FROM THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF ANDREW JACKSON
FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE
December 8, 1829
Your particular attention is requested to that part of the
report of the Secretary of War which relates to the money held in
trust for the Seneca tribe of Indians. It will be perceived that
without legislative aid the Executive can not obviate the
embarrassments occasioned by the diminution of the dividends on
that fund, which originally amounted to $100,000, and has recently
been invested in United States 3 per cent stock.
The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within
the limits of some of our States have become objects of much
interest and importance. It has long been the policy of Government
to introduce among them the arts of civilization, in the hope of
gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. This policy has,
however, been coupled with another wholly incompatible with its
success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, we have
at the same time lost no opportunity to purchase their lands and
thrust them farther into the wilderness. By this means they have
not only been kept in a wandering state, but been led to look upon
us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. Thus, though lavish in
its expenditures upon the subject, Government has constantly
defeated its own policy, and the Indians in general, receding
farther and farther to the west, have retained their savage habits.
A portion, however, of the Southern tribes, having mingled much
with the whites and made some progress in the arts of civilized
life, have lately attempted to erect an independent government
within the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These States, claiming to
be the only sovereigns within their territories, extended their
laws over the Indians, which induced the latter to call upon the
United States for protection.
Under these circumstances the question presented was whether the
General Government had a right to sustain those people in their
pretensions. The Constitution declares that "no new State shall be
formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State"
without the consent of its legislature. If the General Government
is not permitted to tolerate the erection of a confederate State
within the territory of one of the members of this Union against
her consent, much less could it allow a foreign and independent
government to establish itself there. Georgia became a member of
the Confederacy which eventuated in our Federal Union as a
sovereign State, always asserting her claim to certain limits,
which, having been originally defined in her colonial charter and
subsequently recognized in the treaty of peace, she has ever since
continued to enjoy, except as they have been circumscribed by her
own voluntary transfer of a portion of her territory to the United
States in the articles of cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted
into the Union on the same footing with the original States, with
boundaries which were prescribed by Congress. There is no
constitutional, conventional, or legal provision which allows them
less power over the Indians within their borders than is possessed
by Maine or New York. Would the people of Maine permit the
Penobscot tribe to erect an independent government within their
State? And unless they did would it not be the duty of the General
Government to support them in resisting such a measure? Would the
people of New York permit each remnant of the Six Nations within
her borders to declare itself an independent people under the
protection of the United States? Could the Indians establish a
separate republic on each of their reservations in Ohio? And if
they were so disposed would it be the duty of this Government to
protect them in the attempt? If the principle involved in the
obvious answer to these questions be abandoned, it will follow that
the objects of this Government are reversed, and that it has become
a part of its duty to aid in destroying the States which it was
established to protect.
Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians
inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama that their attempt to
establish an independent government would not be countenanced by
the Executive of the United States, and advised them to emigrate
beyond the Mississippi or submit to the laws of those States.
Our conduct toward these people is deeply interesting to our
national character. Their present condition, contrasted with what
they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies. Our
ancestors found them the uncontrolled possessors of these vast
regions. By persuasion and force they have been made to retire from
river to river and from mountain to mountain, until some of the
tribes have become extinct and others have left but remnants to
preserve for awhile their once terrible names. Surrounded by the
whites with their arts of civilization, which by destroying the
resources of the savage doom him to weakness and decay, the fate of
the Mohegan, the Narragansett, and the Delaware is fast overtaking
the Choctaw, the Cherokee, and the Creek. That this fate surely
awaits them if they remain within the limits of the States does not
admit of a doubt. Humanity and national honor demand that every
effort should be made to avert so great a calamity. It is too late
to inquire whether it was just in the United States to include them
and their territory within the bounds of new States, whose limits
they could control. That step can not be retraced. A State can not
be dismembered by Congress or restricted in the exercise of her
constitutional power. But the people of those States and of every
State, actuated by feelings of justice and a regard for our
national honor, submit to you the interesting question whether
something can not be done, consistently with the rights of the
States, to preserve this much-injured race.
As a means of effecting this end I suggest for your
consideration the propriety of setting apart an ample district west
of the Mississippi, and without the limits of any State or
Territory now formed, to be guaranteed to the Indian tribes as long
as they shall occupy it, each tribe having a distinct control over
the portion designated for its use. There they may be secured in
the enjoyment of governments of their own choice, subject to no
other control from the United States than such as may be necessary
to preserve peace on the frontier and between the several tribes.
There the benevolent may endeavor to teach them the arts of
civilization, and, by promoting union and harmony among them, to
raise up an interesting commonwealth, destined to perpetuate the
race and to attest the humanity and justice of this Government.
This emigration should be voluntary, for it would be as cruel as
unjust to compel the aborigines to abandon the graves of their
fathers and seek a home in a distant land. But they should be
distinctly informed that if they remain within the limits of the
States they must be subject to their laws. In return for their
obedience as individuals they will without doubt be protected in
the enjoyment of those possessions which they have improved by
their industry. But it seems to me visionary to suppose that in
this state of things claims can be allowed on tracts of country on
which they have neither dwelt nor made improvements, merely because
they have seen them from the mountain or passed them in the chase.
Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other
citizens, protection in their persons and property, they will ere
long become merged in the mass of our population.
December 15, 1829.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives:
A deputation from the Passamaquoddy Indians resident within the
limits of Maine have arrived in this city and presented a memorial
soliciting the aid of the Government in providing them the means of
support. Recollecting that this tribe when strong and numerous
fought with us for the liberty which we now enjoy, I could not
refuse to present to the consideration of Congress their
supplication for a small portion of the bark and timber of the
country which once belonged to them.
It is represented that from individuals who own the lands
adjoining the present small possession of this tribe purchases can
be made sufficiently extensive to secure the objects of the
memorial in this respect, as will appear from the papers herewith
transmitted. Should Congress deem it proper to make them, it will
be necessary to provide for their being held in trust for the use
of the tribe during its existence as such.
ANDREW JACKSON
December 22, 1829.
To the Senate of the United States:
I herewith transmit two treaties—one concluded with the
Winnebago tribe of Indians at Prairie du Chien on the 1st of
August, 1829, and the other with the Chippewa, Ottawa, and
Pottawattamie tribes at the same place on the 29th of July,
1829—which, with the documents explanatory thereof, are
submitted to the Senate for consideration whether they will advise
and consent to their ratification.
ANDREW JACKSON
December 29, 1829.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith a treaty concluded with the Delaware tribe
of Indians on the 3d of August, 1829, which, with the documents
explanatory thereof, is submitted to the consideration of the
Senate for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the
same.
ANDREW JACKSON
January 4, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith a supplement to the treaty made with the
Delaware tribe on the 3d of October, 1818, which, with the
accompanying papers, is submitted to the Senate for their advice
and consent as to the ratification of the same.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 14, 1830.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States:
I transmit to Congress copies of three Indian treaties, which
have been duly ratified:
1. A treaty with the nation of Winnebago Indians, concluded on
the 1st of August, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of
Michigan, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and
Caleb At-water, esq., commissioners on the part of the United
States, and certain chiefs and warriors on the part of the nation
of Winnebago Indians.
2. A treaty with the united nations of Chippewa, Ottowa, and
Pottawatomie Indians, concluded on the 29th of July, 1829, at
Prairie du Chien, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre
Menard, and Caleb Atwater, esq., commissioners on the part of the
United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the said united
nations on the part of said nations.
3. Articles of agreement between the United States of America
and the band of Delaware Indians upon the Sandusky River, in the
State of Ohio, entered into on the 3d of August, 1829, at Little
Sandusky, in the State of Ohio, by John McElvain, commissioner on
the part of the United States, and certain chiefs on the part of
said band of Delaware Indians.
I transmit also the estimates of appropriation necessary to
carry them into effect.
ANDREW JACKSON
January 20, 1830.
To the Senate and House of Representatives.
GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the
accompanying communication from the Secretary or the Treasury,
showing that according to the terms of an agreement between the
United States and the United Society of Christian Indians the
latter have a claim to an annuity of $400, commencing from the 1st
of October, 1826, for which an appropriation by law for this
amount, as long as they are entitled to receive it, will be
proper.
ANDREW JACKSON
February 20, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: Having seen a report from the Treasury Department,
just made to me, that General John Campbell, lately nominated
Indian agent, stands recorded as a public defaulter on the books of
the Treasury, and being unapprised of this fact when he was
nominated to the Senate, I beg leave to withdraw this
nomination.
ANDREW JACKSON
March 1, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: In compliance with your resolution of the 4th ultimo,
relating to the boundary line between the United States and the
Cherokee Nation of Indians, I have duly examined the same, and find
that the Executive has no power to alter or correct it.
I therefore return the papers, with a report from the Secretary
of War on the subject, for the further deliberation of
Congress.
ANDREW JACKSON
April 2, 1830.
To the House of Representatives.
GENTLEMEN: In compliance with a resolution of the House of the
22nd ultimo, "requesting the President of the United States to
communicate to it any correspondence or information in possession
of the Government, and which, in his judgment, the public service
will admit of being communicated, touching intrusions, or alleged
intrusions, on lands the possession of which is claimed by the
Cherokee tribe of Indians, the number of intrusions, if any, and
the reasons why they have not been removed; and also any
correspondence or information touching outrages alleged to have
been committed by Cherokee Indians on citizens of Georgia occupying
lands to which the Indian claim has not been extinguished, or by
citizens of Georgia on Cherokee Indians," I transmit herewith a
report from the Secretary of War, containing the information
required.
ANDREW JACKSON
April 6, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of
the 5th instant, requesting the President of the United States to
transmit to the Senate any record or other information in the
Department of War or before the President respecting the conviction
of Wharton Rector of any crime in Missouri before his departure for
Arkansas, or touching his fitness for the office to which he has
been nominated, and any other evidence in the Department relative
to the fitness of Wharton Rector for the office of Indian agent, I
inclose herewith a report from the Secretary of War.
ANDREW JACKSON
April 13, 1830.
To the House of Representatives.
GENTLEMEN: I transmit herewith a report from the War Department,
in compliance with the resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo,
calling for information in relation to the expenses incident to the
removal and support of the Indians west of the Mississippi,
etc.
ANDREW JACKSON
April, 23, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of
the 20th instant, I transmit herewith a report
1 from the Secretary of War.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[1: Transmitting correspondence of June, 1825, relative to treaties
with the Osage and Kansas Indians.]
May 6, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: The accompanying propositions, in the form of a
treaty, have been recently sent to me by special messenger from the
Choctaw Nation of Indians, and since it was received a protest
against it has been forwarded. Both evince a desire to cede to the
United States all their country east of the Mississippi, and both
are here submitted. These measures are the voluntary acts of the
Indians themselves. The Government was not represented in the
councils which adopted them, nor had it any previous intimation
that such steps were in contemplation. The Indians convened of
their own accord, settled and executed the propositions contained
in the treaty presented to me, and agreed to be bound by them if
within three months they should receive the approbation of the
President and Senate. The other measure is equally their own.
