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To ascertain the exact position of the parties in respect to each other, we shall call the attention of the reader to a few of the treaties and laws which regulate the subject-matter, confining ourselves chiefly to those which have been made most recently. Our present system of Indian relations, although commenced under the Administration of General WASHINGTON, has been chiefly built up since the Revolution war between the United States and Great Britain. The "Treaties" have been so numerous, that it is impossible, in a work like this, to enter into their details, or to do more than to refer in a compendious manner to their leading features. We shall adopt this plan as sufficient for our purpose. The following propositions, then, will be found to contain the leading principles of this anomalous diplomacy, and to have obtained admission into our "Treaties" with nearly all the tribes: 1. The United States have almost invariably given presents, in money, arms, clothing, farming implements, and trinkets, upon the negotiation of a treaty; and in treaties for the purchase of territory, we pay an equivalent for the lands, in money or merchandise, or both, which payment is generally made in the form of annuities, limited or perpetual. 2. When a tribe cedes the territory on which they reside, other territory is specified for their future occupancy, and the United States guarantee to them the title and peaceable possession thereof. 3. The Indians acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the American Government, and of no other power whatsoever. 4. They engage not to make war with each other, or with any foreign power, without the consent of the United States. 5. They agree to sell their lands only to the United States. Our citizens are prohibited by law from taking grants of land from the Indians; and any transfer or cession made by them, except to our Government, would be considered void. 6. White men found hunting on the Indian lands, may be apprehended by them, and delivered up to the nearest agent of the United States. 7. White men are not to trade with the Indians, nor reside in their country without license from our authorities. 8. An Indian who commits a murder upon a white man, is to be delivered up to be tried and punished under our laws; stolen property is to be returned, or the tribe to be accountable for its value. 9. The United States claims the right of navigation, on all navigable rivers which pass through an Indian territory. 10. The tribes agree that they will at all times allow to traders? and other persons traveling through their country, under the authority of the United States, a free and safe passage for themselves and their property; and that for such passage, they shall at no time, and on no account whatever, be subject to any toll or exaction. 11. Should any tribe of Indians, or other power, meditate a war against the United States, or threaten any hostile act, and the same shall come to the knowledge of a tribe in amity with the United States, the latter shall give notice thereof to the nearest Governor of a State, or officer commanding the troops of the United States. 12. No tribe in amity with the United States shall supply arms or ammunition, or any warlike aid, implements, or munition, to a tribe not in amity with us. If we turn to the Statute Books, for the purpose of showing the spirit of our legislation in regard to the Indian tribes, it will be seen that the leading intention of those laws, as expressed on their face, is just and benevolent. Whatever mistakes our Government may have committed, and however their beneficence may have been misdirected, it could never have been their purpose to oppress a people towards whom they have used language, such as we find in the several acts of Congress, relating to the Indians, and of which the following expressions are specimens: "For the purpose of providing against the further decline, and final extinction of the Indian tribes, adjoining the frontier settlements of the United States, and for introducing among them the habits and arts of civilization," etc. "In order to promote the civilization of the friendly Indians, and to secure the continuance of their friendship," etc. The third Article of an Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, north-west of the River Ohio, passed in 1787, runs as follows: "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall for ever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them." These are noble sentiments; and they represent truly the feelings of the great body of the American people towards the aborigines, and the principles by which the intercourse with the Indian tribes was intended to be governed. We shall, when we come to inquire what have been the results of our intercourse with those tribes, and whether those results have realized the wishes of the American people, and the intentions of the Government, refer to these extracts as expressing those wishes and intentions. We shall not detail at large the statutory provisions to which we intend to refer, but will content ourselves with such a synopsis as will answer our purpose. Our Indian affairs are conducted by several superintendents, and a number of agents and sub-agents, who are required to reside within their respective agencies, and through whom the Government conducts all its negotiations with the tribes, except when special trusts are committed to military officers, or to commissioners appointed for the occasion. We regulate the trade with them by statute, rigorously prohibiting all ingress into their country by our citizens, or by foreigners, and all traffic, except by special license from our authorities. An Indian who kills a white man, or a white man who slays an Indian, are alike tried by our laws, and in our courts, even though the offense may have been committed in the Indian Territory. Larceny, robbery, trespass, or other offense, committed by white men against the Indians, in the country of the latter, is punishable in our courts, and where the offender is unable to make restitution, the just value of the property taken or destroyed is paid by our Government; if a similar aggression is committed by an Indian against a white man, the tribe is held responsible. The President is authorized to furnish to the tribes, schoolmasters, artisans, teachers of husbandry and the mechanic arts, tools, implements of agriculture, domestic animals; and generally to exert his influence to introduce the habits and arts of social life among them. Although we have omitted a great many provisions similar to those which we have quoted, we believe that we have not passed over anything that is necessary to a fair exposition of the principles