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| Martin van Buren and "Indian Affairs"
by Martin Van Buren
FROM THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF MARTIN VAN BUREN
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act of Congress of the 7th of June, 1836, it
was enacted that when the Indian title to all the lands lying
between the State of Missouri and the Missouri River should
be extinguished the jurisdiction over said land should be
ceded by the said act to the State of Missouri and the
western boundary of said State should be then extended to the
Missouri River, reserving to the United States the original
right of soil in said lands and of disposing of the same; and
Whereas it was in and by the said act provided that the same
should not take effect until the President should by
proclamation declare that the Indian title to said lands had
been extinguished, nor until the State of Missouri should
have assented to the provisions of the said act; and
Whereas an act was passed by the general assembly of the
State of Missouri on the 16th of December, 1836, expressing
the assent of the said State to the provisions of the said
act of Congress, a copy of which act of the general assembly,
duly authenticated, has been officially communicated to this
Government and is now on file in the Department of State:
Now, therefore, I, Martin Van Buren, President of the United
States of America, do by this my proclamation declare and
make known that the Indian title to all the said lands lying
between the State of Missouri and the Missouri River has been
extinguished and that the said act of Congress of the 7th of
June, 1836, takes effect from the date hereof.
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 28th day
of March, A.D. 1837, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the sixty-first.
MARTIN VAN BUREN.
By the President:
JOHN FORSYTH,
Secretary of State
WASHINGTON CITY, October 2, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate, a
treaty concluded with the Miami tribe of Indians by General
Marshall in 1834, with, explanatory documents from the
Department of War, and ask its advice in regard to the
ratification of the original treaty with the amendments
proposed by the Secretary of War; the treaty, with the
amendments, in the event of its ratification by the United
States, to be again submitted to the chiefs and warriors of
the Miami tribes for their sanction or rejection.
M. VAN BUREN
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE
The system of removing the Indians west of the Mississippi,
commenced by Mr. Jefferson in 1804, has been steadily
persevered in by every succeeding President, and may be
considered the settled policy of the country. Unconnected at
first with any well-defined system for their improvement, the
inducements held out to the Indians were confined to the
greater abundance of game to be found in the West; but when
the beneficial effects of their removal were made apparent a
more philanthropic and enlightened policy was adopted in
purchasing their lands east of the Mississippi. Liberal
prices were given and provisions inserted in all the treaties
with them for the application of the funds they received in
exchange to such purposes as were best calculated to promote
their present welfare and advance their future civilization.
These measures have been attended thus far with the happiest
results.
It will be seen by referring to the report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs that the most sanguine
expectations of the friends and promoters of this system have
been realized. The Choctaws, Cherokees, and other tribes that
first emigrated beyond the Mississippi have for the most part
abandoned the hunter state and become cultivators of the
soil. The improvement in their condition has been rapid, and
it is believed that they are now fitted to enjoy the
advantages of a simple form of government, which has been
submitted to them and received their sanction; and I can not
too strongly urge this subject upon the attention of
Congress.
Stipulations have been made with all the Indian tribes to
remove them beyond the Mississippi, except with the bands of
the Wyandots, the Six Nations in New York, the Menomonees,
Munsees, and Stockbridges in Wisconsin, and Miamies in
Indiana. With all but the Menomonees it is expected that
arrangements for their emigration will be completed the
present year. The resistance which has been opposed to their
removal by some of the tribes even after treaties had been
made with them to that effect has arisen from various causes,
operating differently on each of them. In most instances they
have been instigated to resistance by persons to whom the
trade with them and the acquisition of their annuities were
important, and in some by the personal influence of
interested chiefs. These obstacles must be overcome, for the
Government can not relinquish the execution of this policy
without sacrificing important interests and abandoning the
tribes remaining east of the Mississippi to certain
destruction.
The decrease in numbers of the tribes within the limits of
the States and Territories has been most rapid. If they be
removed, they can be protected from those associations and
evil practices which exert so pernicious and destructive an
influence over their destinies. They can be induced to labor
and to acquire property, and its acquisition will inspire
them with a feeling of independence. Their minds can be
cultivated, and they can be taught the value of salutary and
uniform laws and be made sensible of the blessings of free
government and capable of enjoying its advantages. In the
possession of property, knowledge, and a good government,
free to give what direction they please to their labor, and
sharers in the legislation by which their persons and the
profits of their industry are to be protected and secured,
they will have an ever-present conviction of the importance
of union and peace among themselves and of the preservation
of amicable relations with us. The interests of the United
States would also be greatly promoted by freeing the
relations between the General and State Governments from what
has proved a most embarrassing incumbrance by a satisfactory
adjustment of conflicting titles to lands caused by the
occupation of the Indians, and by causing the resources of
the whole country to be developed by the power of the State
and General Governments and improved by the enterprise of a
white population.
Intimately connected with this subject is the obligation of
the Government to fulfill its treaty stipulations and to
protect the Indians thus assembled "at their new residences
from all interruptions and disturbances from any other tribes
or nations of Indians or from any other person or persons
whatsoever," and the equally solemn obligation to guard from
Indian hostility its own border settlements, stretching along
a line of more than 1,000 miles. To enable the Government to
redeem this pledge to the Indians and to afford adequate
protection to its own citizens will require the continual
presence of a considerable regular force on the frontiers and
the establishment of a chain of permanent posts. Examinations
of the country are now making, with a view to decide on the
most suitable points for the erection of fortresses and other
works of defense, the results of which will be presented to
you by the Secretary of War at an early day, together with a
plan for the effectual protection of the friendly Indians and
the permanent defense of the frontier States
WASHINGTON, December, 1837.
To the Senate:
I transmit, for the action of the Senate, treaties negotiated
with the following Indian tribes, viz:
(1) The Chippewas of the Mississippi; (2) the Kioways,
Ka-ta-kas, and Ta-wa-ka-ros; (3) the Sioux of the
Mississippi; (4) the Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi; (5)
the Sioux of the Missouri; (6) the Sacs and Foxes of the
Missouri; (7) the Winnebagoes; (8) the Ioways.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, December 18, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith a report and accompanying
documents* from the Secretary of War,
which contain the information called for by a resolution of
the 13th of October last.
M. VAN BUREN.
* Relating to adjustment of claims to reservations of land under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830 with the Choctaw Indians.
WASHINGTON, January 12, 1838.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 2d instant, I transmit herewith a report* of the Secretary of War, explanatory of the
causes which have prevented a compliance with a resolution of
that branch of Congress of February 24, 1837.
M. VAN BUREN.
*Relating to alleged frauds upon the Creek Indians in the sale and purchase of their lands, etc
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit to the Senate, for its constitutional action, a
treaty made with the Chippewa Indians of Saganaw on the 20th
of December, 1837.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 27, 1838.
Hon. R.M. JOHNSON,
President of the Senate.
SIR: I transmit herewith, in compliance with the requirements
of the second section of the act of March 3, 1837, making
appropriations for the Indian Department, a communication
from the War Department, accompanied by a copy of the report
of the agents appointed to inquire what depredations had been
committed by the Seminole and Creek Indians on the property
of citizens of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
M. VAN BUREN.
[The same message was addressed to the Speaker of the House
of Representatives.]
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit for your constitutional action articles of a
treaty concluded on the 23d ultimo with the Chippewas of
Saganaw, accompanied by a communication from the Secretary of
War.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, February 17, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit for your consideration a communication from the
Secretary of War, respecting a treaty now before you with the
Stockbridge and Munsee Indians.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, March, 1838.