It is certainly desirous, on various and very pressing accounts,
as will appear from the accompanying documents, that some agreement
should be concluded with the Indians by which an object so
important as their removal beyond the territorial limits of the
States may be effected. In settling the terms of such an agreement
I am disposed to exercise the utmost liberality, and to concur in
any which are consistent with the Constitution and not incompatible
with the interests of the United States and their duties to the
Indians. I can not, however, regard the terms proposed by the
Choctaws to be in all respects of this character; but desirous of
concluding an arrangement upon such as are, I have drawn up the
accompanying amendments, which I propose to offer to the Choctaws
if they meet the approbation of the Senate. The conditions which
they offer are such as, in my judgment, will be most likely to be
acceptable to both parties and are liable to the fewest objections.
Not being tenacious, though, on the subject, I will most cheerfully
adopt any modifications which on a frank interchange of opinions my
constitutional advisers may suggest and which I shall be satisfied
are reconcilable with my official duties.
With these views, I ask the opinion of the Senate upon the
following questions:
Will the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with the
Choctaw Nation according to the terms which they propose? Or will
the Senate advise the conclusion of a treaty with that tribe as
modified by the alterations suggested by me? If not, what further
alteration or modification will the Senate propose?
I am fully aware that in thus resorting to the early practice of
the Government, by asking the previous advice of the Senate in the
discharge of this portion of my duties, I am departing from a long
and for many years an unbroken usage in similar cases. But being
satisfied that this resort is consistent with the provisions of the
Constitution, that it is strongly recommended in this instance by
considerations of expediency, and that the reasons which have led
to the observance of a different practice, though very cogent in
negotiations with foreign nations, do not apply with equal force to
those made with Indian tribes, I flatter myself that it will not
meet the disapprobation of the Senate. Among the reasons for a
previous expression of the views of the Senate the following are
stated as most prominent:
1. The Indians have requested that their propositions should be
submitted to the Senate.
2. The opinion of the Senate in relation to the terms to be
proposed will have a salutary effect in a future negotiation, if
one should be deemed proper.
3. The Choctaw is one of the most numerous and powerful tribes
within our borders, and as the conclusion of a treaty with them may
have a controlling effect upon other tribes it is important that
its terms should be well considered. Those now proposed by the
Choctaws, though objectionable, it is believed are susceptible of
modifications which will leave them conformable to the humane and
liberal policy which the Government desires to observe toward the
Indian tribes, and be at the same time acceptable to them. To be
possessed of the views of the Senate on this important and delicate
branch of our future negotiations would enable the President to act
much more effectively in the exercise of his particular functions.
There is also the best reason to believe that measures in this
respect emanating from the united counsel of the treaty-making
power would be more satisfactory to the American people and to the
Indians.
It will be seen that the pecuniary stipulations are large; and
in bringing this subject to the consideration of the Senate I may
be allowed to remark that the amount of money which may be secured
to be paid should, in my judgment, be viewed as of minor
importance. If a fund adequate to the object in view can be
obtained from the lands which they cede, all the purposes of the
Government should be regarded as answered. The great desideratum is
the removal of the Indians and the settlement of the perplexing
question involved in their present location—a question in
which several of the States of this Union have the deepest
interest, and which, if left undecided much longer, may eventuate
in serious injury to the Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
May 28, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
GENTLEMEN: For the reasons expressed in the inclosed note, I
renominate Wharton Rector to be agent for the Shawnee and Delaware
Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 6, 1830
It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent
policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years,
in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white
settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important
tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the
last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example
will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious
advantages.
The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the
United States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves.
The pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are
the least of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible
danger of collision between the authorities of the General and
State Governments on account of the Indians. It will place a dense
and civilized population in large tracts of country now occupied by
a few savage hunters. By opening the whole territory between
Tennessee on the north and Louisiana on the south to the settlement
of the whites it will incalculably strengthen the southwestern
frontier and render the adjacent States strong enough to repel
future invasions without remote aid. It will relieve the whole
State of Mississippi and the western part of Alabama of Indian
occupancy, and enable those States to advance rapidly in
population, wealth, and power. It will separate the Indians from
immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the
power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own
way and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress
of decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the
influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and
become an interesting, civilized, and Christian community. These
consequences, some of them so certain and the rest so probable,
make the complete execution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at
their last session an object of much solicitude.
Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more
friendly feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to
reclaim them from their wandering habits and make them a happy,
prosperous people. I have endeavored to impress upon them my own
solemn convictions of the duties and powers of the General
Government in relation to the State authorities. For the justice of
the laws passed by the States within the scope of their reserved
powers they are not responsible to this Government. As individuals
we may entertain and express our opinions of their acts, but as a
Government we have as little right to control them as we have to
prescribe laws for other nations.
With a full understanding of the subject, the Choctaw and the
Chickasaw tribes have with great unanimity determined to avail
themselves of the liberal offers presented by the act of Congress,
and have agreed to remove beyond the Mississippi River. Treaties
have been made with them, which in due season will be submitted for
consideration. In negotiating these treaties they were made to
understand their true condition, and they have preferred
maintaining their independence in the Western forests to submitting
to the laws of the States in which they now reside. These treaties,
being probably the last which will ever be made with them, are
characterized by great liberality on the part of the Government.
They give the Indians a liberal sum in consideration of their
removal, and comfortable subsistence on their arrival at their new
homes. If it be their real interest to maintain a separate
existence, they will there be at liberty to do so without the
inconveniences and vexations to which they would unavoidably have
been subject in Alabama and Mississippi.
Humanity has often wept over the fate of the aborigines of this
country, and Philanthropy has been long busily employed in devising
means to avert it, but its progress has never for a moment been
arrested, and one by one have many powerful tribes disappeared from
the earth. To follow to the tomb the last of his race and to tread
on the graves of extinct nations excite melancholy reflections. But
true philanthropy reconciles the mind to these vicissitudes as it
does to the extinction of one generation to make room for another.
In the monuments and fortresses of an unknown people, spread over
the extensive regions of the West, we behold the memorials of a
once powerful race, which was exterminated or has disappeared to
make room for the existing savage tribes. Nor is there anything in
this which, upon a comprehensive view of the general interests of
the human race, is to be regretted. Philanthropy could not wish to
see this continent restored to the condition in which it was found
by our forefathers. What good man would prefer a country covered
with forests and ranged by a few thousand savages to our extensive
Republic, studded with cities, towns, and prosperous farms,
embellished with all the improvements which art can devise or
industry execute, occupied by more than 12,000,000 happy people,
and filled with all the blessings of liberty, civilization, and
religion?
The present policy of the Government is but a continuation of
the same progressive change by a milder process. The tribes which
occupied the countries now constituting the Eastern States were
annihilated or have melted away to make room for the whites. The
waves of population and civilization are rolling to the westward,
and we now propose to acquire the countries occupied by the red men
of the South and West by a fair exchange, and, at the expense of
the United States, to send them to a land where their existence may
be prolonged and perhaps made perpetual. Doubtless it will be
painful to leave the graves of their fathers; but what do they more
than our ancestors did or than our children are now doing? To
better their condition in an unknown land our forefathers left all
that was dear in earthly objects. Our children by thousands yearly
leave the land of their birth to seek new homes in distant regions.
Does Humanity weep at these painful separations from everything,
animate and inanimate, with which the young heart has become
entwined? Far from it. It is rather a source of joy that our
country affords scope where our young population may range
unconstrained in body or in mind, developing the power and
faculties of man in their highest perfection. These remove hundreds
and almost thousands of miles at their own expense, purchase the
lands they occupy, and support themselves at their new homes from
the moment of their arrival. Can it be cruel in this Government
when, by events which it can not control, the Indian is made
discontented in his ancient home to purchase his lands, to give him
a new and extensive territory, to pay the expense of his removal,
and support him a year in his new abode? How many thousands of our
own people would gladly embrace the opportunity of removing to the
West on such condition! If the offers made to the Indians were
extended to them, they would be hailed with gratitude and joy.
And is it supposed that the wandering savage has a stronger
attachment to his home than the settled, civilized Christian? Is it
more afflicting to him to leave the graves of his fathers than it
is to our brothers and children? Rightly considered, the policy of
the General Government toward the red man is not only liberal, but
generous. He is unwilling to submit to the laws of the States and
mingle with their population. To save him from this alternative, or
perhaps utter annihilation, the General Government kindly offers
him a new home, and proposes to pay the whole expense of his
removal and settlement.
In the consummation of a policy originating at an early period,
and steadily pursued by every Administration within the present
century—so just to the States and so generous to the
Indians—the Executive feels it has a right to expect the
cooperation of Congress and of all good and disinterested men. The
States, moreover, have a right to demand it. It was substantially a
part of the compact which made them members of our Confederacy.
With Georgia there is an express contract; with the new States an
implied one of equal obligation. Why, in authorizing Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama to form constitutions
and become separate States, did Congress include within their
limits extensive tracts of Indian lands, and, in some instances,
powerful Indian tribes? Was it not understood by both parties that
the power of the States was to be coextensive with their limits,
and that with all convenient dispatch the General Government should
extinguish the Indian title and remove every obstruction to the
complete jurisdiction of the State governments over the soil?
Probably not one of those States would have accepted a separate
existence—certainly it would never have been granted by
Congress—had it been understood that they were to be confined
forever to those small portions of their nominal territory the
Indian title to which had at the time been extinguished.
It is, therefore, a duty which this Government owes to the new
States to extinguish as soon as possible the Indian title to all
lands which Congress themselves have included within their limits.
When this is done the duties of the General Government in relation
to the States and the Indians within their limits are at an end.
The Indians may leave the State or not, as they choose. The
purchase of their lands does not alter in the least their personal
relations with the State government. No act of the General
Government has ever been deemed necessary to give the States
jurisdiction over the persons of the Indians. That they possess by
virtue of their sovereign power within their own limits in as full
a manner before as after the purchase of the Indian lands; nor can
this Government add to or diminish it.
May we not hope, therefore, that all good citizens, and none
more zealously than those who think the Indians oppressed by
subjection to the laws of the States, will unite in attempting to
open the eyes of those children of the forest to their true
condition, and by a speedy removal to relieve them from all the
evils, real or imaginary, present or prospective, with which they
may be supposed to be threatened.
December 9, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States.
Gentlemen: I transmit herewith a treaty concluded by
commissioners duly authorized on the part of the United States with
the Choctaw tribe of Indians, which, with explanatory documents, is
submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same.
ANDREW JACKSON
December 20, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 14th
instant, calling for copies of any letters or other communications
which may have been received at the Department of War from the
chiefs and headmen, or any of them, of the Choctaw tribe of Indians
since the treaty entered into by the commissioners on the part of
the United States with that tribe of Indians at Dancing Rabbit
Creek, and also for information showing the number of Indians
belonging to that tribe who have emigrated to the country west of
the Mississippi, etc., I submit herewith a report from the
Secretary of War, containing the information requested.
ANDREW JACKSON
December 29, 1830.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit to the consideration of the Senate two
treaties—one of peace, the other of cession—concluded
at Prairie du Chien on the 10th and 15th July, 1830, by
commissioners duly authorized on the part of the United States and
by deputations of the confederated tribes of Indians residing on
the Upper Mississippi.