of our negotiations with the Indians, and our legislation over them. It will be seen that we have never claimed the right, nor avowed the intention to extirpated this unhappy race, to strip them of their property, or to deprive them of those natural rights which we have, in our Declaration of Independence, emphatically termed indefeasible. On the contrary, our declared purpose, repeatedly and solemnly avowed, has been to secure their friendship- to civilize them- to give them the habits and arts of social life- to elevate their character, and increase their happiness. If it be asked, to what extent these objects have been attained, the answer must be appalling to every friend of humanity. It is so seldom that the energies of a powerful Government have been steadily directed to the accomplishment of a benevolent design, that we cannot, without deep regret, behold the exertion of such rare beneficence defeated of its purpose. Yet it is most certainly true, that notwithstanding all our professions, and our great expenditure of labor and money, the Indians, so far from advancing one step in civilization and happiness, so far from improving in their condition, or rising in the scale of moral being, are every day sinking lower in misery and barbarism. The virtues which they cherished in their aboriginal state, have been blunted by their intercourse with the whites, and they have acquired vices which were unknown to their simple progenitors. We take no account here of the CREEKs, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws, a portion of whom present an exception to the great body of the Indians. We speak of the wandering tribes- of the Indians at large, who continue to reject the arts and habits of social life, who fear and despise the white man, and tenaciously adhere to all the ferocious customs and miserable expedients of savage life. If we have failed to soften their rude natures, to enlighten their understandings, or to imbue their minds with any of our principles of moral action, equally have we failed to secure their friendship. We have tamed them into submission by displays of our power, or brought them into subservience with our money, but we have not gained their love or their confidence. Nor is this all. Our system is not only inefficient, but it is positively mischievous. Its direct tendency is to retard the civilization of the Indian. We have stripped their nations of freedom, sovereignty, and independence. We claim the right to regulate their trade, to navigate their rivers, to have ingress into their country; we forbid all intercourse with them, except by special license from our authorities; we try them in our courts for offenses committed in their country, and we do not acknowledge the existence of any tribunal among them, having authority to inflict a penalty on one of our citizens. They are subjected to the restraints, without enjoying the privileges, the protection, or the moral influence, of our laws. Theirs is, therefore, a state of subjection- of mere misology- precisely that state which has always been found to destroy the energies, and degrade the character, of a people. But, as if by a refinement of cruelty, similar to that which decks a victim in costly robes, and surrounds him with pleasing objects of sense, at the moment of execution, we leave them in the nominal possession of independence, and in the possession of all their long-cherished and idolized customs, prejudices, and superstitions. They are kept separate from us, and their own national pride naturally co-operates with our injudicious policy, to keep them for ever a distinct, an alien, and a hostile people. They gain nothing by the example of our industry, the precepts of our religion, the influence of our laws, our arts, our institutions, for they see or feel nothing of the salutary operation of all these, and only know them in their terrors or their restraints. They are a subjected people, governed by laws in the making of which they have no voice, and enjoying none of the privileges pertaining to the citizens of the nation which rules them. They obey their own laws and customs, so far as these do not conflict with our convenience; and are left without law, so far as our interference is concerned, except where our interest induces us to stretch over them the arm of authority. By giving them presents and annuities, we support them in idleness, and cherish their wandering and unsettled habits. We bribe them into discontent, by teaching them that every public convention held for the settlement of misunderstandings, is to bring them valuable tributes; while the same cause trains them to duplicity, and induces them to exercise all their ingenuity in seeking out causes of offense? and in compounding their grievances to the best advantage. These are the accidental, and unintentional, but unavoidable effects of a system, which is radically wrong, though devised and maintained in the spirit of benevolence. If all this is faulty in principle, it is still worse in practice. The Indian Department has already become one of the most expensive branches of our Government. Our foreign relations are scarcely more costly than our negotiations with the tribes. If the vast sums which are annually laid out in this manner were productive of any permanent good to the Indians, no patriot or Christian would regret the expenditure. But when we see our treasure squandered with a lavish hand, not only without any good effect, but with great positive injury to the miserable race, whom we have reduced to the state of dependence upon our bounty, it is time to pause. When we examine further, and see how large a portion of these vast sums are intercepted before they reach the hand of the Red man- how much is expended in sustaining military posts, paying agents, transporting merchandise, holding treaties, and keeping in operation, in various ways, a vast, compomplicated, and useless machinery- when we reflect how much is unavoidably lost, squandered, and misapplied, the question assumes a fearful importance. [See: The History of the North American Indians (Vol. II); By James Hall, Philadelphia, PA. 1836] SOME TREATIES with Colonist: Among the manuscript archives of South Carolina there was said to br, some 50 years ago (1850) a treaty or Agreement between Colony South Carolina & Cherokee and signed with the hieroglyphies of 8 Chiefs of the Lower Towns, (If still in existence, this is probably the oldest Cherokee treaty on record.) viz; 1. Corani, the Raven (Ka'landi) of Toxawa 2. Sinnawa, the Hawk (Tla'nuwa) of Toxawa 3. Nellawgitehi, of Toxawa 4. Gorhaleke, of Toxawa 5. Owasta, of Toxawa 6. Canacaught, the Great Conjuror, of Keowa 7. Gohoma, of Keowa 8. Caunasaita, of Keowa (Source See Mooney, Pg31) (Mooney