Hon. J.K. POLK,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
SIR: The inclosed report and accompanying papers from the
Secretary of War contain all the information required by the
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 5th
instant, respecting the present state of the campaign in
Florida and the disposition of the Indians to treat for
peace.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, April, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit a communication from the Department of War, on the
subject of the treaty with the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians
of September, 1836, which is now before the Senate.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, April 18, 1838.
To the Senate of the United States:
I return the petition and papers of Econchatta
Nico,* referred to me by a
resolution of the Senate of February 7, 1837, and transmit
a communication and accompanying papers from the Acting
Secretary of War, showing the failure of the attempt made,
in conformity with the resolution, to obtain indemnity for
the petitioner by prosecuting the depredators on his
property, and also the causes of the failure. The papers
are returned and the report and documents of the Acting
Secretary of War submitted in order that Congress may
devise such other mode of relief as may seem proper.
M. VAN BUREN.
*A chief of the Apalachicola Indians, for indemnification for losses sustained by depredations on his property by white persons.
WASHINGTON, April 23, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit, for the consideration and action of the Senate,
communications from the Department of War, accompanying
treaties with the Indians in the State of New York, with the
St. Regis band, and with the Oneidas residing at Green Bay.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, May 21, 1838.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States:
The accompanying copy of a communication addressed by the
Secretary of War to the Cherokee delegation is submitted to
Congress in order that such measures may be adopted as are
required to carry into effect the benevolent intentions of
the Government toward the Cherokee Nation, and which it is
hoped will induce them to remove peaceably and contentedly to
their new homes in the West.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, June 1, 1838.
To the Senate of the United States:
Negotiations have been opened with the Osage and Delaware
Indians, in compliance with the resolution of the Senate of
the 19th of January last, for the relinquishment of certain
school lands secured to them by treaty. These relinquishments
have been obtained on the terms authorized by the resolution,
and copies of them are herewith transmitted for the
information of the Senate.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, June 6, 1838.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with the resolution of the 4th instant, calling
for any communication received from the governors of the
States of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama in
reference to the proposed modification of the Cherokee treaty
of 1835, I herewith inclose a report of the Secretary of War,
accompanied by a copy of a letter addressed by him to the
governor of Georgia and of his reply thereto. As stated by
the Secretary, no communication on that subject has been
received from either of the other executives mentioned.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON CITY, June 11, 1838.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit herewith, for consideration and action, a
communication from the Secretary of War and the treaty with
the Otoe, Missouria, and Omaha Indians therein referred to.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, July 3, 1838.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit a report from the War Department, in relation to
the investigations of the allegations of fraud committed on
the Creek Indians in the sales of their reservations
authorized by the resolution of that body of the 1st of July,
1836.
M. VAN BUREN
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE
The plan proposed by the Secretary of War for the
distribution of the forces of the United States in time of
peace is well calculated to promote regularity and economy in
the fiscal administration of the service, to preserve the
discipline of the troops, and to render them available for
the maintenance of the peace and tranquillity of the country.
With this view, likewise, I recommend the adoption of the
plan presented by that officer for the defense of the western
frontier. The preservation of the lives and property of our
fellow-citizens who are settled upon that border country, as
well as the existence of the Indian population, which might
be tempted by our want of preparation to rush on their own
destruction and attack the white settlements, all seem to
require that this subject should be acted upon without delay,
and the War Department authorized to place that country in a
state of complete defense against any assault from the
numerous and warlike tribes which are congregated on that
border.
It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprise you of
the entire removal of the Cherokee Nation of Indians to their
new homes west of the Mississippi. The measures authorized by
Congress at its last session, with a view to the
long-standing controversy with them, have had the happiest
effects. By an agreement concluded with them by the
commanding general in that country, who has performed the
duties assigned to him on the occasion with commendable
energy and humanity, their removal has been principally under
the conduct of their own chiefs, and they have emigrated
without any apparent reluctance.
The successful accomplishment of this important object, the
removal also of the entire Creek Nation with the exception of
a small number of fugitives amongst the Seminoles in Florida,
the progress already made toward a speedy completion of the
removal of the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the Pottawatamies,
the Ottawas, and the Chippewas, with the extensive purchases
of Indian lands during the present year, have rendered the
speedy and successful result of the long-established policy
of the Government upon the subject of Indian affairs entirely
certain. The occasion is therefore deemed a proper one to
place this policy in such a point of view as will exonerate
the Government of the United States from the undeserved
reproach which has been cast upon it through several
successive Administrations. That a mixed occupancy of the
same territory by the white and red man is incompatible with
the safety or happiness of either is a position in respect to
which there has long since ceased to be room for a difference
of opinion. Reason and experience have alike demonstrated its
impracticability. The bitter fruits of every attempt
heretofore to overcome the barriers interposed by nature have
only been destruction, both physical and moral, to the
Indian, dangerous conflicts of authority between the Federal
and State Governments, and detriment to the individual
prosperity of the citizen as well as to the general
improvement of the country. The remedial policy, the
principles of which were settled more than thirty years ago
under the Administration of Mr. Jefferson, consists in an
extinction, for a fair consideration, of the title to all the
lands still occupied by the Indians within the States and
Territories of the United States; their removal to a country
west of the Mississippi much more extensive and better
adapted to their condition than that on which they then
resided; the guarantee to them by the United States of their
exclusive possession of that country forever, exempt from all
intrusions by white men, with ample provisions for their
security against external violence and internal dissensions,
and the extension to them of suitable facilities for their
advancement in civilization. This has not been the policy of
particular Administrations only, but of each in succession
since the first attempt to carry it out under that of Mr.
Monroe. All have labored for its accomplishment, only with
different degrees of success. The manner of its execution
has, it is true, from time to time given rise to conflicts of
opinion and unjust imputations; but in respect to the wisdom
and necessity of the policy itself there has not from the
beginning existed a doubt in the mind of any calm, judicious,
disinterested friend of the Indian race accustomed to
reflection and enlightened by experience.
Occupying the double character of contractor on its own
account and guardian for the parties contracted with, it was
hardly to be expected that the dealings of the Federal
Government with the Indian tribes would escape
misrepresentation. That there occurred in the early
settlement of this country, as in all others where the
civilized race has succeeded to the possessions of the
savage, instances of oppression and fraud on the part of the
former there is too much reason to believe. No such offenses
can, however, be justly charged upon this Government since it
became free to pursue its own course. Its dealings with the
Indian tribes have been just and friendly throughout; its
efforts for their civilization constant, and directed by the
best feelings of humanity; its watchfulness in protecting
them from individual frauds unremitting; its forbearance
under the keenest provocations, the deepest injuries, and the
most flagrant outrages may challenge at least a comparison
with any nation, ancient or modern, in similar circumstances;
and if in future times a powerful, civilized, and happy
nation of Indians shall be found to exist within the limits
of this northern continent it will be owing to the
consummation of that policy which has been so unjustly
assailed. Only a very brief reference to facts in
confirmation of this assertion can in this form be given, and
you are therefore necessarily referred to the report of the
Secretary of War for further details. To the Cherokees, whose
case has perhaps excited the greatest share of attention and
sympathy, the United States have granted in fee, with a
perpetual guaranty of exclusive and peaceable possession,
13,554,135 acres of land on the west side of the Mississippi,
eligibly situated, in a healthy climate, and in all respects
better suited to their condition than the country they have
left, in exchange for only 9,492,160 acres on the east side
of the same river. The United States have in addition
stipulated to pay them $5,600,000 for their interest in and
improvements on the lands thus relinquished, and $1,160,000
for subsistence and other beneficial purposes, thereby
putting it in their power to become one of the most wealthy
and independent separate communities of the same extent in
the world.