ANDREW JACKSON
January 3, 1831.
To the Senate of the United States:
Since my message of the 20th of December last, transmitting to
the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with information
requested by the resolution of the Senate of the 14th December, in
relation to the treaty concluded at Dancing Rabbit Creek with the
Choctaw Indians, I have received the two letters which are herewith
inclosed, containing further information on the subject.
ANDREW JACKSON
Washington, February 3, 1831.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the
Treasury Department, in compliance with the resolution of the House
of Representatives of the 3d ultimo, calling for the correspondence
in relation to locating a cession of lands made or intended to be
made by the Pottawattamie tribe of Indians for the benefit of the
State of Indiana, etc.
ANDREW JACKSON
February 22, 1831.
To the Senate of the United States:
I have received your resolution of the 15th instant, requesting
me "to inform the Senate whether the provisions of the act entitled
'An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes
and to preserve peace on the frontiers,' passed the 30th of March,
1802, have been fully complied with on the part of the United
States Government, and if they have not that he inform the Senate
of the reasons that have induced the Government to decline the
enforcement of said act," and I now reply to the same.
According to my views of the act referred to, I am not aware of
any omission to carry into effect its provisions in relation to
trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes so far as their
execution depended on the agency confided to the Executive.
The numerous provisions of that act designed to secure to the
Indians the peaceable possession of their lands may be reduced,
substantially, to the following: That citizens of the United States
are restrained under sufficient penalties from entering upon the
lands for the purpose of hunting thereon, or of settling them, or
of giving their horses and cattle the benefit of a range upon them,
or of traveling through them without a written permission; and that
the President of the United States is authorized to employ the
military force of the country to secure the observance of these
provisions. The authority to the President, however, is not
imperative. The language is:
It shall be lawful for the President to take
such measures and to employ such military force as he may judge
necessary to remove from lands belonging to or secured by treaty to
any Indian tribe any citizen who shall make a settlement
thereon.
By the nineteenth section of this act it is provided that
nothing in it "shall be construed to prevent any trade or
intercourse with Indians living on lands surrounded by settlements
of citizens of the United States and being within the ordinary
jurisdiction of any of the individual States." This provision I
have interpreted as being prospective in its operation and as
applicable not only to Indian tribes which at the date of its
passage were subject to the jurisdiction of any State, but to such
also as should thereafter become so. To this construction of its
meaning I have endeavored to conform, and have taken no step
inconsistent with it. As soon, therefore, as the sovereign power of
the State of Georgia was exercised by an extension of her laws
throughout her limits, and I had received information of the same,
orders were given to withdraw from the State the troops which had
been detailed to prevent intrusion upon the Indian lands within it,
and these orders were executed. The reasons which dictated them
shall be frankly communicated.
The principle recognized in the section last quoted was not for
the first time then avowed. It is conformable to the uniform
practice of the Government before the adoption of the Constitution,
and amounts to a distinct recognition by Congress at that early day
of the doctrine that that instrument had not varied the powers of
the Federal Government over Indian affairs from what they were
under the Articles of Confederation. It is not believed that there
is a single instance in the legislation of the country in which the
Indians have been regarded as possessing political rights
independent of the control and authority of the States within the
limits of which they resided. As early as the year 1782 the
Journals of Congress will show that no claim of such a character
was countenanced by that body. In that year the application of a
tribe of Indians residing in South Carolina to have certain tracts
of land which had been reserved for their use in that State secured
to them free from intrusion, and without the right of alienating
them even with their own consent, was brought to the consideration
of Congress by a report from the Secretary of War. The resolution
which was adopted on that occasion is as follows:
Resolved, That it be recommended to
the legislature of South Carolina to take such measures for the
satisfaction and security of said tribes as the said legislature in
their wisdom may think fit.
Here is no assertion of the right of Congress under the Articles
of Confederation to interfere with the jurisdiction of the States
over Indians within their limits, but rather a negation of it. They
refused to interfere with the subject, and referred it under a
general recommendation back to the State, to be disposed of as her
wisdom might decide.
If in addition to this act and the language of the Articles of
Confederation anything further can be wanting to show the early
views of the Government on the subject, it will be found in the
proclamation issued by Congress in 1783. It contains this
language:
The United States in Congress assembled have
thought proper to issue their proclamation, and they do hereby
prohibit and forbid all persons from making settlements on lands
inhabited or claimed by Indians without the limits or jurisdiction
of any particular State.
And again:
Resolved, That the preceding measures
of Congress relative to Indian affairs shall not be construed to
affect the territorial claims of any of the States or their
legislative rights within their respective limits.
It was not then pretended that the General Government had the
power in their relations with the Indians to control or oppose the
internal polity of the individual States of this Union, and if such
was the case under the Articles of Confederation the only question
on the subject since must arise out of some more enlarged power or
authority given to the General Government by the present
Constitution. Does any such exist?
Amongst the enumerated grants of the Constitution that which
relates to this subject is expressed in these words: "Congress
shall have power to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes." In
the interpretation of this power we ought certainly to be guided by
what had been the practice of the Government and the meaning which
had been generally attached to the resolves of the old Congress if
the words used to convey it do not clearly import a different one,
as far as it affects the question of jurisdiction in the individual
States. The States ought not to be divested of any part of their
antecedent jurisdiction by implication or doubtful construction.
Tested by this rule it seems to me to be unquestionable that the
jurisdiction of the States is left untouched by this clause of the
Constitution, and that it was designed to give to the General
Government complete control over the trade and intercourse of those
Indians only who were not within the limits of any State.
From a view of the acts referred to and the uniform practice of
the Government it is manifest that until recently it has never been
maintained that the right of jurisdiction by a State over Indians
within its territory was subordinate to the power of the Federal
Government. That doctrine has not been enforced nor even asserted
in any of the States of New England where tribes of Indians have
resided, and where a few of them yet remain. These tribes have been
left to the undisturbed control of the States in which they were
found, in conformity with the view which has been taken of the
opinions prevailing up to 1789 and the clear interpretation of the
act of 1802. In the State of New York, where several tribes have
resided, it has been the policy of the Government to avoid entering
into quasi treaty engagements with them, barely appointing
commissioners occasionally on the part of the United States to
facilitate the objects of the State in its negotiations with them.
The Southern States present an exception to this policy. As early
as 1784 the settlements within the limits of North Carolina were
advanced farther to the west than the authority of the State to
enforce an obedience of its laws. Others were in a similar
condition. The necessities, therefore, and not the acknowledged
principles, of the Government must have suggested the policy of
treating with the Indians in that quarter as the only practicable
mode of conciliating their good will. The United States at that
period had just emerged from a protracted war for the achievement
of their independence. At the moment of its conclusion many of
these tribes, as powerful as they were ferocious in their mode of
warfare, remained in arms, desolating our frontier settlements.
Under these circumstances the first treaties, in 1785 and 1790,
with the Cherokees, were concluded by the Government of the United
States, and were evidently sanctioned as measures of necessity
adapted to the character of the Indians and indispensable to the
peace and security of the western frontier. But they can not be
understood as changing the political relations of the Indians to
the States or to the Federal Government. To effect this would have
required the operation of quite a different principle and the
intervention of a tribunal higher than that of the treaty-making
power.
To infer from the assent of the Government to this deviation
from the practice which had before governed its intercourse with
the Indians, and the accidental forbearance of the States to assert
their right of jurisdiction over them, that they had surrendered
this portion of their sovereignty, and that its assumption now is
usurpation, is conceding too much to the necessity which dictated
those treaties, and doing violence to the principles of the
Government and the rights of the States without benefiting in the
least degree the Indians. The Indians thus situated can not be
regarded in any other light than as members of a foreign government
or of that of the State within whose chartered limits they reside.
If in the former, the ordinary legislation of Congress in relation
to them is not warranted by the Constitution, which was established
for the benefit of our own, not of a foreign people. If in the
latter, then, like other citizens or people resident within the
limits of the States, they are subject to their jurisdiction and
control. To maintain a contrary doctrine and to require the
Executive to enforce it by the employment of a military force would
be to place in his hands a power to make war upon the rights of the
States and the liberties of the country—a power which should
be placed in the hands of no individual.
If, indeed, the Indians are to be regarded as people possessing
rights which they can exercise independently of the States, much
error has arisen in the intercourse of the Government with them.
Why is it that they have been called upon to assist in our wars
without the privilege of exercising their own discretion? If an
independent people, they should as such be consulted and advised
with; but they have not been. In an order which was issued to me
from the War Department in September, 1814, this language is
employed:
All the friendly Indians should be organized
and prepared to cooperate with your other forces. There appears to
be some dissatisfaction among the Choctaws; their friendship and
services should be secured without delay. The friendly Indians must
be fed and paid, and made to fight when and where their
services may be required.
To an independent and foreign people this would seem to be
assuming, I should suppose, rather too lofty a tone—one which
the Government would not have assumed if they had considered them
in that light. Again, by the Constitution the power of declaring
war belongs exclusively to Congress. We have been often engaged in
war with the Indian tribes within our limits, but when have these
hostilities been preceded or accompanied by an act of Congress
declaring war against the tribe which was the object of them? And
was the prosecution of such hostilities an usurpation in each case
by the Executive which conducted them of the constitutional power
of Congress? It must have been so, I apprehend, if these tribes are
to be considered as foreign and independent nations.
The steps taken to prevent intrusion upon Indian lands had their
origin with the commencement of our Government, and became the
subject of special legislation in 1802, with the reservations which
have been mentioned in favor of the jurisdiction of the States.
With the exception of South Carolina, who has uniformly regulated
the Indians within her limits without the aid of the General
Government, they have been felt within all the States of the South
without being understood to affect their rights or prevent the
exercise of their jurisdiction, whenever they were in a situation
to assume and enforce it. Georgia, though materially concerned, has
on this principle forborne to spread her legislation farther than
the settlements of her own white citizens, until she has recently
perceived within her limits a people claiming to be capable of
self-government, sitting in legislative council, organizing courts
and administering justice. To disarm such an anomalous invasion of
her sovereignty she has declared her determination to execute her
own laws throughout her limits—a step which seems to have
been anticipated by the proclamation of 1783, and which is
perfectly consistent with the nineteenth section of the act of
1802. According to the language and reasoning of that section, the
tribes to the South and the Southwest are not only "surrounded by
settlements of the citizens of the United States," but are now also
"within the ordinary jurisdiction of the individual States." They
became so from the moment the laws of the State were extended over
them, and the same result follows the similar determination of
Alabama and Mississippi. These States have each a right to claim in
behalf of their position now on this question the same respect
which is conceded to the other States of the Union.
Toward this race of people I entertain the kindest feelings, and
am not sensible that the views which I have taken of their true
interests are less favorable to them than those which oppose their
emigration to the West. Years since I stated to them my belief that
if the States chose to extend their laws over them it would not be
in the power of the Federal Government to prevent it. My opinion
remains the same, and I can see no alternative for them but that of
their removal to the West or a quiet submission to the State laws.