listed his Source as "Noted in Cherokee Advocate, Tahlequah, Indian Territory, Jan 30, 1845) The practice of concluding treaties with the American Indians was initiated in the colonial period by the British, who employed them especially after the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754-63). During the American Revolution, the United States government adopted the treaty system, signing its first treaty with the Delawares in 1778. The major purposes of such treaties were to obtain land cessions from the tribes, to determine boundaries between Indian and white lands, and to regulate trade. By adopting the treaty system, the British and United States governments recognized the prior ownership of land by Indian tribes and in effect also acknowledged their strength and their status as independent nations. The most important of the early treaties were those of Fort Stanwix (1768 and in 1784), by which the IROQUOIS LEAGUE ceded rights in the trans-Appalachian country. When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, GREAT BRITAIN ceded to the UNITED STATES all territory West of the Mississippi River and North to the 31st Parallel. This set the stage for the Treaty of Hopewell. On January 10, 1786, the Treaty of Hopewell signaled the beginning of an official bond between the United States and the Southeast Indians. This treaty was later to be recognized as a powerful instrument because, from this date on, the independence of the Indian Nations will be eroded by the United States. "The Shaownae nation do acknowledge the United States to be sole and absolute sovereigns of all the territory ceded to them by a treaty of peace made between them and the King of Great Britain, on the 14th January 1786." The federal act of the "Indian Trade and Intercourse Act" (1790) had prohibited sale of Indian lands without prior federal approval, but vast sections of the eastern United States passed from Indian control after that time. -Treaty of 2nd July 1791. "Holston Treaty" "It is agreed on the part of the Cherokees, that the United States shall have the sole and absolute right to regulate their trade." The Chief Little Turtle, led MIAMI & SHAWNEE to a defeat at Battle of Fallen Timbers and signed the Treaty of Greenville (1795), by which 12 northeastern tribes surrendered the southeastern corner of the then NORTHEAST TERRITORY to the United States. "Tellico Treaty", The Federal Government and the Cherokees signed 02 Oct 1798 the treaty which further refined the Holston Treaty of 1791. Which marked off the lines extended from Kingston, (Roane Co.) TN. to "Blanket Mountain" head waters of Jake's Creek near Elkmount, TN. [Ramsey pg20] [See: Tellico Blockhouse] 1802 - President Thomas JEFFERSON signs 1st "Georgia Compact". This compact was entered into between the United States and the State of Georgia; the fourth article of which stipulates, :that the United States shall, at their own expense, extinguish, for the use of Georgia, as early as the same can be peaceably effected, on reasonable terms, the Indian title to the lands within the forks of the Oconnee and Oakmulgee Rivers, etc. etc.; and that the United States shall, in the same manner, also extinguish the Indian title to all the other lands within the State of Georgia." The United States, in pursuance of this compact, proceeded from time to time, by treaties, to extinguish the Indian title to lands within the limits of Georgia. Under five treaties, the Creek Indian title to about fifteen million of acres of land was extinguished; and the United States paid Georgia, in money, one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in lieu of lands which had been ceded to the Creek Indians. From 1803 onward, total opposition to the Indians as an ethnic group was in order. The true callousness of United States toward the Indian Nations did not surface until after (Spain ceded to France, 1800, France ceded to U.S. 1803) the Louisiana Purchase. Before that time, U.S. French and Spanish agents actively courted the Indian Nations with supplies from their emissaries. After the U.S. no longer had any fear for Spanish or French influence among any Indian tribe, the objective of the U.S. government became clear. The end aim was U.S. supremacy. President ANDREW JACKSON, JOHN COFFEE and ISAAC SHELBY used threats as well as withholding annuities to the Indian Nations, to gradually obtain all the Indian Nations lands east of the Mississippi River. -Treaty of 9th August 1814. The United States demand an acknowledgment of the right to establish military posts and trading houses, and to open roads within the territory guaranteed to the CREEK nation in the second Article, and the right to the navigation of all its waters." By 1815 most of the Indians north of the Ohio River had been subdued, and sentiment was strong to force all Indians to settle west of the Mississippi River. Although treaties to effect this end were formally negotiated, coercion, bribery, and the use of alcohol became commonplace in wringing favorable terms from reluctant tribal leaders. The LOVELY'S PURCHASE of 1816, was a result of a conference between the OSAGES and the CHEROKEES, convened at the mouth of the Verdigris River. Major WILLIAM LOVELY, Cherokee agent in the West, obtained an agreement whereby the OSAGES ceded to the United States the land as follows: "Beginning at the Arkansas River .. Frog Bayoy .. then up the Arkansas and Verdigris to the falls of the Verdigris River .. thence Eastwardly, to the said OSAGE boundary line, at a point 20 leagues North from the Arkansas River .. and, with that line, to the point of beginning..." The CHOCTAWS who some had been relocated in the now state of Arkansas Treaty of 1816, had created friction between white settlers and the Indians and led eventually to the establishment of a "permanent" western boundary for Arkansas. So Congress created the Arkansas Territory on March 2, 1819, the region what is now Oklahoma, (west to the 100th meridian) was included within its boundaries. The area North of the Canadian River, belonged to the OSAGE Indians (ceded to U.S. in 1825) and the area South of the Canadian River to the Red River, belonged to the QUAPAWS, which was ceded to the United States in 1818. In the Treaty of 1817-18 the CHEROKEE first ceded land and started their removal from their ancestral lands East of the Mississippi to area to Arkansas Territory. The CHEROKEE agreed to exchange 1/3rd of the lands in the East for equal acreage located between the White River on the Northeast boundary and the Arkansas River on the Southwest boundary in the then Arkansas Territory.
Treaties (or Event) sorted by date. ..prs