By the treaties made and ratified with the Miamies, the
Chippewas, the Sioux, the Sacs and Foxes, and the Winnebagoes
during the last year the Indian title to 18,458,000 acres has
been extinguished. These purchases have been much more
extensive than those of any previous year, and have, with
other Indian expenses, borne very heavily upon the Treasury.
They leave, however, but a small quantity of unbought Indian
lands within the States and Territories, and the Legislature
and Executive were equally sensible of the propriety of a
final and more speedy extinction of Indian titles within
those limits. The treaties, which were with a single
exception made in pursuance of previous appropriations for
defraying the expenses, have subsequently been ratified by
the Senate, and received the sanction of Congress by the
appropriations necessary to carry them into effect. Of the
terms upon which these important negotiations were concluded
I can speak from direct knowledge, and I feel no difficulty
in affirming that the interest of the Indians in the
extensive territory embraced by them is to be paid for at its
fair value, and that no more favorable terms have been
granted to the United States than would have been reasonably
expected in a negotiation with civilized men fully capable of
appreciating and protecting their own rights. For the Indian
title to 116,349,897 acres acquired since the 4th of March,
1829, the United States have paid $72,560,056 in permanent
annuities, lands, reservations for Indians, expenses of
removal and subsistence, merchandise, mechanical and
agricultural establishments and implements. When the heavy
expenses incurred by the United States and the circumstance
that so large a portion of the entire territory will be
forever unsalable are considered, and this price is compared
with that for which the United States sell their own lands,
no one can doubt that justice has been done to the Indians in
these purchases also. Certain it is that the transactions of
the Federal Government with the Indians have been uniformly
characterized by a sincere and paramount desire to promote
their welfare; and it must be a source of the highest
gratification to every friend to justice and humanity to
learn that notwithstanding the obstructions from time to time
thrown in its way and the difficulties which have arisen from
the peculiar and impracticable nature of the Indian
character, the wise, humane, and undeviating policy of the
Government in this the most difficult of all our relations,
foreign or domestic, has at length been justified to the
world in its near approach to a happy and certain
consummation.
The condition of the tribes which occupy the country set
apart for them in the West is highly prosperous, and
encourages the hope of their early civilization. They have
for the most part abandoned the hunter state and turned their
attention to agricultural pursuits. All those who have been
established for any length of time in that fertile region
maintain themselves by their own industry. There are among
them traders of no inconsiderable capital, and planters
exporting cotton to some extent, but the greater number are
small agriculturists, living in comfort upon the produce of
their farms. The recent emigrants, although they have in some
instances removed reluctantly, have readily acquiesced in
their unavoidable destiny. They have found at once a
recompense for past sufferings and an incentive to
industrious habits in the abundance and comforts around them.
There is reason to believe that all these tribes are friendly
in their feelings toward the United States; and it is to be
hoped that the acquisition of individual wealth, the pursuits
of agriculture, and habits of industry will gradually subdue
their warlike propensities and incline them to maintain peace
among themselves. To effect this desirable object the
attention of Congress is solicited to the measures
recommended by the Secretary of War for their future
government and protection, as well from each other as from
the hostility of the warlike tribes around them and the
intrusions of the whites. The policy of the Government has
given them a permanent home and guaranteed to them its
peaceful and undisturbed possession. It only remains to give
them a government and laws which will encourage industry and
secure to them the rewards of their exertions. The importance
of some form of government can not be too much insisted upon.
The earliest effects will be to diminish the causes and
occasions for hostilities among the tribes, to inspire an
interest in the observance of laws to which they will have
themselves assented, and to multiply the securities of
property and the motives for self-improvement. Intimately
connected with this subject is the establishment of the
military defenses recommended by the Secretary of War, which
have been already referred to. Without them the Government
will be powerless to redeem its pledge of protection to the
emigrating Indians against the numerous warlike tribes that
surround them and to provide for the safety of the frontier
settlers of the bordering States.
The case of the Seminoles constitutes at present the only
exception to the successful efforts of the Government to
remove the Indians to the homes assigned them west of the
Mississippi. Four hundred of this tribe emigrated in 1836 and
1,500 in 1837 and 1838, leaving in the country, it is
supposed, about 2,000 Indians. The continued treacherous
conduct of these people; the savage and unprovoked murders
they have lately committed, butchering whole families of the
settlers of the Territory without distinction of age or sex,
and making their way into the very center and heart of the
country, so that no part of it is free from their ravages;
their frequent attacks on the light-houses along that
dangerous coast, and the barbarity with which they have
murdered the passengers and crews of such vessels as have
been wrecked upon the reefs and keys which border the Gulf,
leave the Government no alternative but to continue the
military operations against them until they are totally
expelled from Florida. There are other motives which would
urge the Government to pursue this course toward the
Seminoles. The United States have fulfilled in good faith all
their treaty stipulations with the Indian tribes, and have in
every other instance insisted upon a like performance of
their obligations. To relax from this salutary rule because
the Seminoles have maintained themselves so long in the
territory they had relinquished, and in defiance of their
frequent and solemn engagements still continue to wage a
ruthless war against the United States, would not only evince
a want of constancy on our part, but be of evil example in
our intercourse with other tribes. Experience has shown that
but little is to be gained by the march of armies through a
country so intersected with inaccessible swamps and marshes,
and which, from the fatal character of the climate, must be
abandoned at the end of the winter. I recommend, therefore,
to your attention the plan submitted by the Secretary of War
in the accompanying report, for the permanent occupation of
the portion of the Territory freed from the Indians and the
more efficient protection of the people of Florida from their
inhuman warfare.
WASHINGTON, December 14, 1838.
To the Senate of the United States:
With the accompanying communication of the Secretary of War I
transmit, for the consideration and constitutional action of
the Senate, a treaty concluded with the Miami tribe of
Indians on the 6th ultimo. Your attention is invited to that
section which reserves a tract of land for the use of certain
Indians, and to other reservations contained in the treaty.
All such reservations are objectionable, but for the reasons
given by the Secretary of War I submit to your consideration
whether the circumstances attending this negotiation, and the
great importance of removing the Miamies from the State of
Indiana, will warrant a departure in this instance from the
salutary rule of excluding all reservations from Indian
treaties.
M. VAN BUREN
WAR DEPARTMENT, December 14, 1838.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: I have the honor to lay before you, for submission to
the Senate for its action if approved by you, a treaty with
the Miami tribe of Indians concluded on the 6th ultimo. In
doing so I beg to call your attention to that section which
reserves from the cession made by the Miamies a tract of land
supposed to contain 10 square miles, and to other
reservations according to a schedule appended to the treaty.
The commissioner who negotiated this treaty is of opinion
that it could not have been concluded if he had not so far
departed from his instructions as to admit these
reservations. And it is to be feared that if the rules
adopted by the Department in this particular be insisted upon
on this occasion it will very much increase the difficulty,
if it does not render it impracticable to acquire this land
and remove these Indians—objects of so much importance
to the United States and especially to the State of Indiana.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J.R. POINSETT
WASHINGTON, December, 1838.