If they prefer to remove, the United States agree to defray their
expenses, to supply them the means of transportation and a year's
support after they reach their new homes—a provision too
liberal and kind to deserve the stamp of injustice. Either course
promises them peace and happiness, whilst an obstinate perseverance
in the effort to maintain their possessions independent of the
State authority can not fail to render their condition still more
helpless and miserable. Such an effort ought, therefore, to be
discountenanced by all who sincerely sympathize in the fortunes of
this peculiar people, and especially by the political bodies of the
Union, as calculated to disturb the harmony of the two Governments
and to endanger the safety of the many blessings which they enable
us to enjoy.
As connected with the subject of this inquiry, I beg leave to
refer to the accompanying letter from the Secretary of War,
inclosing the orders which proceeded from that Department, and a
letter from the governor of Georgia.
ANDREW JACKSON
To the Senate of the United States:
I present for the consideration of the Senate articles of
agreement entered into and concluded by commissioners duly
appointed on the part of the United States and the chiefs of the
Menominee tribe of Indians at Green Bay. Various attempts were made
to reconcile the conflicting interests of the New York Indians, but
without success, as will appear by the report made by the Secretary
of War. No stipulation in their favor could be introduced into the
agreement without the consent of the Menominees, and that consent
could not be obtained to any greater extent than the articles
show.
Congress only is competent now to adjust and arrange these
differences and satisfy the demands of the New York Indians. The
whole matter is respectfully submitted.
ANDREW JACKSON
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit to the consideration of the Senate of the United States
articles of agreement and convention concluded this day between the
United States, by a commissioner duly authorized, and the Seneca
tribe of Indians resident in the State of Ohio.
ANDREW JACKSON
February 28, 1831.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United
States:
I lay before the House of Representatives a treaty recently
concluded with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, that provision may be
made for carrying the same into effect agreeably to the estimate
heretofore presented by the Secretary of War to the Committee of
Ways and Means. It is a printed copy as it passed the Senate, no
amendment having been made except to strike out the preamble. I
also communicate a letter from the Secretary of War on this
subject.
ANDREW JACKSON
March 1, 1831.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the use of the Senate, printed copies
of the treaties which have been lately ratified between the United
States and the Choctaw Indians and between the United States and
the confederated tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and other tribes.
ANDREW JACKSON.
(The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.)
THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 6, 1831
The internal peace and security of our confederated States is
the next principal object of the General Government. Time and
experience have proved that the abode of the native Indian within
their limits is dangerous to their peace and injurious to himself.
In accordance with my recommendation at a former session of
Congress, an appropriation of half a million of dollars was made to
aid the voluntary removal of the various tribes beyond the limits
of the States. At the last session I had the happiness to announce
that the Chickasaws and Choctaws had accepted the generous offer of
the Government and agreed to remove beyond the Mississippi River,
by which the whole of the State of Mississippi and the western part
of Alabama will be freed from Indian occupancy and opened to a
civilized population. The treaties with these tribes are in a
course of execution, and their removal, it is hoped, will be
completed in the course of 1832.
At the request of the authorities of Georgia the registration of
Cherokee Indians for emigration has been resumed, and it is
confidently expected that one-half, if not two-thirds, of that
tribe will follow the wise example of their more westerly brethren.
Those who prefer remaining at their present homes will hereafter be
governed by the laws of Georgia, as all her citizens are, and cease
to be the objects of peculiar care on the part of the General
Government.
During the present year the attention of the Government has been
particularly directed to those tribes in the powerful and growing
State of Ohio, where considerable tracts of the finest lands were
still occupied by the aboriginal proprietors. Treaties, either
absolute or conditional, have been made extinguishing the whole
Indian title to the reservations in that State, and the time is not
distant, it is hoped, when Ohio will be no longer embarrassed with
the Indian population. The same measures will be extended to
Indiana as soon as there is reason to anticipate success. It is
confidently believed that perseverance for a few years in the
present policy of the Government will extinguish the Indian title
to all lands lying within the States composing our Federal Union,
and remove beyond their limits every Indian who is not willing to
submit to their laws. Thus will all conflicting claims to
jurisdiction between the States and the Indian tribes be put to
rest. It is pleasing to reflect that results so beneficial, not
only to the States immediately concerned, but to the harmony of the
Union, will have been accomplished by measures equally advantageous
to the Indians. What the native savages become when surrounded by a
dense population and by mixing with the whites may be seen in the
miserable remnants of a few Eastern tribes, deprived of political
and civil rights, forbidden to make contracts, and subjected to
guardians, dragging out a wretched existence, without excitement,
without hope, and almost without thought.
But the removal of the Indians beyond the limits and
jurisdiction of the States does not place them beyond the reach of
philanthropic aid and Christian instruction. On the contrary, those
whom philanthropy or religion may induce to live among them in
their new abode will be more free in the exercise of their
benevolent functions than if they had remained within the limits of
the States, embarrassed by their internal regulations. Now subject
to no control but the superintending agency of the General
Government, exercised with the sole view of preserving peace, they
may proceed unmolested in the interesting experiment of gradually
advancing a community of American Indians from barbarism to the
habits and enjoyments of civilized life.
WASHINGTON, January 5, 1832.
To the Senate:
I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent
as to the ratification of the same, a treaty between the United
States and the principal chiefs and warriors of the mixed band of
Seneca and Shawnee Indians living on the waters of the Great Miami
and within the territorial limits of the county of Logan, in the
State of Ohio, entered into on the 30th day of July, 1831; and also
a treaty between the United States and the chiefs, headmen, and
warriors of the band of Ottaway Indians residing within the State
of Ohio, entered into on the 30th of August, 1831.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 12, 1832.
To the Senate of the United States:
I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent
as to the ratification of the same, a treaty made on the 8th of
August last with the Shawnee Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 24, 1832.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 20th instant, I herewith transmit a report
from the Secretary of War, containing all the information in
possession of the Executive required by that resolution.
For the reason assigned by the Secretary in his report I have to
request that the abstracts of the Choctaw reservations may be
returned to the War Department when the House shall no longer
require them.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 8, 1832.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the information of the Senate, a report
from the Department of War, showing the situation of the country at
Green Bay ceded for the benefit of the New York Indians, and also
the proceedings of the commissioner, who has lately had a meeting
with them.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 15, 1832.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
Being more and more convinced that the destiny of the Indians
within the settled portion of the United States depends upon their
entire and speedy migration to the country west of the Mississippi
set apart for their permanent residence, I am anxious that all the
arrangements necessary to the complete execution of the plan of
removal and to the ultimate security and improvement of the Indians
should be made without further delay. Those who have already
removed and are removing are sufficiently numerous to engage the
serious attention of the Government, and it is due not less to them
than to the obligation which the nation has assumed that every
reasonable step should be taken to fulfill the expectations that
have been held out to them. Many of those who yet remain will no
doubt within a short period become sensible that the course
recommended is the only one which promises stability or
improvement, and it is to be hoped that all of them will realize
this truth and unite with their brethren beyond the Mississippi.
Should they do so, there would then be no question of jurisdiction
to prevent the Government from exercising such a general control
over their affairs as may be essential to their interest and
safety. Should any of them, however, repel the offer of removal,
they are free to remain, but they must remain with such privileges
and disabilities as the respective States within whose jurisdiction
they live may prescribe.
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, which
presents a general outline of the progress that has already been
made in this work and of all that remains to be done. It will be
perceived that much information is yet necessary for the faithful
performance of the duties of the Government, without which it will
be impossible to provide for the execution of some of the existing
stipulations, or make those prudential arrangements upon which the
final success of the whole movement, so far as relates to the
Indians themselves, must depend.
I recommend the subject to the attention of Congress in the hope
that the suggestions in this report may be found useful and that
provision may be made for the appointment of the commissioners
therein referred to and for vesting them with such authority as may
be necessary to the satisfactory performance of the important
duties proposed to be intrusted to them.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 12, 1832.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 7th instant, requesting the President of the
United States to inform the House "whether any, and, if any, what,
Indian tribes or nations who joined the enemy in the late war with
Great Britain continue to receive annuities from the United States
under treaties made prior to the war and not renewed since the
peace," I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 12, 1832.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War,
containing the information called for by the resolution of the
House of the 26th January last, in relation to the expenditures
incurred by the execution of the act approved May 28, 1830,
entitled "An act to provide for an exchange of lands with the
Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their
removal west of the river Mississippi."
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 12, 1832.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of
War, containing the information called for by the resolution of the
Senate of the 12th of January last, in relation to the employment
of agents among the Indians since the passage of the "act to
provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing within
any of the States or Territories, and for their removal west of the
Mississippi," approved 28th May, 1830.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 14, 1832.
To the Senate:
I submit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate as to
their advice and consent to the same, an agreement or convention
lately made with a band of the Wyandot Indians residing within the
limits of Ohio.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 26, 1832.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the
ratification of the same, a treaty concluded at this city on the
24th instant between the United States and the Creek tribe of
Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, April 19, 1832.
To the Senate and House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith printed copies of each of the treaties
between the United States and the Indian tribes that have been
ratified during the present session of Congress.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, April 23, 1832.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
containing the information called for by the resolution of the 26th
of March last, in which the President is requested to communicate
to the Senate—
First. The total amount of public lands belonging to the United
States which remain unsold, whether the Indian title thereon has
been extinguished or not, as far as that amount can be ascertained
from surveys actually made or by estimate, and distinguishing the
States and Territories respectively in which it is situated, and
the quantity in each.
Second. The amount on which, the Indian title has been
extinguished and the sums paid for the extinction thereof, and the
amount on which the Indian title remains to be extinguished.
Third. The amount which has been granted by Congress from time
to time in the several States and Territories, distinguishing
between them and stating the purposes for which the grants were
respectively made, and the amount of lands granted or money paid in
satisfaction of Virginia land claims.
Fourth. The amount which has been heretofore sold by the United
States, distinguishing between the States and Territories in which
it is situated.
Fifth. The amount which has been paid to France, Spain, and
Georgia for the public lands acquired from them respectively,
including the amount which has been paid to purchasers from Georgia
to quiet or in satisfaction of their claims, and the amount paid to
the Indians to extinguish their title within the limits of
Georgia.
Sixth. The total expense of administering the public domain
since the declaration of independence, including all charges for
surveying, for land offices, and other disbursements, and
exhibiting the net amount which has been realized in the Treasury
from that source.
ANDREW JACKSON
FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 4, 1832
It seems to me to be our true policy that the public lands shall
cease as soon as practicable to be a source of revenue, and that
they be sold to settlers in limited parcels at a price barely
sufficient to reimburse to the United States the expense of the
present system and the cost arising under our Indian compacts. The
advantages of accurate surveys and undoubted titles now secured to
purchasers seem to forbid the abolition of the present system,
because none can be substituted which will more perfectly
accomplish these important ends. It is desirable, however, that in
convenient time this machinery be withdrawn from the States, and
that the right of soil and the future disposition of it be
surrendered to the States respectively in which it lies.
