when the Georgia compact was to be ful- terms, and met the usual fate of those who dispute with filled. But, [said Mr. F.] confining this examination to persons holding the patronage and power of Government. the Cherokee tribe, look at the singular facts presented We were abused and calumniated by all those who hoped by the history of the purchases made from them since any thing from the administration, as the price of their in1802. By the report of the Secretary of War, of 30th dustrious malice. The memorials of the State Legislature March, 1824, all the lands purchased for Georgia, from to the Executive were disregarded, and the memorials of the Cherokees, since 1802, is nine hundred and ninety- the Cherokee chiefs, praying that no farther application five thousand three hundred and ten acres; two hundred should be made to buy lands from them, was sent to Conand ninety-five thousand three hundred and ten by the gress; and, finally, a message from the President connecttreaty of 1817, and seven hundred thousand by the treaty ed the compact with Georgia with his project of Indian of 27th of February, 1819. Of about five millions of Western Government. Against this disastrous conjuncacres occupied by the tribe in 1802, not one-fifth part has tion, considered as an indefinite postponement of justice yet been obtained under the promise of the General Go-to the State, we raised our voices and our hands. The vernment. It may be imagined, sir, that this has arisen right of the State was defended by committees in the from the impracticability of making purchases from this House of Representatives, and so far sustained, that succestribe. They have been unwilling peaceably to sell on sive appropriations were made for a further extinguishreasonable terms. What will the Senate think of the ob- ment of the Indian title in Georgia. Under the first apligations of truth and justice in the performance of agree-propriation, negotiation with the Cherokees was opened-ments, when I inform them that within that period, more it failed. Under the second, a contract was formed with land has been purchased from the tribes than was claimed the Creeks. The incident and result of that contract are by them in Georgia; for Alabama, Tennessee, North Carc- well known. I will not dwell upon them unless compelled lina, and South Carolina, eight millions five hundred and to it. I have no wish to revive the remembrance of disforty-two thousand five hundred and forty acres have been graceful transactions, nor to indulge unmanly triumph obtained, by the successive arrangements of 1805, 1806, over our defeated adversaries. It is well known, sir, that 1816, and 1819. We saw ourselves postponed, time after in those Creek disturbances, the Cherokees, with a view time, to suit the convenience of other States, without mur- to find support for their own pretensions, were active inmur. Complaint would have been justified; it was not made; we relied upon the good faith of the Government I feel the indulgence of the Senate in the adjournment for a performance of its obligations in reasonable time. of yesterday, to enable me to finish my remarks--remarks How vainly, we but too soon discovered. The facts just that ought to have been, and would have been, then terstated show to the Senate that the Cherokees, without difminated, but for the unexpected delay produced by the ficulty, surrendered more land than was claimed by Geor- transaction of Executive business. Apology, for any time gia. Why the convenience of some of the States was conI could occupy, would be misplaced. It cannot be exsulted in preference to the performance of a solemn propected from me. The State of Georgia has been made mise, has never been explained. But this is not all; in so prominent, so wantonly prominent in this discussion, 1817, through the agency of General Jackson, a contract that any thing and every thing that can be said by her Rewas made with the Cherokees, by which their removal presentatives in this body would be excused and justified. from Georgia was secured; a contract made at their in- Peculiarly appropriate to our condition is the language of stance, and for the particular accommodation of that Cassius, who was tion of the Cherokees who occupied the lower towns, lying in Georgia, who desired to remove to the West, to continue the hunter's life; the upper towns, lying out of Georgia, desiring to remain permanently where they were. If Socrates was right when he said that it is good to This contract was but partially executed; in the partial have calumniators, since, if they say the truth, we may execution of it, the interests of Georgia were sacrificed correct our faults; if not, it does no harm; we ought to to the policy of the Federal Government. The Chero-be very thankful to those who, by putting us under a kees, who wished to remain, threw every obstacle in the course of moral instruction, are striving to make us perway of the emigration proposed. The agent, Mr. Minn, fect. In this Hall, in the Representative Chamber, in states, in his official report to the Secretary of War, that every corner of the country, where a partisan newspaper por termeddlers. "Hated by those he loved, Braved by his brother; checked like a bondman: |