To the Senate:
I transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, accompanied by
a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, on
the subject of granting to the Chickasaw Indians subsistence
for the further term of seven months. Should it be the
pleasure of the Senate to give its sanction to the measure
suggested by the Commissioner for this purpose, my own will
not be withheld.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 16, 1839.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States:
I lay before you a communication from the Secretary of War,
which is accompanied by one from the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, suggesting the propriety of setting apart a tract of
country west of the Mississippi for the Seminole Indians, so
that they may be separate from the Creeks, and representing
the necessity of a small appropriation for supplying the
immediate wants of those who have been removed; and I
respectfully recommend these subjects for the early
consideration and favorable action of Congress.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 18, 1839.
To the House of Representatives:
In addition to the information contained in a report from the
Secretary of State communicated with my message of the 30th
April, 1838, I transmit to the House of Representatives a
report* from the Secretary of War,
dated the 16th instant, in answer to a resolution of the
House of the 19th March last, and containing so much of the
information called for by said resolution as could be
furnished by his Department.
M. VAN BUREN.
*Relating to the intermeddling of any foreign government, or subjects or officers thereof, with the Indian tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin, the territory beyond the Rocky Mountains, or elsewhere within the limits of the United States, etc.
WASHINGTON, January 21, 1839.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit a treaty negotiated with the New York Indians,
which was submitted to your body in June last and amended.
The amendments have, in pursuance of the requirement of the
Senate, been submitted to each of the tribes, assembled in
council, for their free and voluntary assent or dissent
thereto. In respect to all the tribes except the Senecas the
result of this application has been entirely satisfactory. It
will be seen by the accompanying papers that of this tribe,
the most important of those concerned, the assent of only 42
out of 81 chiefs has been obtained. I deem it advisable under
these circumstances to submit the treaty in its modified form
to the Senate, for its advice in regard of the sufficiency of
the assent of the Senecas to the amendments proposed.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 26, 1839.
To the Senate of the United States:
I lay before you, for your consideration, a treaty concluded
with the Omaha, Ioway, and Otoe tribes of Indians, and
sanctioned by the Yancton and Santie bands of Sioux, by which
a tract of land situated on the south side of the Missouri
between the Great and Little Nemahaw rivers has been ceded to
the United States.
It appears that the consent of the half-breeds of the
above-mentioned tribes and bands is wanting to perfect the
treaty. This tract of land was ceded by the treaty of 15th
July, 1830, to them by the above-mentioned tribes and bands
of Indians, and can not be taken from them, even for such a
valuable consideration as will relieve their wants, without
their assent. In order to avoid unnecessary delay, I submit
it to your consideration in order to receive an expression of
your opinion as to the manner of obtaining the assent of the
minors, whereby all unnecessary delay in the final action
upon the treaty will be avoided.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, February 16, 1839.
To the Senate:
I transmit for the constitutional action of the Senate
treaties recently concluded with the Creek, Osage, and Iowa
tribes of Indians, with communications from the Department of
War.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, February 19, 1839.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit a report from the War Department in relation to
the investigations had by the commissioners under the
resolution of 1st July, 1836, on the sales of reservations of
deceased Creek Indians.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, February 21, 1839.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit for the constitutional action of the Senate
articles supplementary to the treaty with the Chippewas, for
the purchase of 40 acres of land at the mouth of the Saginaw
River, which are esteemed necessary in the erection and use
of a light-house at that point.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, February 25, 1839.
To the Senate:
I transmit for the constitutional action of the Senate a
supplemental article to the treaty with the Chippewas of
Saganaw, which accompanied my communication of the 21st
instant, and explanatory papers from the War Department.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, March 2, 1839.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED
STATES.
I transmit herewith reports of the Secretaries of the State,
Treasury, War, and Navy Departments, in reply to a resolution
of the 28th ultimo, calling for information respecting the
amounts paid to persons concerned in negotiating treaties
with the Indians since the year 1829, and in regard to the
disbursement of public money by clerks in the above
Departments and the bureaus and offices thereof.
M. VAN BUREN
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.
In conformity with the expressed wishes of Congress, an
attempt was made in the spring to terminate the Florida war
by negotiation. It is to be regretted that these humane
intentions should have been frustrated and that the effort to
bring these unhappy difficulties to a satisfactory conclusion
should have failed; but after entering into solemn
engagements with the commanding general, the Indians, without
any provocation, recommenced their acts of treachery and
murder. The renewal of hostilities in that Territory renders
it necessary that I should recommend to your favorable
consideration the plan which will be submitted to you by the
Secretary of War, in order to enable that Department to
conduct them to a successful issue.
WASHINGTON, December 11, 1839.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit for the consideration and advice of the Senate a
treaty concluded on the 3d day of September last with the
Stockbridge and Munsee tribes of Indians, with a report from
the Secretary of War and other documents in relation to it.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1840.
To the Senate of the United States:
I again submit to you the amended treaty of June 11, 1838,
with the New York Indians. It is accompanied by minutes of
the proceedings of a council held with them at Cattaraugus on
the 13th and 14th days of August, 1839, at which were present
on the part of the United States the Secretary of War and on
the part of the State of Massachusetts General H.A.S.
Dearborn, its commissioner; by various documentary testimony,
and by a memorial presented in behalf of the several
committees on Indian concerns appointed by the four yearly
meetings of Friends of Genesee, New York, Philadelphia, and
Baltimore. In the latter document the memorialists not only
insist upon the irregularity and illegality of the
negotiation, but urge a variety of considerations which
appear to them to be very conclusive against the policy of
the removal itself. The motives by which they have been
induced to take so deep an interest in the subject are
frankly set forth, and are doubtless of the most beneficent
character. They have, however, failed to remove my decided
conviction that the proposed removal, if it can be
accomplished by proper means, will be alike beneficial to the
Indians, to the State in which the land is situated, and to
the more general interest of the United States upon the
subject of Indian affairs.
The removal of the New York Indians is not only important to
the tribes themselves, but to an interesting portion of
western New York, and especially to the growing city of
Buffalo, which is surrounded by lands occupied by the
Senecas. To the Indians themselves it presents the only
prospect of preservation. Surrounded as they are by all the
influences which work their destruction, by temptation they
can not resist and artifices they can not counteract, they
are rapidly declining, and, notwithstanding the philanthropic
efforts of the Society of Friends, it is believed that where
they are they must soon become extinct; and to this portion
of our country the extraordinary spectacle is presented of
densely populated and highly improved settlements inhabited
by industrious, moral, and respectable citizens, divided by a
wilderness on one side of which is a city of more than 20,000
souls, whose advantageous position in every other respect and
great commercial prospects would insure its rapid increase in
population and wealth if not retarded by the circumstance of
a naturally fertile district remaining a barren waste in its
immediate vicinity. Neither does it appear just to those who
are entitled to the fee simple of the land, and who have paid
a part of the purchase money, that they should suffer from
the waste which is constantly committed upon their
reversionary rights and the great deterioration of the land
consequent upon such depredations without any corresponding
advantage to the Indian occupants.