1684, 1778, 1783, 1784, 1786, 1790, 1791, 1795, 1798, 1802, 1814, 1816, 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1824, 1825, 1828, 1829, 1830, 1832, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, 1840, 1851, 1855, 1856, 1865, 1866, 1867, 1871, 1873, 1889, 1946,Spain had title to the land West of the 100th meridian and South of the Red River by terms of the Adams-Onis' Treaty of 1819. Within two years, however the Mexican revolution had given the Mexican government a permanent hold upon former Spanish territory Southwest of the U.S. The Treaty of Doak's Stand 1820, about 1,000 CHOCTAW moved from their ancestral homes East of the Mississippi to West of the Mississippi in the then Arkansas Territory. This provided a new Eastern boundary for the CHOCTAW settlements on a line extending North from the mouth of the Little River to the Arkansas River. In 1824 Congress fixed the Western boundary of the Arkansas Territory on a line of 40 miles West of the Southwest corner of Missouri. As surveyed by John C. Brown, the new Arkansas boundary cut through the lower Kiamici River near the stream's mouth and crossed West of the Three Forks area. This act was a clear violation by the United States of the Treaty of Doak's Stand - 1820 The Arkansas delegate to Congress, HENRY W. CONWAY, protested the New Arkansas Treaty line of 1824. Declaring in a letter to Secretary of War JOHN C. CALHOUN that such a boundary would cut off a large number of Arkansas citizens (who should have NOT settled on Indian land in the first place ..prs) from the protection of Arkansas. Treaty of 2nd June 1825. "The Tetons, Yanctons, and Yanctonies, and bands of the Sioux, admit the right of the United States to regulate their trade." -Treaty of 2nd June 1825. Osage Nation, at Clarke. Arkansas "Fifty-four tracts of one mile square each, of the land ceded by this treaty, shall be laid off under the direction of the President of the United States, and sold, for the purpose of raising a fund, to be applied for the support of schools for the education of the Osage children." Treaty of 2nd June 1825. Osage Nation, at Clarke. Arkansas
Andrew Jackson, L/S Chickasautchee, (his x mark), Joseph McMinn, L/S The Bark of Chota, (his x mark), D. Meriwether, US Commisioner, L/S The Bark of Hightower, his x Richard Brown, (his x mark), John Walker, (his x mark), Cabbin Smith, (his x mark) Big Half Breed, (his x mark) Sleeping Rabbit, (his x mark) Going Snake, (his x mark), George Saunders, (his x mark), Leyestisky, (his x mark), Roman Nose, (his x mark), Ch. Hicks, Currobe Dick, (his x mark) Young Davis, (his x mark), George Lowry, Souanooka, (his x mark), Richard Taylor, The Locust, (his x mark) Walter Adair, Beaver Carrier, (his x mark) James Brown, Dreadful Water, (his x mark) Kelachule, (his x mark) Chyula, (his x mark) Sour Mush, (his x mark) Ja. Martin, Chulioa, (his x mark) John Mclntosh, (his x mark) Katchee of Cowee, (his x mark) White Man Killer, (his x mark), Arkansas chiefs: In presence of Toochalar, (his x mark), J. M. Glassel, secretary to the commission, The Glass, (his x mark), Thomas Wilson, clerk to the cornmissioners, Wassosee, (his x mark), Walter Adair, John Jolly, (his x mark), John Speirs, interpreter, (his x mark) The Gourd, (his x mark), A. McCoy, interpreter, Spring Frog, (his x mark), James C. Bronaugh, Hospital Surgeon U.S.Army John D. Chisholm, Isham Randolph, captain First Redoubtables, James Rogers, Wm. Meriwether, Wawhatchy, (his x mark), Return J. Meigs, agent Cherokee Nation Attalona, (his x mark), Kulsuttchee, (his x mark), Tuskekeetchee, (his x mark) Chillawgatchee, (his x mark), John Smith, (his x mark), Toosawallata, (his x mark) -Treaty of 3rd June 1825. Kansas Nation.
"The United States agree to furnish at Clarke, for the use of the Osage nation, a blacksmith and tools to mend their arms, and utensils of husbandry, and engage to build them a horse-mill or water-mill; also to furnish them with plows," etc. -Ibid. -Treaty of 3rd June 1825. Kansas Nation. "Thirty-six sections of good land on Big Blue River, shall be laid out under the direction of the President of the United States, and sold for the purpose of raising a fund to be applied, under the direction of the President, to the education of the Kansas children within their nation." -Ibid. President JOHN QUINCY ADAMS appointed JAMES S. CONWAY to re- survey the new line, and on Nov. 02, 1825, the survey work begun at Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was completed on Dec. 07. 1825. It's interesting to note that the 1825 CONWAY SURVEY was inaccurate. Some 52 years later, [1877] and after a long diplomatic struggle, PETER P. PITCHLYNN Principal of the CHOCTAW NATION (1864-1866) obtained passage of an Act of Congress to authorize a new survey. HENRY E. McKEE United States surveyor, ran the line "due South" in April and May of 1877, not for the purposes of recovering land for the CHOCTAWS, but as a basis for payment of damages. According to McKEE'S 1877 survey, the establised in 1825 crosed the Red River West of the Treaty line by 4 miles, 16 Chains and deprived the CHOCTAW NATION some 136,204.02 acres. The CHOCTAW NATION was paid $62,102 ($2.19 per acre) for land given the the State of Arkansas by error in 1825. Of the sum awarded to the CHOCTAW NATION, however, 30 percent ($186,306) was taken for attorney fees and 20 percent ($124,204) to pay the expenses of the Chief PETER P. PITCHLYNN delegation, leaving about $31,051 left for the tribe. Because of white squatters into the Arkansas Territory, a new treaty of Treaty of 1825 required the CHOCKTAWS to ceded to the United States all of its land in the Arkansas Territory and move farther West to the present day Oklahoma. Land as follows:
"The United States, immediately after the ratification of this convention, shall cause to be furnished to the Kansas nation, 300 head of cattle, 300 hogs, 500 domestic fowls, three yoke of oxen and two carts, with such implements of husbandry as the Superintendent of Indian Affairs may think necessary; and shall employ such persons to aid and instruct them in agriculture as the President of the United States may deem expedient; and shall provide and support a blacksmith." This same Treaty of 1825 caused the OSAGES ceded to the United States their property, North of the Canadian River and remove to the the new Western Indian Territory, (Oklahoma) The CHEROKEE - Treaty of May 06, 1828. required the removal of the Cherokee's who owned some 7 million acres of CHEROKEE land in the Verdigris Grand and Arkansas Valley of the Arkansas Territory to move farther West to the Western Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) boundary lines was defined as follows: The CHEROKEE line, from the 37th parallel to 36 degrees 30', was the west boarder of Missouri. From the Southwest corner of Missouri, the boundary to be a straight line to