The adventurous and hardy population of the West, besides
contributing their equal share of taxation under our impost system,
have in the progress of our Government, for the lands they occupy,
paid into the Treasury a large proportion of $40,000,000, and of
the revenue received therefrom but a small part has been expended
amongst them. When to the disadvantage of their situation in this
respect we add the consideration that it is their labor alone which
gives real value to the lands, and that the proceeds arising from
their sale are distributed chiefly among States which had not
originally any claim to them, and which have enjoyed the undivided
emolument arising from the sale of their own lands, it can not be
expected that the new States will remain longer contented with the
present policy after the payment of the public debt. To avert the
consequences which may be apprehended from this cause, to put an
end forever to all partial and interested legislation on the
subject, and to afford to every American citizen of enterprise the
opportunity of securing an independent freehold, it seems to me,
therefore, best to abandon the idea of raising a future revenue out
of the public lands.
The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily
led to the interposition of the Government. A portion of the
troops, under Generals Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of
the State of Illinois were called into the field. After a harassing
warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country and by the
difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely
defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The
result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service.
Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary
by their unprovoked aggressions, and it is to be hoped that its
impression will be permanent and salutary.
This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the Army
and its capacity for prompt and active service. Its several
departments have performed their functions with energy and
dispatch, and the general movement was satisfactory.
Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they
always are, in the tender of their services in the hour of danger.
But a more efficient organization of our militia system is
essential to that security which is one of the principal objects of
all governments. Neither our situation nor our institutions require
or permit the maintenance of a large regular force. History offers
too many lessons of the fatal result of such a measure not to warn
us against its adoption here. The expense which attends it, the
obvious tendency to employ it because it exists and thus to engage
in unnecessary wars, and its ultimate danger to public liberty will
lead us, I trust, to place our principal dependence for protection
upon the great body of the citizens of the Republic. If in
asserting rights or in repelling wrongs war should come upon us,
our regular force should be increased to an extent proportioned to
the emergency, and our present small Army is a nucleus around which
such force could be formed and embodied. But for the purposes of
defense under ordinary circumstances we must rely upon the electors
of the country. Those by whom and for whom the Government was
instituted and is supported will constitute its protection in the
hour of danger as they do its check in the hour of safety.
But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much
time is lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public
property wasted under the present arrangement. Little useful
knowledge is gained by the musters and drills as now established,
and the whole subject evidently requires a thorough examination.
Whether a plan of classification remedying these defects and
providing for a system of instruction might not be adopted is
submitted to the consideration of Congress. The Constitution has
vested in the General Government an independent authority upon the
subject of the militia which renders its action essential to the
establishment or improvement of the system, and I recommend the
matter to your consideration in the conviction that the state of
this important arm of the public defense requires your attention. I
am happy to inform you that the wise and humane policy of
transferring from the eastern to the western side of the
Mississippi the remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own
consent and upon just terms, has been steadily pursued, and is
approaching, I trust, its consummation. By reference to the report
of the Secretary of War and to the documents submitted with it you
will see the progress which has been made since your last session
in the arrangement of the various matters connected with our Indian
relations. With one exception every subject involving any question
of conflicting jurisdiction or of peculiar difficulty has been
happily disposed of, and the conviction evidently gains ground
among the Indians that their removal to the country assigned by the
United States for their permanent residence furnishes the only hope
of their ultimate prosperity.
With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living within the
State of Georgia it has been found impracticable as yet to make a
satisfactory adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the
grounds of complaint and to bring to a termination the difficulties
in which they are involved that I directed the very liberal
propositions to be made to them which accompany the documents
herewith submitted. They can not but have seen in these offers the
evidence of the strongest disposition on the part of the Government
to deal justly and liberally with them. An ample indemnity was
offered for their present possessions, a liberal provision for
their future support and improvement, and full security for their
private and political rights. Whatever difference of opinion may
have prevailed respecting the just claims of these people, there
will probably be none respecting the liberality of the
propositions, and very little respecting the expediency of their
immediate acceptance. They were, however, rejected, and thus the
position of these Indians remains unchanged, as do the views
communicated in my message to the Senate of February 22, 1831.
WASHINGTON, December 12, 1832.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the
Senate as to their ratification, treaties that have been concluded
by commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United States
with the following tribes of Indians, viz: The Chickasaws, the
Apalachicola band in Florida, the Sacs and Foxes, the Winnebagoes,
the Potawatamies of Indiana and Michigan, the Potawatamies of the
Wabash and Elkheart, and the Potawatamies of the Prairie.
I also transmit the report and journals of the
commissioners.
ANDREW JACKSON
To the Senate:
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 28th
ultimo, requesting the President of the United States to
communicate to the Senate a copy of the treaty concluded at
Franklin, in the State of Tennessee, between the United States and
the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, on the —— day of
August, 1830, together with a copy of the instructions, if any, to
the commissioner who negotiated the treaty with said tribe of
Indians, bearing date the 30th day of October, 1832, I transmit
herewith a report from the Secretary of War, containing the
information required.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 14, 1833.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent
as to the ratification of the same, treaties that have been
concluded by commissioners duly appointed on the part of the United
States with the following Indian tribes, viz: With the Kickapoos;
with the Shawanoes and Delawares, late of Cape Gerardeau, together
with stipulations with Delawares for certain private annuities;
with the Pankeshaws and Peorias.
I also transmit the journal of the commissioners who negotiated
these treaties.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 12, 1833.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent
as to the ratification of the same, a treaty recently concluded
between the commissioners for adjusting all differences with the
Indians west of the Mississippi and the mixed band of Shawnese and
Senecas who emigrated from Ohio. I transmit also the journal of
their proceedings.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 15, 1833.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and consent
as to the ratification of the same, articles of agreement
supplemental to the treaty of February 8, 1831, between the
commissioner on the part of the United States and the Menominee
tribe of Indians, with the assent of the New York Indians.
I transmit also the journal of proceedings.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 26, 1833.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate as
to the ratification of the same, a treaty concluded with the Ottawa
Indians residing on the Miami of Lake Erie on the 18th instant by
the commissioners on the part of the United States,
ANDREW JACKSON
FIFTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
December 3, 1833.
Our relations with the various Indian tribes have been
undisturbed since the termination of the difficulties growing
out of the hostile aggressions of the Sac and Fox Indians.
Several treaties have been formed for the relinquishment of
territory to the United States and for the migration of the
occupants of the region assigned for their residence west of
the Mississippi. Should these treaties be ratified by the
Senate, provision will have been made for the removal of
almost all the tribes now remaining east of that river and
for the termination of many difficult and embarrassing
questions arising out of their anomalous political condition.
It is to be hoped that those portions of two of the Southern
tribes, which in that event will present the only remaining
difficulties, will realize the necessity of emigration, and
will speedily resort to it. My original convictions upon this
subject have been confirmed by the course of events for
several years, and experience is every day adding to their
strength.
That those tribes can not exist surrounded by our settlements
and in continual contact with our citizens is certain. They
have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral
habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to
any favorable change in their condition. Established in the
midst of another and a superior race, and without
appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to
control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of
circumstances and ere long disappear. Such has been their
fate heretofore, and if it is to be averted—and it
is—it can only be done by a general removal beyond our
boundary and by the reorganization of their political system
upon principles adapted to the new relations in which they
will be placed. The experiment which has been recently made
has so far proved successful. The emigrants generally are
represented to be prosperous and contented, the country
suitable to their wants and habits, and the essential
articles of subsistence easily procured. When the report of
the commissioners now engaged in investigating the condition
and prospects of these Indians and in devising a plan for
their intercourse and government is received, I trust ample
means of information will be in possession of the Government
for adjusting all the unsettled questions connected with this
interesting subject.
WASHINGTON, December 24, 1833.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate as
to the ratification thereof, the following Indian treaties
that have been received since the adjournment of the last
session of Congress, viz:
No. 1. Treaty with the Seminole Indians, made May 9, 1832.
No. 2. Treaty with the Cherokees west of the Mississippi,
made 14th February, 1833.
No. 3. Treaty with the Creeks west of the Mississippi, made
14th February, 1833.
No. 4. Assignment to the Seminoles of a tract of land for
their residence west of the Mississippi, made 28th March,
1833.
No. 5. Agreement with the Apalachiccla band of Indians, made
18th June, 1833.
No. 6. Treaty with the united bands of Ottoes and
Missourians, made 21st September, 1833.
No. 7. Treaty with the four confederated bands of Pawnees
residing on the Platt and Loup Fork, made 9th October, 1833.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 9, 1834.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional action, a
treaty concluded between the commissioners on the part of the
United States and the united nation of Chippewas, Ottawas,
and Potawatamies, at Chicago, on the 26th of September, 1833,
to the cession of certain lands in the State of Illinois and
Territory of Michigan.
I transmit also sundry documents relating thereto that I
think proper should be laid before the Senate.
I understand the country ceded by this treaty is considered a
valuable one and its acquisition important to that section of
the Union. Under these circumstances, as the objection to a
ratification applies to those stipulations in the third
article which provide that $100,000 and $150,000 shall be
granted in satisfaction of claims to reservations and for
debts due from the Indians to individuals, I recommend that
the treaty be ratified, with the condition that an agent be
appointed to proceed to Chicago investigate the justice of
these claims. If they are all well founded and have been
assented to by the Indians with a full knowledge of the
circumstances, a proper investigation of them will do the
claimants no injury, but will place the matter beyond
suspicion. If, on the other hand, they are unjust and have
not been fully understood by the Indians, the fraud will in
that event vitiate them, and they ought not to be paid. To
the United States, in a mere pecuniary point of view, it is
of no importance to whom the money provided by this treaty is
paid. They stipulate to pay a given amount, and that amount
they must pay, but the consideration is yielded by the
Indians, and they are entitled to its value. Whatever is
granted in claims must be withheld from them, and if not so
granted it becomes theirs. Considering the relations in which
the Indians stand to the United States, it appears to me just
to exercise their supervisory authority. It has been done in
more than one instance, and as its object in this case is to
ascertain whether any fraud exists, and if there does to
correct it, I consider such a ratification within the proper
scope of the treaty-making power.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, April 8, 1834.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith a report from the Commissioner of the
General Land Office, made in compliance with the resolution
of the Senate of the 29th ultimo, calling for "the dates of
the proclamations and the times of sale specified in each of
the sales of the public lands in the district of country
acquired from the Choctaw tribe of Indians by the treaty of
Dancing Rabbit Creek and from the Creek tribe of Indians in
Alabama; and also the causes, if any existed, of a shorter
notice being given for the sale of these lands than is usual
in the sale of the other public lands."
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 28, 1834.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and
consent as to the ratification of the same, a treaty and a
supplement thereto, concluded between John H. Eaton, a
commissioner on the part of the United States, and a
delegation from the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, together with
the journal of proceedings.
ANDREW JACKSON
JUNE 23, 1834.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit for the consideration and action of the Senate a
treaty concluded with the Cherokees for the cession of their
lands east of the Mississippi River.