The treaty, too, is recommended by the liberality of its
provisions. The cession contained in the first article
embraces the right, title, and interest secured to "the Six
Nations of the New York Indians and St. Regis tribe" in lands
at Green Bay by the Menomonee treaty of 8th February, 1831,
the supplement thereto of 17th of same month, and the
conditions upon which they were ratified by the Senate,
except a tract on which a part of the New York Indians now
reside. The Menomonee treaty assigned them 500,000 acres,
coupled with the original condition that they should remove
to them within three years after the date of the treaty,
modified by the supplement so as to empower the President to
prescribe the term within which they should remove to the
Green Bay lands, and that if they neglected to do so within
the period limited so much of the land as should be
unoccupied by them at the termination thereof should revert
to the United States. To these lands the New York Indians
claimed title, which was resisted, and, for quieting the
controversy, by the treaty of 1831 the United States paid a
large consideration; and it will be seen that by using the
power given in the treaty the Executive might put an end to
the Indian claim. Instead of this harsher measure, for a
grant of all their interest in Wisconsin, which, deducting
the land in the actual occupancy of New York Indians, amounts
to about 435,000 acres, the treaty as amended by the Senate
gives 1,824,000 acres of lands in the West and the sum of
$400,000 for their removal and subsistence, for education and
agricultural purposes, the erection of mills and the
necessary houses, and the promotion of the mechanic arts.
Besides, there are special money provisions for the Cayugas,
the Onondagas, the Oneidas of New York, the Tuscaroras, and
St. Regis Indians, and an engagement to receive from Ogden
and Fellows for the Senecas $202,000; to invest $100,000 of
this sum in safe stocks and to distribute $102,000 among the
owners of improvements in New York according to an
appraisement; to sell for the Tuscaroras 5,000 acres of land
they hold in Niagara County, N.Y., and to invest the
proceeds, exclusive of what may be received for improvements,
"the income from which shall be paid to the nation at their
new homes annually, and the money which shall be received for
improvements on said lands shall be paid to the owners of the
improvements when the lands are sold." These are the
substantial parts of the treaty, and are so careful of Indian
advantage that one might suppose they would be satisfactory
to those most anxious for their welfare. The right they cede
could be extinguished by a course that treaty provisions
justify and authorize. So long as they persevere in their
determination to remain in New York it is of no service to
them, and for this naked right it is seen what the United
States propose to give them besides the sum of $202,000,
which will be due from the purchasers of their occupant right
to the Senecas, and $9,600 to the Tuscaroras for their title
to 1,920 acres of land in Ontario County, N.Y., exclusive of
the 5,000 acres above mentioned.
But whilst such are my views in respect to the measure
itself, and while I shall feel it to be my duty to labor for
its accomplishment by the proper use of all the means that
are or shall be placed at my disposal by Congress, I am at
the same time equally desirous to avoid the use of any which
are inconsistent with those principles of benevolence and
justice which I on a former occasion endeavored to show have
in the main characterized the dealings of the Federal
Government with the Indian tribes from the Administration of
President Washington to the present time. The obstacles to
the execution of the treaty grow out of the following
considerations: The amended treaty was returned to me by your
body at the close of its last session, accompanied by a
resolution setting forth that "whenever the President of the
United States shall be satisfied that the assent of the
Seneca tribe of Indians has been given to the amended treaty
of June 11, 1838, with the New York Indians, according to the
true intent and meaning of the resolution of the 11th of
June, 1838, the Senate recommend that the President make
proclamation of said treaty and carry the same into effect."
The resolution of the 11th of June, 1838, provided that "the
said treaty shall have no force or effect whatever as relates
to any of the said tribes, nations, or bands of New York
Indians, nor shall it be understood that the Senate have
assented to any of the contracts connected with it until the
same, with the amendments herein proposed, is submitted and
fully explained by the commissioner of the United States to
each of the said tribes or bands separately assembled in
council, and they have given their free and voluntary consent
thereto." The amended treaty was submitted to the chiefs of
the several tribes and its provisions explained to them in
council. A majority of the chiefs of each of the tribes of
New York Indians signed the treaty in council, except the
Senecas. Of them only 16 signed in council, 13 signed at the
commissioner's office, and 2, who were confined by
indisposition, at home. This was reported to the War
Department in October, 1838, and in January, 1839, a final
return of the proceedings of the commissioner was made, by
which it appeared that 41 signatures of chiefs, including 6
out of the 8 sachems of the nation, had been affixed to the
treaty. The number of chiefs of the Seneca Nation entitled to
act for the people is variously estimated from 74 to 80, and
by some at a still higher number. Thus it appears that,
estimating the number of chiefs at 80—and it is
believed there are at least that number—there was only
a bare majority of them who signed the treaty, and only 16
gave their assent to it in council. The Secretary of War was
under these circumstances directed to meet the chiefs of the
New York Indians in council, in order to ascertain, if
possible, the views of the several tribes, and especially of
the Senecas, in relation to the amended treaty. He did so in
the month of August last, and the minutes of the proceedings
of that council are herewith submitted. Much opposition was
manifested by a party of the Senecas, and from some cause or
other some of the chiefs of the other tribes who had in
former councils consented to the treaty appeared to be now
opposed to it. Documents were presented showing that some of
the Seneca chiefs had received assurances of remuneration
from the proprietors of the land, provided they assented to
the treaty and used their influence to obtain that of the
nation, while testimony was offered on the other side to
prove that many had been deterred from signing and taking
part in favor of the treaty by threats of violence, which,
from the late intelligence of the cruel murders committed
upon the signers of the Cherokee treaty, produced a panic
among the partisans of that now under consideration. Whatever
may have been the means used by those interested in the fee
simple of these lands to obtain the assent of Indians, it
appears from the disinterested and important testimony of the
commissioner appointed by the State of Massachusetts that the
agent of the Government acted throughout with the utmost
fairness, and General Dearborn declares himself to be
perfectly satisfied that were it not for the unremitted and
disingenuous exertions of a certain number of white men who
are actuated by their private interests, to induce the chiefs
not to assent to the treaty, it would immediately have been
approved by an immense majority—an opinion which he
reiterated at Cattaraugus. Statements were presented to the
Secretary of War at Cattaraugus to show that a vast majority
of the New York Indians were adverse to the treaty, but no
reasonable doubt exists that the same influence which
obtained this expression of opinion would, if exerted with
equal zeal on the other side, have produced a directly
opposite effect and shown a large majority in favor of
emigration. But no advance toward obtaining the assent of the
Seneca tribe to the amended treaty in council was made, nor
can the assent of a majority of them in council be now
obtained. In the report of the committee of the Senate, upon
the subject of this treaty, of the 28th of February last it
is stated as follows:
But it is in vain to contend that the signatures of the last
ten, which were obtained on the second mission, or of the
three who have sent on their assent lately, is such a signing
as was contemplated by the resolution of the Senate. It is
competent, however, for the Senate to waive the usual and
customary forms in this instance and consider the signatures
of these last thirteen as good as though they had been
obtained in open council. But the committee can not recommend
the adoption of such a practice in making treaties, for
divers good reasons, which must be obvious to the Senate; and
among those reasons against these secret individual
negotiations is the distrust created that the chiefs so
acting are doing what a majority of their people do not
approve of, or else that they are improperly acted upon by
bribery or threats or unfair influences. In this case we have
most ample illustrations. Those opposed to the treaty accuse
several of those who signed their assent to the amended
treaty with having been bribed, and in at least one instance
they make out the charge very clearly.
Although the committee, being four in number, were unable to
agree upon any recommendation to the Senate, it does not
appear that there was any diversity of opinion amongst them
in regard to this part of the report. The provision of the
resolution of the Senate of the 11th of June, 1838, requiring
the assent of each of the said tribes of Indians to the
amended treaty to be given in council, and which was also
made a condition precedent to the recommendation to me of the
Senate of the 2d of March, 1839, to carry the same into
effect, has not, therefore, been complied with as it respects
the Seneca tribe.