the intersection of the CHOCTAW boundary on the Arkansas River. The legislature of Georgia passed an Act Dec. 19, 1829 appropriating a large area of the Cherokee Nation incroporating it in the territory of the state, and adding it to the Counties of Carrol, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Hall, and Habersham. The act extended the laws of the state over this section of the Cherokee Nation and provided that from and after the first of the following June all persons living theirin should be subject to all the State of Georgia laws. INDIAN REMOVAL ACT, 1830 Once President ANDREW JACKSON signed the Indian Removal Act on 28 May 1830. Andrew Jackson, (1767-1845) Democrate from SC. became President in 1829. On 8th Dec. he sent Congress his first message, and in it he endorced the removal of Indians from eastern America, "voluntary, for it would be cruel and unjust to compel them to abanden the graves of their fathers and seek a home in a distant land." He mentioned paticulary, specifically the Cherokees. By the Treaty of "DANCING RABBIT CREEK in 1830", the CHOCTAWS ceded All their land east of the Mississippi to the United States. In exchanged they received the land in the Southeast corner of the WESTERN INDIAN TERRITORY (Oklahoma) lying between the western boarder of Arkansas and the 100th meridian, with the Red River as the Southern boundary and the Canadian- Arkansas rivers as their Northern limit. The CHOCTAWS, agreed to arrange for moving as many members of the East Mississippi tribe as possible "during the falls of 1831 and 1832," and the rest during the fall of 1833. After the three years, nearly 13,000 CHOCTAWS had relocated and about 7, 000 remained in Mississippi. In a series of removals the CHOCTAWS traveled West by various routes, in some instance using riverboats for a part of the journey. Although they endured great hardships on the road West, their travel was, perhaps less painful than the suffering of tribes that moved a longer distance. The CHEROKEE were fighting in the Courts. In the case of the Cherokee Nation vs. The State of Georgia (1831), President Andrew Jackson effectively supported a state rights position (and asserted his independence of the Supreme Court). Despite two United States Supreme Court decisions (1831 and 1832) upholding the rights of the Cherokee nation against the state of Georgia, which was attempting to destroy Cherokee sovereignty and take the CHEROKEE Indians' land, President Andrew Jackson refused to intervene on behalf of the Indians. This ruled that the Indians were no longer to be regarded as independent nations but rather as "dependent domestic nations," subject to regulation by the federal government. SENECAS: INDIAN REMOVAL ACT, 1830 In 1831 the Senecas of the Sandusky Vally, exchanged their Ohio land for some 67,000 acrees of land lying North of the new CHEROKEE NATION, (present day Oaklahoma) and received 60,000 adjoining the Seneca tract already in the INDIAN TERRITORY Chief JOHN ROSS of the CHEROKEE led a delegation to Washington (1832-33) to plead the Cherokee cause, but to no avail, the extinction was on. State officials in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Mississippi sided with the Federal Government. They offered no relief from white encroachment on Indian lands. The CREEK removal was marked by war within the tribe and terrible suffering during "migration". Creek Chief WILLIAM McINTOSH was executed in 1825 for ceding CREEK land without tribal consent. The Treaty of Washington in 1832 required for the cession of all CREEK land east of the Mississippi and settlement of the tribe to present day Oklahoma. Another Treaty of 1833 defined the boundaries of CREEK lands: The Northern line, which was the Southern boundary of the CHEROKEE, began at a distance of 25 miles from the Arkansas River and extended West to the 100th meridian. The Western line lay along the Mexican boundary, and the Southern limit was the Canadian River. The Eastern line was the results of compromise with the CHEROKEES, negotiated by the STOKES Commission in 1833. The CREEK migration was complicated by warfare, since most bands resisted the process of the removal. Like the CHEROKEES the CREEKS suffered because of bitter controversy within the tribe over these unfair practices. The CREEKS Indians, of Muskhogean linguistic stock, were accustomed from early times to adopting fragment groups into the tribe. The CREEK NATION, in present day Oklahoma, later contained Indians from the KOSATI, HITCHITI, NATCHEZ, APALACHICOLA, ALABAMA, TUSKEGEE, and YUCHI (Euchee) tribes. All of these tribes except the YUCHIS belong to the Muskhogean language group. JAMES GADSDEN reached an agreement with a party of SEMINOLES at Payne's Landing, Florida in 1832. The "Treaty" required that the SEMINOLES should send an advance party to the CREEK lands in West Oklahoma, and if the advance party should be satisfied with the country and "the favorable disposition of the CREEKS to reunite with the SEMINOLES as one people," the removal agreement should be binding. At Fort Gibson, (present day Oklahoma), reluctant consent of the SEMINOLE advance party was incorporated in a brief "treaty" which purported to be a completion of the Payne's Landing Agreement. In Florida, the SEMINOLE tribe leaders objected strongly to migration, and the attempt to remove them by force resulted in a costly War. (See SEMINOLE WAR 1835-1842) Most of the SEMINOLES were removed between 1836 and 1842 Perhaps the SEMINOLE removal was the most Cultural Shock of all. For 7 years this Civilized of the 5 tribes fought against the United States Government's orders to leave the coastal area of Florida for the wasteland of Oklahoma. Most SEMINOLE bands traveled by boat from the Florida coast to New Orleans and then by river steamers to Littler Rock, AK. or farther upstream. The final stage was accomplished by wagon. The SEMINOLE tribe was reduced by one-third as a result of the war and the hardships of the long journey. The Treaty of Ponitoc, 1832 the CHICKASAWS ceded All their land East of the Mississippi to the U.S. The CHICKASAW sent an advance party to explore CHOCTAW land in the WESTERN INDIAN TERRITORY. This later would be the Treaty of Doaksville, 1837 In 1832, the QUAPAWS moved from the Red River Valley to a tract of 96,000 acres of land North and East of the CHEROKEES in the INDIAN TERRORTY.
All land lying East of a line beginning on the Arkansas River 100 paces East of Fort Smith, and running thence due South to the Red River.
The United States also agreed to pay an annual sum of $6,000 to the CHOCKTAW NATION forever, and will remove all white citizens from the newly defined CHOCKTAW NATION TERRITORY, and will prevent future settlement of United States citizens on CHOCKTAW land.