It is known to the Senate that for some years great
difficulties have been experienced in the relations of that
tribe. Without further allusion to these than as they furnish
strong inducements to a final settlement of all the questions
involved in our intercourse with these Indians, it is obvious
from the existing state of things that they can not continue
in their present position with any hope of ultimate
prosperity. I have been, therefore, desirous that a just and
satisfactory arrangement should be made for their removal,
and propositions to that effect upon a liberal scale have
been repeatedly made to them. These have until now been
rejected, and their rejection, I have been induced to
believe, has been owing more to the ascendency acquired by
individuals who are unwilling to go than to the deliberative
opinion of a majority of the Cherokee people. Some years
since a form of government was established among them, but
since the extension of the laws of Georgia and Alabama over
them this government can have no binding effect upon a great
majority of them. Its obligation is also denied by many of
them in consequence of the continuance of certain persons in
power contrary to the principles of their fundamental
articles of association. A delegation from the persons
claiming to hold their authority under the former existing
state of things is in this city, and have communicated with
the War Department on the subject of their situation and
removal. They deny the right of the persons who have
negotiated this treaty to perform such an act, and have
remonstrated against it. Copies of their communications are
herewith transmitted.
The delegation who have signed the present treaty have
produced an authority from William Hicks, designating himself
as principal chief, and others, signing the same in an
official capacity. It is understood from the report of Major
Currie, the enrolling agent, that public notice was given to
all persons desirous of emigrating to attend upon a
particular day and place in order to appoint representatives
to communicate with the Government and to arrange the terms
of cession and removal. In conformity with this notice a
meeting was held and the authority herein referred to was the
result.
In consequence of this application John H. Eaton was
appointed to meet and confer with them and to report their
views to the War Department. These are embodied in the treaty
which is presented to your consideration.
Under these circumstances I submit the matter to the decision
of the Senate. The practice of the Government has not been
very strict on the subject of the authority of the persons
negotiating treaties on the part of the Indians. Sometimes it
has been done by persons representing the tribe and sometimes
by the individuals composing it. I am not aware that a case
similar in its features to the present has ever before
required the action of the Government. But, independently of
the considerations which so forcibly urge a settlement of
this matter, no injustice can be done to the Indians by the
ratification of this treaty. It is expressly provided that it
will not be binding upon them till a majority has assented to
its stipulations. When that assent is given no one can justly
deny its obligation.
The Cherokees east of the Mississippi occupy a portion of the
territories of four States, to wit, Georgia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Alabama. The treaty provides that the
communities inhabiting those divisions shall each be
considered as acting for themselves independently of the
others. We have frequently in our intercourse with the
Indians treated with different portions of the same tribe as
separate communities. Nor is there any injustice in this as
long as they are separated into divisions without any very
strong bond of union, and frequently with different interests
and views. By requiring the assent of a majority to any act
which will bind them we insure the preservation of a
principle which will afford adequate security to their
rights.
ANDREW JACKSON
SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
DECEMBER 1, 1834.
No important change has during this season taken place in the
condition of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for
the removal of the Creeks, and will soon be for the removal
of the Seminoles. I regret that the Cherokees east of the
Mississippi have not yet determined as a community to remove.
How long the personal causes which have heretofore retarded
that ultimately inevitable measure will continue to operate I
am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay
will bring with it accumulated evils which will render their
condition more and more unpleasant. The experience of every
year adds to the conviction that emigration, and that alone,
can preserve from destruction the remnant of the tribes yet
living amongst us. The facility with which the necessaries of
life are procured and the treaty stipulations providing aid
for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits and
in the important concern of education, and their removal from
those causes which have heretofore depressed all and
destroyed many of the tribes, can not fail to stimulate their
exertions and to reward their industry.
The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the
subject of Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and
detailed instructions for their administration have been
given. It will be seen by the estimates for the present
session that a great reduction will take place in the
expenditures of the Department in consequence of these laws,
and there is reason to believe that their operation will be
salutary and that the colonization of the Indians on the
western frontier, together with a judicious system of
administration, will still further reduce the expenses of
this branch of the public service and at the same time
promote its usefulness and efficiency.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration of the Senate,
papers showing the terms on which the united tribes of the
Chippewas, Ottawas, and Potawatamies are willing to accede to
the amendments contained in the resolution of the Senate of
the 22d of May last, ratifying conditionally the treaty which
had been concluded with them on the 26th day of September,
1833.
ANDREW JACKSON.
DECEMBER 15, 1834
WASHINGTON, February 6, 1835.
To the House of Representatives:
I submit to Congress a report from the Secretary of War,
containing the evidence of certain claims to reservations
under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830 with the
Choctaws, which the locating agent has reserved from sale in
conformity with instructions from the President, who did not
consider himself authorized to direct their location.
Should Congress consider the claims just, it will be proper
to pass a law authorizing their location, or satisfying them
in some other way.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 18, 1835.
To the House of Representatives:
Since my message a few days ago relating to Choctaw
reservations other documents on the same subject have been
received from the locating agent, which are mentioned in the
accompanying report of the Secretary of War, and which I also
transmit herewith for the information and consideration of
Congress.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 21, 1835.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate
as to the ratification of the same, four treaties for
Potawatamie reservations, concluded by General Marshall in
December last.
ANDREW JACKSON
SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
WASHINGTON, December 7, 1835.
The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain
within the settled portions of the United States to the
country west of the Mississippi River approaches its
consummation. It was adopted on the most mature consideration
of the condition of this race, and ought to be persisted in
till the object is accomplished, and prosecuted with as much
vigor as a just regard to their circumstances will permit,
and as fast as their consent can be obtained. All preceding
experiments for the improvement of the Indians have failed.
It seems now to be an established fact that they can not live
in contact with a civilized community and prosper. Ages of
fruitless endeavors have at length brought us to a knowledge
of this principle of intercommunication with them. The past
we can not recall, but the future we can provide for.
Independently of the treaty stipulations into which we have
entered with the various tribes for the usufructuary rights
they have ceded to us, no one can doubt the moral duty of the
Government of the United States to protect and if possible to
preserve and perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race
which are left within our borders. In the discharge of this
duty an extensive region in the West has been assigned for
their permanent residence. It has been divided into districts
and allotted among them. Many have already removed and others
are preparing to go, and with the exception of two small
bands living in Ohio and Indiana, not exceeding 1,500
persons, and of the Cherokees, all the tribes on the east
side of the Mississippi, and extending from Lake Michigan to
Florida, have entered into engagements which will lead to
their transplantation.
The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded
upon the knowledge we have gained of their character and
habits, and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged
liberality. A territory exceeding in extent that relinquished
has been granted to each tribe. Of its climate, fertility,
and capacity to support an Indian population the
representations are highly favorable. To these districts the
Indians are removed at the expense of the United States, and
with certain supplies of clothing, arms, ammunition, and
other indispensable articles; they are also furnished
gratuitously with provisions for the period of a year after
their arrival at their new homes. In that time, from the
nature of the country and of the products raised by them,
they can subsist themselves by agricultural labor, if they
choose to resort to that mode of life; if they do not they
are upon the skirts of the great prairies, where countless
herds of buffalo roam, and a short time suffices to adapt
their own habits to the changes which a change of the animals
destined for their food may require. Ample arrangements have
also been made for the support of schools; in some instances
council houses and churches are to be erected, dwellings
constructed for the chiefs, and mills for common use. Funds
have been set apart for the maintenance of the poor; the most
necessary mechanical arts have been introduced, and
blacksmiths, gunsmiths, wheelwrights, millwrights, etc., are
supported among them. Steel and iron, and sometimes salt, are
purchased for them, and plows and other farming utensils,
domestic animals, looms, spinning wheels, cards, etc., are
presented to them. And besides these beneficial arrangements,
annuities are in all cases paid, amounting in some instances
to more than $30 for each individual of the tribe, and in all
cases sufficiently great, if justly divided and prudently
expended, to enable them, in addition to their own exertions,
to live comfortably. And as a stimulus for exertion, it is
now provided by law that "in all cases of the appointment of
interpreters or other persons employed for the benefit of the
Indians a preference shall be given to persons of Indian
descent, if such can be found who are properly qualified for
the discharge of the duties."
Such are the arrangements for the physical comfort and for
the moral improvement of the Indians. The necessary measures
for their political advancement and for their separation from
our citizens have not been neglected. The pledge of the
United States has been given by Congress that the country
destined for the residence of this people shall be forever
"secured and guaranteed to them." A country west of Missouri
and Arkansas has been assigned to them, into which the white
settlements are not to be pushed. No political communities
can be formed in that extensive region, except those which
are established by the Indians themselves or by the United
States for them and with their concurrence. A barrier has
thus been raised for their protection against the
encroachment of our citizens, and guarding the Indians as far
as possible from those evils which have brought them to their
present condition. Summary authority has been given by law to
destroy all ardent spirits found in their country, without
waiting the doubtful result and slow process of a legal
seizure. I consider the absolute and unconditional
interdiction of this article among these people as the first
and great step in their melioration. Halfway measures will
answer no purpose. These can not successfully contend against
the cupidity of the seller and the overpowering appetite of
the buyer. And the destructive effects of the traffic are
marked in every page of the history of our Indian
intercourse.
Some general legislation seems necessary for the regulation
of the relations which will exist in this new state of things
between the Government and people of the United States and
these transplanted Indian tribes, and for the establishment
among the latter, and with their own consent, of some
principles of intercommunication which their juxtaposition
will call for; that moral may be substituted for physical
force, the authority of a few and simple laws for the
tomahawk, and that an end may be put to those bloody wars
whose prosecution seems to have made part of their social
system.
After the further details of this arrangement are completed,
with a very general supervision over them, they ought to be
left to the progress of events. These, I indulge the hope,
will secure their prosperity and improvement, and a large
portion of the moral debt we owe them will then be paid.
DECEMBER 23, 1835.
To the Senate of the United States:
I hereby submit, for the advice and sanction of the Senate,
the inclosed proposal of the Secretary of the Treasury for
the investment of the proceeds of the sales of public lands
in behalf of the Chickasaw Indians under the treaties therein
mentioned.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 12, 1836.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration and advice of the
Senate as to the ratification of the same, the two treaties
concluded with the Carmanchee Indians and with the Caddo
Indians referred to in the accompanying communication from
the War Department.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 10, 1836.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with
copies of so much of the correspondence relating to Indian
affairs called for by the resolution of the House of January
23, 1835, as can be furnished by that Department. I also
transmit a report on the same subject from the Treasury
Department, from which it appears that without a special
appropriation or the suspension for a considerable period of
much of the urgent and current business of the General Land
Office it is impracticable to take copies of all the papers
described in the resolution. Under these circumstances the
subject is again respectfully submitted to the consideration
of the House of Representatives.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, March 5, 1836.
To the Senate:
I submit to the Senate, for their advice and consent as to
the ratification of the same, the treaty and the supplement
to it recently concluded with the Cherokee Indians.
The papers referred to in the accompanying communication from
the Secretary of War as necessary to a full view of the whole
subject are also herewith submitted.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, April 1, 1836.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and
consent as to its ratification, a treaty concluded with the
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, April 12, 1836.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith a report16 from
the Secretary of War, communicating the original letter from
Major Davis and the statements which accompany it, referred
to in the resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant.
ANDREW JACKSON.
[Relating to the treaty of December 29, 1835, with
the Cherokee Indians.]