It is, however, insisted by the advocates for the execution
of the treaty that it was the intention of the Senate by
their resolution of the 2d of March, 1839, to waive so much
of the requirement of that of the 11th of June, 1838, as made
it necessary that the assent of the different tribes should
be given in council. This assumption is understood to be
founded upon the circumstances that the fact that only
sixteen of the chiefs had given their assent in that form had
been distinctly communicated to the Senate before the passage
of the resolution of the 2d of March, and that instead of
being a majority that number constituted scarcely one-fifth
of the whole number of chiefs, and it is hence insisted that
unless the Senate had so intended there would have been no
use in sending the amended treaty to the President with the
advice contained in that resolution. This has not appeared to
me to be a necessary deduction from the foregoing facts, as
the Senate may have contemplated that the assent of the tribe
in the form first required should be thereafter obtained, and
before the treaty was executed, and the phraseology of the
resolution, viz, "that whenever the President shall be
satisfied," etc., goes far to sustain this construction. The
interpretation of the acts of the Senate set up by the
advocates for the treaty is, moreover, in direct opposition
to the disclaimer contained in the report of the committee
which has been adverted to. It is at best an inference only,
in respect to the truth of which the Senate can alone speak
with certainty, and which could not with propriety be
regarded as justifying the desired action in relation to the
execution of the treaty.
This measure is further objected to on the ground of improper
inducements held out to the assenting chiefs by the agents of
the proprietors of the lands, which, it is insisted, ought to
invalidate the treaty if even the requirement that the assent
of the chiefs should be given in council was dispensed with.
Documentary evidence upon this subject was laid before you at
the last session, and is again communicated, with additional
evidence upon the same point. The charge appears by the
proceedings of the Senate to have been investigated by your
committee, but no conclusion upon the subject formed other
than that which is contained in the extract from the report
of the committee I have referred to, and which asserts that
at least in one instance the charge of bribery has been
clearly made out. That improper means have been employed to
obtain the assent of the Seneca chiefs there is every reason
to believe, and I have not been able to satisfy myself that I
can, consistently with the resolution of the Senate of the 2d
of March, 1839, cause the treaty to be carried into effect in
respect to the Seneca tribe.
You will perceive that this treaty embraces the Six Nations
of New York Indians, occupying different reservations, but
bound together by common ties, and it will be expedient to
decide whether in the event of that part of it which concerns
the Senecas being rejected it shall be considered valid in
relation to the other tribes, or whether the whole
confederacy shall share one fate. In the event of the Senate
not advising the ratification of the amended treaty, I invite
your attention to the proposal submitted by the dissentients
to authorize a division of the lands, so that those who
prefer it may go West and enjoy the advantages of a permanent
home there, and of their proportion of the annuities now
payable, as well as of the several pecuniary and other
beneficiary provisions of the amended treaty.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, January 21, 1840.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in compliance with the request of
the governor of Massachusetts, a copy of a letter addressed
to him by one of the chiefs of the Seneca tribe of Indians in
the State of New York, written on behalf of that portion of
the tribe opposed to the treaty of Buffalo.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, March 11, 1840.
To the Senate:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate dated the 4th
of February, 1840, I have the honor to transmit herewith
copies of the correspondence between the Department of War
and Governor Call concerning the war in Florida.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON CITY, March 19, 1840.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit herewith for your consideration and constitutional
action the treaty accompanying the inclosed communication of
the Secretary of War, made with the Shawnee Indians west of
the Mississippi River, for the purchase of a portion of their
lands, with the view of procuring for the Wyandot Indians of
Ohio a satisfactory residence west.
M. VAN BUREN
WAR DEPARTMENT, March, 1840.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: I have the honor to submit for your consideration, and,
if it meets your approbation, for transmission to the Senate,
a treaty concluded on the 18th December last with the Shawnee
Indians by their chiefs, headmen, and counselors, and an
explanatory communication of the 17th instant from the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J.R. POINSETT
WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS,
March 17, 1840.
Hon. J.R. POINSETT,
Secretary of War.
SIR: Negotiations with the Wyandots for a cession of their
lands in Ohio and removal to the country west of the
Mississippi have been pending for some years. During the past
season two exploring parties from that tribe have visited the
West and were tolerably well pleased with the district to
which it was proposed to remove them, but expressed a strong
preference for a tract which the Shawnees and Delawares
offered to sell to the United States for them. The
commissioner charged with the business of treating with the
Wyandots was of opinion that if this tract could be procured
there would be little difficulty in concluding a treaty. He
was therefore under these circumstances instructed to make
the purchase, subject to the ratification of the President
and Senate and dependent on the condition that the Wyandots
will accept it, and on the 18th of December last effected a
treaty with the Shawnees by which they ceded a tract of about
58,000 acres on those conditions at the price of $1.50 per
acre. No purchase has been made from the Delawares, as they
refuse to sell at a less price than $5 per acre, and it is
thought that the land ceded by the Shawnees will be amply
sufficient for the present.
I have the honor herewith to submit the treaty with the
Shawnees, to be laid, if you think proper, before the
President and Senate for ratification.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD
WASHINGTON, April, 1840.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit herewith communications from the Secretary of War
and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, giving the information
"in possession of the Government respecting the assemblage of
Indians on the northwestern frontier, and especially as to
the interference of the officers or agents of any foreign
power with the Indians of the United States in the vicinity
of the Great Lakes," which I was requested to communicate by
the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th
ultimo.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON CITY, April 18, 1840.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of
War, accompanied by a letter from the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, indicating the importance of an extension of the
authority given by the sixteenth clause of the first section
of the act entitled "An act providing for the salaries of
certain officers therein named, and for other purposes,"
approved 9th May, 1836.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, May 16, 1840.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit the report of the Secretary of War furnishing a
statement of the amounts paid to persons concerned in
negotiating Indian treaties since 1829, etc., which completes
the information called for by the resolution of the House of
Representatives dated the 28th January, 1839, upon that
subject and the disbursing officers in the War Department.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, June 6, 1840.
To the House of Representatives:
I herewith submit a report from the Secretary of the
Treasury, in relation to certain lands falling within the
Chickasaw cession which have been sold at Chocchuma and
Columbus, in Mississippi, and invite the attention of
Congress to the subject of further legislation in relation to
them.
M. VAN BUREN
WASHINGTON, July 20, 1840.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, in reply to the resolution of the Senate
of the 11th March last, a report*
from the Secretary of War, accompanied by a communication and
other documents from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
M. VAN BUREN.
*Relating to purchases of Indian lands since the establishment of the Federal Government.
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
The desultory duties connected with the removal of the
Indians, in which the Army has been constantly engaged on the
northern and western frontiers and in Florida, have rendered
it impracticable to carry into full effect the plan
recommended by the Secretary for improving its discipline. In
every instance where the regiments have been concentrated
they have made great progress, and the best results may be
anticipated from a continuance of this system. During the
last season a part of the troops have been employed in
removing Indians from the interior to the territory assigned
them in the West—a duty which they have performed
efficiently and with praiseworthy humanity—and that
portion of them which has been stationed in Florida continued
active operations there throughout the heats of summer.
The policy of the United States in regard to the Indians, of
which a succinct account is given in my message of 1838, and
of the wisdom and expediency of which I am fully satisfied,
has been continued in active operation throughout the whole
period of my Administration. Since the spring of 1837 more
than 40,000 Indians have been removed to their new homes west
of the Mississippi, and I am happy to add that all accounts
concur in representing the result of this measure as
eminently beneficial to that people.