The Treaty of New Echota, Georgia on Dec. 29, 1835, in which the United States and a small CHEROKEE tribal faction John Gunter, Andrew Ross, Boudinot, Major Ridge, son John Ridge and Stand Watie among others agreed for removal of ALL the remaining members of the East CHEROKEE tribe to relocate to the land West of Arkansas and Missouri, that had been assigned to the Western CHEROKEES. They sold some 2.83 million (7 million acres) of Eastern Cherokee land. In article 16th stipulated that the Eastern Cherokee "shall remove to the new homes within two years from the ratification of the treaty." The New Echota treaty went to the Senate, where debate was heavy. Chief John Ross of the Western Cherokees was bitterly opposed to this treaty, supplied a petition bearing 16,000 signatures. There were not 16,000 Cherokees living in the East, and of those actually living there, half were children; nevertheless, the petition was entered. John Ross opposed ratification on the grounds that the treaty did not carry the signatures of the principal Cherokee officials and was not backed by the Cherokee people. Most senators were convinced that this was so; however, President Andrew Jackson was pressing hard, and on 17 May 1836, the treaty was ratified by a margin of one vote. President Jackson proclaimed it law on 23 May 1836. See: 1830 Debates
An additional tract of land in Kansas was conveyed to the CHEROKEE in consideration of the payment of $500,000 ($1.60 per acre) to the United States. This area, 25 miles wide and extending 50 miles along the Western boarder of Missouri (800,000 acres) was known as "Neutral Lands". The CHEROKEE Outlet, in Oklahoma Territory was provided as per Article 2 of the New Echota Treaty this was assurance to the CHEROKEE NATION of a "perpetual outlet west, and free and unmolested use of all the country west of said 7 million acres."
March 14, 1835[l836] Schedule and estimated value of the Osage half-breed reservations within the territory ceded to the Cherokees west of the Mississippi, (referred to in article 5 on the foregoing treaty,) viz: Augustus Clamont one section $6,000 James " " " 1,000 Paul " " " 1,300 Henry " " " 800 Anthony " " " 1,800 Rosalie " " " 1,800 Emilia D, of Mihanga 1,000 Emilia D, of Shemianga 1,300 $15,000 I hereby certify that the above schedule is the estimated value of the Osage reservations, as made out and agreed upon with Col. A. P. Choteau who represented himself as the agent or guardian of the above reserves. [signed] J. F. Schermerhorn [L.S.]
Proclamation, May 23,1836; [March 1, 1836 .1 7 Stat., 488.1]
Supplementary articles to a treaty concluded at New Echota, Georgia, December 29, 1835, between the United States and Cherokee people.
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States. To all and singular to whom these presents shall come, - Greeting:
WHEREAS the undersigned were authorized at the general meeting of the Cherokee people held at New Echota as above stated, to make and assent to such alterations in the preceding treaty as might be thought necessary, and whereas the President of the United States has expressed his determination not to allow any pre-emptions or reservations his desire being that the whole Cherokee people should remove together and establish themselves in the country provided for them west of the Mississippi river.
ARTICLE 1. It is therefore agreed that all the pre-emption rights and reserva- tions provided for in articles 12 and 13 shall be and are hereby relinquished and declared void.
ARTICLE 2. Whereas the Cherokee people have supposed that the sum of five millions of dollars fixed by the Senate in their resolution of--day of March, 1835, as the value of the Cherokee lands and possessions east of the Mississippi river was not intended to include the amount which may be required to remove them, nor the value of certain claims which many of their people had against citizens of the United States, which suggestion has been confirmed by the opinion expressed to the War Department by some of the Senators who voted upon the question and whereas the President is willing that this subject should be referred to the Senate for their consideration and if it was not intended by the Senate that the above-mentioned sum of five millions of dollars should include the objects herein specified that in that case such further provision should be made therefor as might appear to the Senate to be just.
ARTICLE 3. It is therefore agreed that the sum of six hundred thousand dollars shall be and the same is hereby allowed to the Cherokee people to include the expense of their removal, and all claims of every nature and description against the Government of the United States not herein otherwise expressly provided for, and to be in lieu of the said reservations and pre-emptions and of the sum of three hundred thousand dollars for spoliations described in the 1st article of the above-mentioned treaty. This sum of six hundred thousand dollars shall be applied and distributed agreeably to the provisions of the said treaty, and any surplus which may remain after removal and payment of the claims so ascertained shall be turned over and belong to the education fund. But it is expressly understood that the subject of this article is merely referred hereby to the consideration of the Senate and if they shall approve the same then this supplement shall remain part of the treaty.
ARTICLE 4. It is also understood that the provisions in<--- Article 16, for the agency reservation is not intended to interfere with the occupant right of any Cherokees should their improvement fall within the same. It is also understood and agreed, that the one hundred thousand dollars appropriated in article 12 for the poorer class of Cherokees and intended as a set-off to the pre-emption rights shall now be transferred from the funds of the nation and added to the general national fund of four hundred thousand dollars so as to make said fund equal to five hundred thousand dollars.
ARTICLE 5. The necessary expenses attending the negotiations of the aforesaid treaty and \ supplement and also of such persons of the delegation as may sign the same shall be defrayed by the United States.
In testimony whereof, John F. Schermerhorn, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the undersigned delegation have hereunto set their hands and seals, this first day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.Andrew Ross, [L.S.] J. F. Schermerhorn [L.S.] William Rogers, [L.S.] Major Ridge, his x mark, John Gunter, [L.S.] James Foster, his x mark, John A. Bell, [L.S.] Tah-ye-ske, his x mark, Jos. A. Foreman, [L.S.] Long Shell Turtle, his x mark, Robert Sanders, [L.S.] John Fields, his x mark, Elias Boudinot, [L.S.] James Fields, his x mark, Johnson Rogers,[s/o John & Sarah] [L.S.] George Welch, his x mark, James Starr, his x mark, James Rogers, [L.S.] Stand Wade, [L.S.] John Smith, his x mark. John Ridge, [L.S.] Witnesses: Signed and sealed in presence of Western B. Thomas, Secy Elbert Herring, Ben F. Currey, Special Agent Thos. Glascock, M. Wolf Balenan, Alexander H. Everett, Jno L. Hopper Jno. Garland, Major, U.S. Army, C.M. Hitchcock, M.D. C.A. Harris, G.W. Currey, John Robb, Wm. H. Underwood, Wm. Y. Hansell, Cornelius D. Terhune, Sami. J. Potts, John W.H. Underwood, Jno. Litle, S. Rockwell, In compliance with Instructions of the Council at New Echota we sign this Treaty - March 1st, 1836
[Signed] Stand Watie [L.S.]