WASHINGTON, April 27, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice and
consent as to the ratification of the same, a treaty
concluded with the Wyandot Indians for a cession of a portion
of their reservation in the State of Ohio.
In order to prevent any abuse of the power granted to the
chiefs in the fifth article of the treaty, I recommend the
adoption of the suggestion contained in the accompanying
letter of the Secretary of War; otherwise I shall not feel
satisfied in approving that article.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 14, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for the consideration of the Senate, three
treaties concluded with certain bands of Pottawatamie Indians
in the State of Indiana.
I transmit also a report from the Secretary of War, inclosing
the instructions under which these treaties were negotiated.
I would remark that the fourth article of each treaty
provides for the appointment of a commissioner and the
payment of the debts due by the Indians. There is no
limitation upon the amount of these debts, though it is
obvious from these instructions that the commissioner should
have limited the amount to be applied to this object;
otherwise the whole fund might be exhausted and the Indians
left without the means of living. I therefore recommend
either that the Senate limit the amount at their discretion
or that they provide by resolution that the whole purchase
money be paid to the Indians, leaving to them the adjustment
of their debts.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 21, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith two treaties concluded with bands of
Pottawatamies in the State of Indiana, with accompanying
papers, for the consideration and action of the Senate.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 26, 1836.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit, in conformity with a resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 21st instant, a report of the
Secretary of War, containing the information called for on
the subject of the causes of the hostilities of the Seminoles
and the measures taken to repress them.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 27, 1836.
To the House of Representatives:
In further compliance with so much of the resolution of the
House of Representatives of the 21st instant as calls for an
account of the causes of the hostilities of the Seminole
Indians, I transmit a supplementary report from the Secretary
of War.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, May 28, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration and action of the
Senate, a treaty concluded on the 24th instant with the
Chippewa Indians of Saganaw.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, June 1, 1836.
To the Senate:
I transmit herewith to the Senate a communication which has
been received from Mr. B.F. Currey*
in answer to a call made upon him by the President, through
the War Department, in consequence of the serious charges
which were preferred against him by one of the honorable
members of the Senate. It seems to be due to justice that the
Senate should be furnished, agreeably to the request of Mr.
Currey, with the explanations contained in this
communication, particularly as they are deemed so far
satisfactory as would render his dismissal or even censure
undeserved and improper.
ANDREW JACKSON.
* [Agent for the removal of the Cherokee Indians.]
WASHINGTON, June 3, 1836.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a supplemental report from the War
Department, in answer to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 21st ultimo, calling for information
respecting the causes of the Seminole hostilities and the
measures taken to suppress them.
ANDREW JACKSON
JUNE 28, 1836.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the
Secretary of War, conveying the information called for by the
House in its resolution of yesterday, concerning the Cherokee
treaty recently ratified.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, July 1, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 21st January
last, I transmit a report* of the
Secretary of War, containing the copies called for so far as
relates to his Department.
ANDREW JACKSON.
* [Relating to frauds in sales of public lands or
Indian reservations.]
EXECUTIVE ORDER.
HERMITAGE, August 7, 1836.
C.A. HARRIS, Esq.,
Acting Secretary of War.
SIR: I reached home on the evening of the 4th, and was soon
surrounded with the papers and letters which had been sent
here in anticipation of my arrival. Amongst other important
matters which immediately engaged my attention was the
requisition of General Gaines on Tennessee, Kentucky,
Mississippi, and Louisiana. Believing that the reasons given
for this requisition were not consistent with the neutrality
which it is our duty to observe in respect to the contest in
Texas, and that it would embarrass the apportionment which
had been made of the 10,000 volunteers authorized by the
recent act of Congress, I informed Governor Cannon by letter
on the 5th instant that it could not receive my sanction. The
volunteers authorized by Congress were thought competent,
with the aid of the regular force, to terminate the Indian
war in the South and protect our western frontier, and they
were apportioned in a manner the best calculated to secure
these objects. Agreeably to this apportionment, the
volunteers raised in Arkansas and Missouri, and ordered to be
held in readiness for the defense of the western frontier,
should have been called on before any other requisition was
made upon Tennessee, who has already more than her proportion
in the field. Should an emergency hereafter arise making it
necessary to have a greater force on that frontier than was
anticipated when the apportionment was made, it will be easy
to order the east Tennessee brigade there. All the volunteers
under the act are engaged for one year's service, unless
sooner discharged. Taking this view of the subject, I regret
that as soon as the War Department had information of the
requisition made by General Gaines it had not at once
notified the governors of the States that the apportionment
of the volunteers at first communicated to them would not be
departed from, and that of course those in the States nearest
to the scene of threatened hostility would be first called
on.
I had written thus far when your letter of the 26th of July
last, accompanied by one from General Wool of the 15th of
July and one from General Towsen of the 25th of July last,
was handed to me. The letter from General Wool was
unexpected. His guide was the requisition on the State, and I
can not well imagine how he could suppose that the Department
would authorize a greater number of troops to be mustered and
paid than he was specially directed to receive. He was
apprised fully of the apportionment which had been made of
the 10,000 volunteers, and of the considerations which
induced us to require 1,000 from Florida, 2,000 from Georgia,
2,000 from Alabama, and 2,500 from Tennessee. This force was
designated in this manner because it was in the country
nearest to the Seminoles, Creeks, and Cherokees, and in like
manner near the force designated for the western frontier,
except a fraction of about 430 men to be hereafter selected
when it should be ascertained where it would be most needed.
It is therefore unaccountable to me why General Wool would
receive and muster into the service a greater number than has
been called for and placed under his command, particularly as
he knew that Tennessee had already been called upon for more
volunteers than her proportion in the general apportionment.
He knows that the President can only execute the law, and he
ought to have recollected that if the officers charged with
the military operations contemplated by the law were to use
their own discretion in fixing the number of men to be
received and mustered into the service there could be no
certainty in the amount of force which would be brought into
the field. His guide was the requisition upon Tennessee for
2,500, and he should never have departed from it.
The brave men whose patriotism brought them into the field
ought to be paid, but I seriously doubt whether any of the
money now appropriated can be used for this purpose, as all
the volunteers authorized by the act of Congress have been
apportioned, and the appropriations should be first
applicable to their payment if they should be ordered into
the field. All that we can do is to bring the subject before
the next Congress, which I trust will pass an act authorizing
the payment. Those men obeyed the summons of their country,
and ought not to suffer for the indiscretion of those who
caused more of them to turn out than could be received into
the service. The excess would have been avoided had the
governor of Tennessee apportioned his requisition to each
county or regiment, so as to make the proper number. This,
however, can now only be regretted. I can not approve the
mustering or reception into the service of the excess further
than it may have been done to secure them hereafter the
justice which it will be in the power of Congress to extend
to them. They ought to be paid for their travel and expense
to, at, and from the place of rendezvous, and Congress will
doubtless pass the necessary law. Their promptness in
tendering their services and equipping themselves for the
field is a high evidence of patriotism, and the thanks of
their country.
I shall inclose a copy of this letter to General Wool, and
write to the governors of Kentucky, Mississippi, and
Louisiana to withhold for the present the quota called for
under General Gaines's requisition, and if they are
concentrated to muster and discharge them and wait for
further orders.
I am, yours, respectfully,
ANDREW JACKSON
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
WASHINGTON, December 5, 1836.
The military movements rendered necessary by the aggressions
of the hostile portions of the Seminole and Creek tribes of
Indians, and by other circumstances, have required the active
employment of nearly our whole regular force, including the
Marine Corps, and of large bodies of militia and volunteers.
With all these events so far as they were known at the seat
of Government before the termination of your last session you
are already acquainted, and it is therefore only needful in
this place to lay before you a brief summary of what has
since occurred.
The war with the Seminoles during the summer was on our part
chiefly confined to the protection of our frontier
settlements from the incursions of the enemy, and, as a
necessary and important means for the accomplishment of that
end, to the maintenance of the posts previously established.
In the course of this duty several actions took place, in
which the bravery and discipline of both officers and men
were conspicuously displayed, and which I have deemed it
proper to notice in respect to the former by the granting of
brevet rank for gallant services in the field. But as the
force of the Indians was not so far weakened by these partial
successes as to lead them to submit, and as their savage
inroads were frequently repeated, early measures were taken
for placing at the disposal of Governor Call, who as
commander in chief of the Territorial militia had been
temporarily invested with the command, an ample force for the
purpose of resuming offensive operations in the most
efficient manner so soon as the season should permit.
Major-General Jesup was also directed, on the conclusion of
his duties in the Creek country, to repair to Florida and
assume the command.
The result of the first movement made by the forces under the
direction of Governor Call in October last, as detailed in
the accompanying papers, excited much surprise and
disappointment. A full explanation has been required of the
causes which led to the failure of that movement, but has not
yet been received. In the meantime, as it was feared that the
health of Governor Call, who was understood to have suffered
much from sickness, might not be adequate to the crisis, and
as Major-General Jesup was known to have reached Florida,
that officer was directed to assume the command, and to
prosecute all needful operations with the utmost promptitude
and vigor. From the force at his disposal and the
dispositions he has made and is instructed to make, and from
the very efficient measures which it is since ascertained
have been taken by Governor Call, there is reason to hope
that they will soon be enabled to reduce the enemy to
subjection. In the meantime, as you will perceive from the
report of the Secretary, there is urgent necessity for
further appropriations to suppress these hostilities.
Happily for the interests of humanity, the hostilities with
the Creeks were brought to a close soon after your
adjournment, without that effusion of blood which at one time
was apprehended as inevitable. The unconditional submission
of the hostile party was followed by their speedy removal to
the country assigned them west of the Mississippi. The
inquiry as to alleged frauds in the purchase of the
reservations of these Indians and the causes of their
hostilities, requested by the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 1st of July last to be made by the
President, is now going on through the agency of
commissioners appointed for that purpose. Their report may be
expected during your present session.
The difficulties apprehended in the Cherokee country have
been prevented, and the peace and safety of that region and
its vicinity effectually secured, by the timely measures
taken by the War Department, and still continued.
On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida,
Alabama, and Georgia it became necessary in some cases to
take the property of individuals for public use. Provision
should be made by law for indemnifying the owners; and I
would also respectfully suggest whether some provision may
not be made, consistently with the principles of our
Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian
depredations or by the operations of our own troops.
The national policy, founded alike in interest and in
humanity, so long and so steadily pursued by this Government
for the removal of the Indian tribes originally settled on
this side of the Mississippi to the west of that river, may
be said to have been consummated by the conclusion of the
late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the
execution of that treaty and in relation to our Indian
affairs generally will fully appear by referring to the
accompanying papers. Without dwelling on the numerous and
important topics embraced in them, I again invite your
attention to the importance of providing a well-digested and
comprehensive system for the protection, supervision, and
improvement of the various tribes now planted in the Indian
country. The suggestions submitted by the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, and enforced by the Secretary, on this
subject, and also in regard to the establishment of
additional military posts in the Indian country, are entitled
to your profound consideration. Both measures are necessary,
for the double purpose of protecting the Indians from
intestine war, and in other respects complying with our
engagements to them, and of securing our western frontier
against incursions which otherwise will assuredly be made on
it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the aboriginal
race, the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and
the honor of the United States are all deeply involved in the
relations existing between this Government and the emigrating
tribes. I trust, therefore, that the various matters
submitted in the accompanying documents in respect to those
relations will receive your early and mature deliberation,
and that it may issue in the adoption of legislative measures
adapted to the circumstances and duties of the present
crisis.