The emigration of the Seminoles alone has been attended with
serious difficulty and occasioned bloodshed, hostilities
having been commenced by the Indians in Florida under the
apprehension that they would be compelled by force to comply
with their treaty stipulations. The execution of the treaty
of Paynes Landing, signed in 1832, but not ratified until
1834, was postponed at the solicitation of the Indians until
1836, when they again renewed their agreement to remove
peaceably to their new homes in the West. In the face of this
solemn and renewed compact they broke their faith and
commenced hostilities by the massacre of Major Dade's
command, the murder of their agent, General Thompson, and
other acts of cruel treachery. When this alarming and
unexpected intelligence reached the seat of Government, every
effort appears to have been made to reenforce General Clinch,
who commanded the troops then in Florida. General Eustis was
dispatched with reenforcements from Charleston, troops were
called out from Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and General
Scott was sent to take the command, with ample powers and
ample means. At the first alarm General Gaines organized a
force at New Orleans, and without waiting for orders landed
in Florida, where he delivered over the troops he had brought
with him to General Scott.
Governor Call was subsequently appointed to conduct a summer
campaign, and at the close of it was replaced by General
Jesup. These events and changes took place under the
Administration of my predecessor. Notwithstanding the
exertions of the experienced officers who had command there
for eighteen months, on entering upon the administration of
the Government I found the Territory of Florida a prey to
Indian atrocities. A strenuous effort was immediately made to
bring those hostilities to a close, and the army under
General Jesup was reenforced until it amounted to 10,000 men,
and furnished with abundant supplies of every description. In
this campaign a great number of the enemy were captured and
destroyed, but the character of the contest only was changed.
The Indians, having been defeated in every engagement,
dispersed in small bands throughout the country and became an
enterprising, formidable, and ruthless banditti. General
Taylor, who succeeded General Jesup, used his best exertions
to subdue them, and was seconded in his efforts by the
officers under his command; but he too failed to protect the
Territory from their depredations. By an act of signal and
cruel treachery they broke the truce made with them by
General Macomb, who was sent from Washington for the purpose
of carrying into effect the expressed wishes of Congress, and
have continued their devastations ever since. General
Armistead, who was in Florida when General Taylor left the
army by permission, assumed the command, and after active
summer operations was met by propositions for peace, and from
the fortunate coincidence of the arrival in Florida at the
same period of a delegation from the Seminoles who are
happily settled west of the Mississippi and are now anxious
to persuade their countrymen to join them there hopes were
for some time entertained that the Indians might be induced
to leave the Territory without further difficulty. These
hopes have proved fallacious and hostilities have been
renewed throughout the whole of the Territory. That this
contest has endured so long is to be attributed to causes
beyond the control of the Government. Experienced generals
have had the command of the troops, officers and soldiers
have alike distinguished themselves for their activity,
patience, and enduring courage, the army has been constantly
furnished with supplies of every description, and we must
look for the causes which have so long procrastinated the
issue of the contest in the vast extent of the theater of
hostilities, the almost insurmountable obstacles presented by
the nature of the country, the climate, and the wily
character of the savages.
WASHINGTON, December 10, 1840.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for the action of the Senate, a communication
from the Secretary of War, on the subject of the transfer of
Chickasaw stock to the Choctaw tribe, which the accompanying
papers explain.
M. VAN BUREN
WAR DEPARTMENT, December 10, 1840.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: I have the honor to lay before you a communication from
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, relative to the transfer
of $500,000 Chickasaw stock to the Choctaws in execution of
the compact of 17th January, 1837, between those tribes, that
if you think it advisable you may assent to the proposed
transfer and lay the matter before the Senate for the
sanction of that body.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J.R. POINSETT
WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS,
December, 1840.
Hon. J.R. POINSETT,
Secretary of War.
SIR: A compact was made on the 17th January, 1837, "subject
to the approval of the President and Senate of the United
States," which it received from the former on the 24th March,
1837, in conformity with the resolution of the Senate of 25th
February, between the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of
Indians, of which I have the honor to inclose a copy.
By this instrument the right to occupy a portion of the
Choctaw country west of the Mississippi was, with certain
privileges, secured to the Chickasaws, who agreed to pay
therefor $530,000, of which $30,000 were paid in 1837, and
the remaining $500,000 it was agreed should be invested under
the direction of the Government of the United States and that
the interest should be paid annually to the Choctaws.
There being no money to place in the hands of the United
States, but a very large amount of Chickasaw stock under the
direction of the Treasury, the reasonable desire of the
Choctaws that this large fund belonging to them should be put
in their own names on the books of the Government can be
gratified by a transfer of so much of the stock to the
Secretary of War for their use, upon which the interest will
be received and paid over to them. This will be an execution
of the agreement of the parties. A sale of stocks to raise
the money and then a reinvestment of it according to the
letter of the compact ought not to be resorted to on account
of their present low price in the market.
In considering this subject in the course of the autumn the
thirteenth article of the treaty of 24th May, 1834, with the
Chickasaws was adverted to, by which it is provided: "If the
Chickasaws shall be so fortunate as to procure a home within
the limits of the United States, it is agreed that, with the
consent of the President and Senate, so much of their
invested stock as may be necessary to the purchase of a
country for them to settle in shall be permitted to them to
be sold, or the United States will advance the necessary
amount upon a guaranty and pledge of an equal amount of their
stocks." The compact before referred to having been ratified
by the President and Senate, it was doubted whether that was
not a virtual consent to the application of so much of the
stock as would be required to pay for the land and privileges
contracted for by the said compact, and an authority for the
transfer of it. The question was referred to the
Attorney-General, who was of opinion that the transfer could
not be legally made without the assent of the President and
Senate to the particular act.
I have therefore respectfully to request that you will lay
the matter before the President, that if he concurs in the
propriety of so doing he may give his own and ask the consent
of the Senate to the proposed proceeding.
Very respectfully, your most obedient,
T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD
WASHINGTON, January 4, 1841.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit herewith a treaty concluded with the Miami Indians
for the cession of their lands in the State of Indiana. The
circumstances attending this negotiation are fully set forth
in the accompanying communication from the Secretary of War.
Although the treaty was concluded without positive
instructions and the usual official preliminaries, its terms
appear to be so advantageous and the acquisition of these
lands are deemed so desirable by reason of their importance
to the State of Indiana and the Government, as well as on
account of the Indians themselves, who will be greatly
benefited by their removal west, that I have thought it
advisable to submit it to the action of the Senate.
M. VAN BUREN
WAR DEPARTMENT, January 4, 1841.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a treaty concluded
with the Miami Indians of the State of Indiana, to be laid
before the Senate for their ratification if upon due
consideration of the circumstances under which this treaty
was negotiated you should think proper to do so. These
circumstances are fully and correctly set forth in the
accompanying communication from the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, to which I beg leave respectfully to refer you.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient
servant,
J.R. POINSETT
WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS,
December 29, 1840.
Hon. J.R. POINSETT,
Secretary of War.
SIR: A treaty made with the Miami tribe of Indians in the
State of Indiana on the 28th day of November last for the
residue of their lands in that State has been unexpectedly
received.