[Signed] John Ridge [L.S.]May 23 1838, was the deadline for the Eastern Cherokee "voluntary removal", the corn of the Eastern Cherokee was knee high and doing nicely. The thousands of Indians and their slaves were pleased with it. CHEROKEE removal parties usually crossed western Kentucky to the Golconda River on the Ohio River, and moved across the southern Illinois to the Cape Girardau Ferry on the Mississippi. The Trail of Tears which Chief John Ross led them on the terrible this march. He later served as chief of the Western United Cherokee Nation (Oklahoma) until his death in 1866. The Trail of Tears which started at Chattanooga, TN. for the forced exodus of the last Eastern CHEROKEE Indians in fall of 1838. This was the Overland passage across North across Tennessee, West across Kentucky, West at the tip of Illinois, Southwest in Missouri to Arkansas, West across Arkansas to Fort Gibson in Oklahoma. Many of the people, especially infants and the elderly, died and were buried along one or another of the trails. About 4,000 of the men, women and children of the 15,000 CHEROKEE who made the journey died of disease and exposure. One of the 14 wagon trains went across central Arkansas from Chickasaw Bluff (Memphis), which was one of the most direct routes. In January, 1837, CHOCTAW and CHICKASAW commissioners met at Doaksville on the lower Kiamichi River and agreed upon terms of the CHICKASAW removal. The Treaty of Doaksville in 1837 required the CHICKASAWS move into a district west of the CHOCTAW settlement in Oklahoma. The two Indian governments were to be combined, and members of both tribes were to have the right to settle in any part of the CHOCTAW Nation. Separate tribe annuities were to be continued, but all other privileges were equal. By the end of 1840 most CHICKASAW had moved into their Oklahoma district. The KIOWAS and some other western tribes resented the presence of CHICKASAWS on land which the "Plains Indians" regarded as their own. Raids by KIOWAS and COMANCHES were frequent, and the CHICKASAWS were forced to maintain a constant guard over their livestock and other property. Also they could not obtain an equal voice in united tribal affairs. Most CHICKASAWS traveled across Arkansas by wagon, at least part of the way. Riverboats on the Mississippi, St. Francis, and the Arkansas Rivers provided a part of the removal facilities. While the CHICKASAW removal was orderly, disease caused suffering and death. As well as a loss of personal property and livestock. Based on census the so-called new CHICKASAW NATION numbered about 4,000. Detached groups of Indians other than the Five Civilized Tribes, setled permanently on the lands of the Indians in Eastern INDIAN TERRITORY (Oklahoma) from time to time. For example, the CHOCTAWS admitted 19 CATAWBAS from North Carolina in 1851 and granted full rights of citizenship to 14 of them in 1853. Other CATAWBAS tribe members settled with the CREEK NATION. CATAWBAS belong to the Siouan linguistc stock, detached from kindred tribes on the Plains before written history appeared in that part of North America. Major changes in the condition of the CHICKASAW and SEMINOLE NationS resulted from the Treaty of 1855 & 1886 with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior ROBERT McCLELLAND and Commissioner of Indian Affairs GEORGE W. MANYPENNY reconized the principle of self-goverment in dealing with the two smaller tribes. By the terms of the CHICKASAW-CHOCTAW Treaty of June, 1855, CHOCTAW land West of the 98th Merdian was leased to the U.S. to provide a home for the WICHITAS and "such other tribes of Indians as the U.S. Government may desire to locate therein" For the lease consideration the U.S. agrees to pay $600,00 to the CHOCTAW NATION and $200,000 to the CHICKASAW NATION. For consideration of the establishment of a separate CHICKASAW NATION, the CHICKASAW agree to pay the CHOCTAW NATION $150,000 for: All land lying, with a Western boundary of the 98th Meridian, and from the Canadian River on the North to the Red River to the South; With the Eastern boundary following Island Bayou River from its mouth to the source of its Eastern Branch, thence due north to the Canadian River and point of beginning. The SEMINOLE-CREEK Treaty of 1856, agree to maintain separate tribal organizations, and the new SEMINOLE NATION shall be: All land lying with a line beginning due North from the mouth of the Pond Creek (Ock-hi-appo) on the Canadian River to the North Fork of the Canadian River; Thence up that stream to the Southern line of the Cherokee Outlet and West along that line to the 100th Meridian; Thence down the Canadian River to the point of Beginning.. One of the great importance to the SEMINOLE NATION was the provision for separate government, which relieved them from the domination of the CREEK majority. The U.S. agreed to pay and construct an SEMINOLE Agency building and to pay $90,000 to cover the losses involved in the SEMINOLE tribe moving to the new location. The contract was let to HENRY HOPE of Arkansas and was constructed "one mile West of the East boundary of the new SEMINOLE country, and about two miles North of the road recently laid out by Lieutenant BEALE." In 1857, 200 WYANDOTTE Indians moved in with the SENECAS. They were driven North by guerrilla bands during the Civil War, both SENECAS and WYANDOTTES obtain a reservation in 1865. 2 years later the WYANDOTTES obtained a reservation of their own, some 21,246 acres along the Northern boundary of the SENECA tract. In 1859, a band of DELAWARE Indians from Brazos, Texas came to the Wichita Agency. Their descendants live in communities near Anadarko and Carnegie, Oklahoma. RECONSTRUCTION AFTER CIVIL WAR -1865 After the War between the States ended, Pickens County was in economic distress. Although faring better than the Creeks and Cherokees the Chickasaws and Chocktaws were in great need of food and clothing. In addition, the U.S. Federal Government was anxious and adamant in its efforts to use the Civil War as an excuse to take more land away from the Indians to form reservations for other tribes which had not been relocated to the to the Oklahoma area. Consequently, the U.S. Government initiated the desire to organize a Territorial Government of the land of the Five Civilized Tribes. One of the most significant penalties was that all previous TREATIES WERE NUL and VOID ! ! As a result the Treaty of April 28 1866 was to have a far reaching effect on the American Indian on the Oklahoma Reservation: 1. All previous Treaties are nul and void. 2. Railroads were to be granted "Right-of-Way" both north- south and east-west for construction of railways and depots with no reimbursement to the Indian tribes. 