WASHINGTON, December 20, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the consideration and action of the
Senate, treaties concluded with the Ioways and Sacs of
Missouri, with the Sioux, with the Sacs and Foxes, and with
the Otoes and Missourias and Omahas, by which they have
relinquished their rights in the lands lying between the
State of Missouri and the Missouri River, ceded in the first
article of the treaty with them of July 15, 1830.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, December 30, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for your consideration and action, four
treaties with bands of Potawatamie Indians in Indiana,
accompanied by a report from the War Department and sundry
other papers.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, December 30, 1836.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for your consideration and action, a
treaty with the Menomonie tribe of Indians, accompanied by a
report from the War Department. I recommend the modifications
proposed in the report.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 21, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for your constitutional action, a report from the
War Department, accompanied by a treaty with the Stockbridge
and Munsee Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, January 21, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for your constitutional action, a report from the
War Department, accompanied by a treaty with a portion of the
New York Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 7, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit communications from the War Department relating to
the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes recently submitted to the
Senate.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 7, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for the constitutional action of the
Senate, a report from the War Department, accompanied by a
treaty with the Saganaw tribe of Chippewa Indians.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit, for your consideration and action, a treaty with
certain Potawatamie Indians, accompanied by a report from the
War Department.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON CITY, February 14, 1837.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith a copy of the instructions, prepared
under my direction by the War Department, for the
commissioners appointed by me, in pursuance of the request
contained in the resolution adopted by the House of
Representatives on the 1st of July last, to investigate the
causes of the hostilities then existing with the Creek
Indians, and also copies of the reports on that subject
received from the commissioners.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 15, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith, for your consideration and action, a
treaty lately made with the Sioux of the Mississippi,
accompanied by a report from the War Department.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February, 1837.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith a convention between the Choctaws and
Chickasaws, which meets my approbation, and for which I ask
your favorable consideration and action.
ANDREW JACKSON
EXECUTIVE ORDER.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
February 15, 1837.
Major-General ALEXANDER MACOMB,
President of the Court of Inquiry, etc.
SIR: I have the honor to inclose a copy of the opinion of the
President of the United States on the proceedings of the
court of inquiry of which you are president, relative to the
campaign against the Creek Indians, and, in compliance with
the direction at the close thereof, to transmit herewith
those proceedings, with the documentary evidence referred to
therein, for the further action of the court.
Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
B.F. BUTLER,
Secretary of War ad interim.
P.S.—The proceedings and a portion of the documents
accompany this. The balance of the documents (except Nos. 204
and 209, which will be sent to-morrow) are in a separate
package, and sent by the same mail.
WASHINGTON, February 14, 1837.
The President has carefully examined the proceedings of the
court of inquiry recently held at the city of Frederick, by
virtue of Orders Nos. 65 and 68, so far as the same relate to
the causes of the delay in opening and prosecuting the
campaign in Georgia and Alabama against the hostile Creek
Indians in the year 1836, and has maturely considered the
opinion of the court on this part of the subject referred to
it.
The order constituting the court directs it, among other
things—
To inquire and examine into the causes of the delay in
opening and prosecuting the campaign in Georgia and Alabama
against the hostile Creek Indians in the year 1836, and into
every subject connected with the military operations in the
campaign aforesaid, and, after fully investigating the same,
to report the facts, together with its opinion on the whole
subject, for the information of the President.
It appears from the proceedings that after the testimony of
nine witnesses had been received by the court, and after more
than one hundred documents bearing on the subject had also
been produced in evidence, and after Major-General Scott had
addressed the court on the subject, the court proceeded to
pronounce its opinion, as follows:
Upon a careful examination of the abundant testimony taken in
the foregoing case the court is of opinion that no delay
which it was practicable to have avoided was made by
Major-General Scott in opening the campaign against the Creek
Indians. On the contrary, it appears that he took the
earliest measures to provide arms, munitions, and provisions
for his forces, who were found almost wholly destitute; and
as soon as arms could be put into the hands of the volunteers
they were, in succession, detached and placed in position to
prevent the enemy from retiring upon Florida, and whence they
could move against the main body of the enemy as soon as
equipped for offensive operations.
From the testimony of the governor of Georgia, of
Major-General Sanford, commander of the Georgia volunteers,
and many other witnesses of high rank and standing who were
acquainted with the topography of the country and the
position and strength of the enemy, the court is of opinion
that the plan of campaign adopted by Major-General Scott was
well calculated to lead to successful results, and that it
was prosecuted by him, as far as practicable, with zeal and
ability, until recalled from the command upon representations
made by Major-General Jesup, his second in command, from Fort
Mitchell, in a letter bearing date the 20th of June, 1836,
addressed to F.P. Blair, esq., at Washington, marked
"private," containing a request that it be shown to the
President; which letter was exposed and brought to light by
the dignified and magnanimous act of the President in causing
it to be placed on file in the Department of War as an
official document, and which forms part of the proceedings.
(See Document No. 214.) Conduct so extraordinary and
inexplicable on the part of Major-General Jesup, in reference
to the character of said letter, should, in the opinion of
the court, be investigated.
The foregoing opinion is not accompanied by any report of the
facts in the case, as required by the order
constituting the court; on the contrary, the facts are left
to be gathered from the mass of oral and documentary evidence
contained in the proceedings, and thus a most important part
of the duty assigned to the court remains unexecuted. Had the
court stated the facts of the case as established to its
satisfaction by the evidence before it, the President, on
comparing such state of facts found by the court with its
opinion, would have distinctly understood the views
entertained by the court in respect to the degree of
promptitude and energy which ought to be displayed in a
campaign against Indians—and one which the President's
examination of the evidence has not supplied, inasmuch as he
has no means of knowing whether the conclusions drawn by him
from the evidence agree with those of the court.
The opinion of the court is also argumentative, and wanting
in requisite precision, inasmuch as it states that "no delay
which it was practicable to have avoided was made by
Major-General Scott in opening the campaign against the
Creek Indians," etc.; thus leaving it to be inferred, but not
distinctly finding, that there was some delay, and that it
was made by some person other than Major-General Scott,
without specifying in what such delay consisted, when it
occurred, how long it continued, nor by whom it was
occasioned. Had the court found a state of facts, as required
by the order constituting it, the uncertainty now existing in
this part of the opinion would have been obviated and the
justice of the opinion itself readily determined.
That part of the opinion of the court which animadverts on
the letter addressed by Major-General Jesup to F.P. Blair,
esq., bearing date the 20th of June, 1836, and which presents
the same as a subject demanding investigation, appears to the
President to be wholly unauthorized by the order constituting
the court, and by which its jurisdiction was confined to an
inquiry into the causes of the delay in opening and
prosecuting the campaign against the hostile Creeks and into
such subjects as were connected with the military operations
in that campaign. The causes of the recall of Major-General
Scott from the command and the propriety or impropriety of
the conduct of General Jesup in writing the letter referred
to were not submitted to the court as subjects of inquiry.
The court itself appears to have been of this opinion,
inasmuch as no notice was given to General Jesup of the
pendency of the proceedings, nor had he any opportunity to
cross-examine and interrogate the witnesses, nor to be heard
in respect to his conduct in the matter remarked on by the
court.
For the several reasons above assigned, the President
disapproves the opinion of the court, and remits to it the
proceedings in question, to the end that the court may resume
the consideration of the evidence and from the same, and from
such further evidence as shall be taken (in case the court
shall deem it necessary to take further evidence), may
ascertain and report with distinctness and precision,
especially as to time, place, distances, and other
circumstances, all the facts touching the opening and
prosecuting of the campaign in Georgia and Alabama against
the hostile Creek Indians in the year 1836, and the military
operations in the said campaign, and touching the delay, if
any there was, in the opening or prosecuting of said
campaign, and the causes of such delay; and to the end, also,
that the court, whilst confining its opinion to the
subject-matters submitted to it, may fully and distinctly
express its opinion on those matters for the information of
the President.
The Secretary of War ad interim will cause the
proceedings of the court on the subject of the campaign
against the Creek Indians, with the documentary evidence
referred to therein and a copy of the foregoing opinion, to
be transmitted to Major-General Alexander Macomb, president
of the court, for the proper action thereon.
ANDREW JACKSON
WASHINGTON, February 18, 1837.
The proceedings of the court of inquiry recently assembled
and still sitting at Frederick by virtue of Orders Nos. 65
and 68, so far as the same relate to the causes of the
failure of the campaign of Major-General Scott against the
Seminole Indians in 1836, were heretofore submitted to the
President, and the examination thereof suspended in
consequence of the necessary connection between the case of
Major-General Scott and that of Major-General Gaines, also
referred to the same court, and not yet reported on. Certain
other proceedings of the same court having been since
examined by the President, and having been found defective,
and therefore remitted to the court for reconsideration, the
President has deemed it proper, in order to expedite the
matter, to look into the first-mentioned proceedings for the
purpose of ascertaining whether or not the like defects
existed therein. On this inspection of the record he
perceives that the court has not reported, except in a few
instances, the facts of the case, as required by the order
constituting the court, and in those instances the facts
found by the court are stated in a very general form and
without sufficient minuteness and precision; and he therefore
remits the said proceedings to the court, to the end that the
court may resume the consideration of the evidence, and from
the same, and from such further evidence as may be taken (in
case the court shall deem it necessary to take further
evidence), may ascertain and report with distinctness and
precision all the facts touching the subject to be inquired
of, established to the satisfaction of the court by the
evidence before it, and especially the times when and places
where the several occurrences which are deemed material by
the court in the formation of its opinion actually took
place, with the amount of force on both sides at the
different periods of time embraced in the transactions, and
the positions thereof, and such other circumstances as are
deemed material by the court; together with its opinion on
the whole subject, for the information of the President.
The Secretary of War ad interim will cause the
proceedings of the court in the case of Major-General Scott,
first above mentioned, with the documentary evidence referred
to therein and a copy hereof, to be transmitted to
Major-General Alexander Macomb, president of the court, for
the proper action thereon.
ANDREW JACKSON
FAREWELL ADDRESS.
MARCH 4, 1837.
In our domestic concerns there is everything to encourage us,
and if you are true to yourselves nothing can impede your
march to the highest point of national prosperity. The States
which had so long been retarded in their improvement by the
Indian tribes residing in the midst of them are at length
relieved from the evil, and this unhappy race—the
original dwellers in our land—are now placed in a
situation where we may well hope that they will share in the
blessings of civilization and be saved from that degradation
and destruction to which they were rapidly hastening while
they remained in the States; and while the safety and comfort
of our own citizens have been greatly promoted by their
removal, the philanthropist will rejoice that the remnant of
that ill-fated race has been at length placed beyond the
reach of injury or oppression, and that the paternal care of
the General Government will hereafter watch over them and
protect them.
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