Great anxiety has been manifested by the citizens of Indiana
and made known by their representatives in both Houses of
Congress that a cession of the Miami land should be procured,
and it seems to have been met by a correspondent disposition
on the part of the leading men among the Indians. On the 25th
May last a communication was received from General Samuel
Milroy, subagent, etc., expressing the belief that the
Miamies would treat and that their principal chief was
desirous before the close of his life, now drawing near, to
effect a negotiation, as in his opinion the emigration or
extinction of the tribe were the alternatives before them,
and suggesting that the most judicious course would be to
conduct the business informally at the annuity payment. In
reply he was informed on the 2d July that the Department did
not open negotiations for the purchase of Indian lands unless
thereto previously authorized by Congress, and that at the
request of a portion of the representation of Indiana an
estimate had been furnished of the sum that would be required
to hold a treaty, and that if the presumed intention of
obtaining the estimate should be realized an effort would be
made to execute the purpose for which the appropriation would
be obtained. (Extracts from these letters, so far as they
relate to the subject, are herewith sent, marked
A.86) On the 31st July he renewed
the subject, accompanied by an extract of a letter of 22d
July to himself from Allen Hamilton, esq., the
confidential friend of Chief Richardville, urging the
propriety of a negotiation. (B.)
On the 12th August, no appropriation having been made by
Congress, a letter was addressed to you by the Hon. O.H.
Smith, of the Senate of the United States from Indiana,
inclosing a letter from Mr. Hamilton, dated on the 11th,
urging the vast importance of treating with the Miamies, as
well to them as to the State, and giving the reasons which in
the judgment of both led to the conclusion that their
particular case should form an exception to the general rule
that obtains in regard of Indian treaties, and recommending
strongly the appointment of General Milroy as a suitable
person to conduct the negotiation. A communication of similar
character (except the last feature), dated 20th August, was
received from Mr. Milroy. The letter of the Hon. Mr. Smith
was referred by you to this office, and on the 27th August,
after a conference with you on the subject, I replied that
exceptions to the rule stated might under very peculiar
circumstances exist, but that as the Senate certainly, and it
was believed the House too, had rejected an application for
an appropriation, the opening of a negotiation might be
considered to be opposed to an expression of legislative
opinion. In answer to the suggestion that little or perhaps
no expense need be incurred, as the treaty could be made at
the payment of the annuities, it was remarked that the
consideration money must necessarily be large, as the Miami
lands were very valuable, and an appropriation of it
required, which Congress might be disinclined to grant after
what had happened; that it was therefore deemed advisable to
decline treating, and that perhaps a future application for
legislative sanction might be more successful. Of this letter
a copy was sent to General Milroy as a reply on the subject
in hand to his communication of 31st July, and his letter of
20th August was further answered on 2d September.
(C.)
In consequence of the representations referred to, and
probably others which did not reach me, you addressed me an
unofficial note on 14th September, suggesting that Allen
Hamilton, esq., might at the payment of the annuities make an
arrangement with the Miamies that would be "gratifying to the
people as well as beneficial to the service." With this
expressed wish of the head of the Department, and after
consultation with you, I wrote unofficial letters to General
Samuel Milroy and to Allen Hamilton, esq., on the 18th
September, setting forth the views of the Department as
hereinbefore expressed in regard of precedent legislative
sanction and the importance to Indiana of treating with the
Miamies, whose disposition to cede their remaining lands on
just and equitable terms might not continue. It was thought,
however, to be in keeping with the rule adopted to ascertain
informally from the Miamies what they would be willing to
take for their lands when it was their pleasure to emigrate,
etc. It was doubted whether it would be judicious to reduce
the terms to writing, however informally, on account of the
difficulty there might be in convincing the Indians that it
was not a treaty, although it was desirable, if it could be
safely done, that it should be so; and they were informed
that a report from them would answer "all my purposes, as my
object is to be able to say to each branch of Congress upon
what terms the Miami lands can be had by the United States,
so that if the terms are approved the necessary law may be
passed." It was suggested that the annuity payment would
afford a good opportunity for procuring the information
desired, which it was expected could be had without any
expense, for which there were no funds, and that if there
were it would not be proper to expend them in the way
proposed. (D.)
I desire to state the facts as they exist so fully as to
exhibit precisely what has been the action of the Department,
without going into more detail than may be necessary, and
therefore annex extracts and copies of the papers referred to
instead of embodying them in this communication.
On the 28th day of November last a treaty was concluded by
Messrs. Samuel Milroy and Allen Hamilton with "the chiefs,
warriors, and headmen of the Miami tribe of Indians," which
was received here on the 19th instant, accompanied by a
letter explanatory of the treaty and stating it to have been
made by "the undersigned, acting under instructions contained
in your unofficial letter dated September 18, 1840;" that it
was made at the annuity payment, when "the views and
instructions of the Department" were "communicated to the
Miami Indians in full council," and that "after full
consideration of the subject they decided to reduce to treaty
form a proposition or the terms upon which they would consent
to cede their remaining lands in Indiana to the United
States, subject, as they understand it, to the approval of
the Department and the approval and ratification of the
President and Senate of the United States before being of any
binding force or efficiency as a treaty." With the original
treaty I send a copy of the explanatory letter and of a
communication from General Milroy giving the reasons for the
money provisions made for the chief Richardville and the
family of Chief Godfrey. (E.)
It will be thus seen that the negotiation of a treaty was not
authorized; but if in the opinion of the President and Senate
it shall be advisable to adopt and confirm it, I do not see
any legal objection to such a course. The quantity of land
ceded is estimated at about 500,000 acres, for which the
consideration is fixed at $550,000, or $1.10 per acre, of
which $250,000 are payable presently and the balance in
annual payments of $15,000, which will be discharged in
twenty years. In addition, we will be bound to remove them
west of the Mississippi within five years, the period
stipulated for their emigration, and to subsist them for one
year after their arrival. These are the chief provisions in
which the United States are interested. By the second (it is
called in the treaty now submitted the "22," which, if the
President should decide to lay it before the Senate, can be
corrected by that body) article of the treaty of 6th
November, 1838, there is reserved from the cession contained
in that instrument 10 miles square for the band of
Ma-to-sin-ia, in regard of which the seventh article says:
"It is further stipulated that the United States convey by
patent to Me-shing-go-me-zia, son of Ma-to-sin-ia, the tract
of land reserved by the twenty-second article of the treaty
of 6th of November, 1838, to the band of Ma-to-sin-ia."
This is a change as to the title of a reservation heretofore
sanctioned and not now ceded, and so far as the United States
are concerned does not vary the aspect of the present
compact. There are reserved to the chief Richardville seven
sections of land, and to him and the family of the deceased
chief Godfrey are to be paid, respectively, considerable sums
of money, which it seems from the statement of General Milroy
were debts due to them and acknowledged by the tribe.
The treaty of November, 1838, which was ratified on the 8th
February, 1839, extinguished the Indian title to about
177,000 acres of land and cost the United States $335,680, or
nearly $2 per acre. Measured by this price the present
arrangement would seem to be very advantageous. It is stated
by Messrs. Milroy and Hamilton that more favorable terms will
not be assented to by the Miamies under any circumstances,
and considering the great importance of the adoption of this
compact, however irregularly made, to the State of Indiana,
as well as the belief that any postponement will probably
swallow up what remains to these Indians in debts which they
most improvidently contract and the conviction that nothing
can save them from moral ruin but their removal west, I think
it would be judicious in all views of the matter to adopt and
ratify this treaty, and respectfully recommend that it, with
the accompanying papers, be laid before the President, and,
if he and you concur in my views, that the sanction of it by
the Senate be asked.
Respectfully submitted,
T. HARTLEY CRAWFORD
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