3. All Black Freedmen are to be adopted into their master's tribe. If not adopted by the tribe the U.S. Government will remove them (Blacks) from the Reservation. 4. A consolidation of all Indian Territory government. Delegates from each tribe or Nation will serve on this governing body. 5. Each Nation shall cede land to the U.S. Government for use in granting other tribes reservations. Naturally, in time this Treaty of 1866 resulted in mass intrusion by other Indians Tribes. A more fatal side effect was that the white man, with his greedy way coveted the land of the Indian Nations. Where the Indian used the land, the white man abused and destroyed nature's blessing. TREATY of 1866 CHOCTAW - CHICKASAW ceded the 1855 "Leased District" to the U.S. for $300,000. CREEK ceded the western half of the Creek land, 3,250 acres for $975,168 (30 cents per acre). That said land may be sold to such other civilized Indians as the U.S. may choose to settle thereon. SEMINOLE, ceded all their land 2,169,080 acres, for $325,362 (15 cents per acre). That said land may be sold to such other civilized Indians as the U.S. may choose to settle thereon. SEMINOLES, further agreed to purchase 200,00 acres of land, a part of the tract recently acquired by the U.S. from the CREEKS (later the SEMINOLES in 1881, purchased an additional 175,000 acres, enlarging their new home to 375,000 acres) CHEROKEE, provide that any friendly Indian Tribes, may be settled on the Cherokee Outlet at a price agreed upon by the Cherokees and the purchaser. The Cherokee Strip and the Neutral Lands, both in Kansas shall be sold to the highest bidder, for the benefit of the Cherokee, at an average price no lower than $1.25 an acre. Each of the Five Civilized Tribes agreed to admit two (2) railroads, one rail line running east to west, the other north to south across tribal lands. After the Civil War, space was found in the CHEROKEE NATION, Northeast section for additiona bands: OTTAWAS, WEAS, PEORIAS, KASKASKIAS, PIANKASHAWS, MIAMIS. Fragments of other tribes affiliated with these bands were brought in with them in some instances. In 1867, a band of DELAWARE Indians were moved by contract from their reservation in Kansas to the CHEROKEE NATION, Oklahoma. In 1871 the use of Treaties was terminated by U.S. Government, and Indians were thereafter governed by Congressional Legislation, Executive Orders, or Executive Agreements. The U.S. Congress frequently enacted laws conflicting with the provisions of Indian treaties, and the whites frequently violated their terms, thus provoking many of the INDIAN WARS of the 19th century. In 1873, the little Oregon band of the MODOCS, were brought in from Fort McPherson, Nebraska. They were settled on a 4,040 acres, purchased from the SHAWNEE. Tribal settlements in the Cherokee Outlet, in 1889 were as follows: East of the Arkansas River: Osage and Kaw West of the Arkansas River: Oto, Missouri, Ponca & Tonkawa Tribal settlements in the Creek & Seminole, land in 1889 were as follows; Sac, Fox, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Iowa, & Kickapoo tribes The Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes occupied a reservation of more than 3,000,000 acres in extent in the Southeastern part of the old Cherokee "Leased District" The Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation was West of the 98th Meridian and South of the Cherokee Outlet. The Unassigned Lands contained 1,887,796 acres, which became the first area opened to white settlement in 1889. On Aug. 13, 1946, U.S. Congress created the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) to adjudicate Indian land claims. The I.C.C. existed until 1978, after which claims were handled first by the Court of Claims and, after 1982 by the United States Claims Court. By 1989, claims totaling nearly $1.4 billion had been awarded. File: NA_VOL04.TXT Revised: Jan. 15, 1995 By: Paul R. Sarrett, Jr. [email protected] End of File!
Ratification of Treaty - In the Senate of the United States
May 18th, 1836Resolved, (two thirds of the Senate present concurring) That the senate do advise and consent to the ratification of the treaty between the United States of America and the Cherokee Indians concluded at New Echota the 29th day of December, 1835, together with the Supplementary articles thereto dated the first day of March one thousand Eight hundred and thirty six, with the following amendments thereto:
ARTICLE 17. lines 2 and 3, Strike Out the words, "by General William Carroll and John F. Schermerhorn, or "
In the 4th line of the same article after the word "State," insert by an with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States.
Strike out the 20th Article which appears as a Supplemental article.
Attest. Walter Lowell, Secretary
Now therefore be it known that I Andrew Jackson President of the United States of America having seen and considered the said Treaty, and also the Supplementary Articles thereunto annexed, do, in pursuance of the advice and consent of the Senate, as expressed in their resolution of the eighteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, with the following amendments thereto, as expressed in the aforesaid Resolution of the Senate.
In testimony whereof I have caused the Seal of the United States to be here- unto affixed, having signed the same with my hand.
Done at the City of Washington, this twenty third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and of the Independence of the United States the Sixtieth.
[Signed] Andrew Jackson
By the President
[Signed] John Forsyth
Secretary of State
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by Volume - I. Sarratt/Sarrett/Surratt Family Profile©Compiled and self Published in Jun. 29, 1993 by Paul R. Sarrett, Jr. with the assistance of my late mother Mrs. M. Lucille (WILSON) SARRETT (1917-1987) The SFA "Work-Books" were compiled by "General, Languages, Tribes, Treaties, Wars, How to Research NA Ancestors, Bibliographies". In 1996 I started "Up-Loading" this material on the Sarratt/Sarrett/Surratt Families of America (SFA)© site. ..prs |
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