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^ ^CHEBOKEE PH(E»IX, MD INDIANS’ ADVOCATE*
'V
P.livrs) (J At TER T.IjS PAT ft ON A HE, AND FOR TUB BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF JNDiAM .—1 . ICLJJlMn, LLilUt.
VOIi. II.
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tf’.Vy JtfAUOA AD Ti » 1 J E tt, a a.
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tUR D0,I*«N.-%.t.
^AGENTS F )'l T1IE CHEROKEE
PHOENIX.
The following persons are authorized to
jo - -ive subscriptions and payments for the
JCli-rokee Phoenix.
Messrs. P".M'CE &, Williams, No. 20
.Market St. Boston, Mass.
(« io'igf. M. Tracy, Agoot of tlie A. B.
dC. F. M. N“w York.
lt 'V. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastings, Ut ca, N. Y.
Pollard Ik Converse, Richmond, Va.
lie.. James C ,.Aiec-<- 4 R. infort, S. C.
William Moultrie Reid, Charleston,
S. C.
Col. Gcor.Gr. Smith, Siatesville, W. T.
William M. Combs, Na-liville, Ten.
U 'v. Bsknet UonEiTs, Poval, M",
Mr. Tuos. tt. Gold, (an itinerant Gen
tleman.)
Jeremiah Austil, Mobile, Ala.
IP v. Cyrus Kingsbury., Mayhew, Choc
taw Nation.
Cant. William Robertson, Augusta,
Georgia.
Col. Jambs Turk, Bellefonte, Ala.
IN DA INS.
From the National Intelligencer.
jMtPSKNT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION OF
THE AMERICAN INDIANS.—NO. VIII.
On the I7lh Fpbiuary, 1792, tin
.additional article was signed at i'lui-
adelphia, by llenry Knox, Secretary
of war, for the United States, ai d
Seven c hie is and warriors, in btdiall of
Jhe Cherokee*. As this article was
the result of a distinct negotiation,
field seven months after the execu
tion of lho treaty of Holstun, it may
with propriety be called the third
,tj;f.atv between the United States &,
the Cberokceg. It provided, that the
annuity, given by the fourth arte le of
the next previous treaty, should be
raised from $1,000 to $1,600; and it
declared that this annual sum was
jgiven “in consideration of tb* relin-
fl nisi uncut of lands,” whi h It; d been
fnndfc in that treaty. Of course, the
United Statc9 admitted, that the
Cherokees Ind possessed lands, on the
outside of the limits established by
the treaty, which lands they.had re
linquished to the United States
"^'his additional article w as a confirma
tion of the treaty of llolslon, after
j#mpie time had elapsed for considera
tion*,
FOURTH TREATY WITH TIIE CIIEnO*
KPES.
This document ivns executed at
Philadelphia, on the 26th of June.
1794, by Henry Knox, for the United
States, and thirteen chiefs, for the
Cherokee*.
After g preamble, which states that
the trentv of Holston had “not been
fully carried into execution by reason
of some TrsunJerstandinas,” and that
the partiu# tv or*, “ftosiious of re*
Art. 1st declares,- that the said
treaty of Holston'is, to all mteuts and
purposes, in ful^Jfor, e, and binding
mphii ibe said parties as well' in re.s-
pe t to the boundaries ttu-reii. iv >■-
tinned, ns in dll oliier respects whulev-
cr.”
Art 2d stipulates, that the boun
daries shall be as :ertaincd and mark
ed, whenever the Chorokces shall have
ninety days noli e.
'■ Art. 3. The United States, to
evinefe their justice by amply com
pensating the said Cjierokee nation of
Indians for relinquishments of land ”
made by the treaty of Hopewell and
the treaty of Holston,’agree to give
the Cherokees, in lieu of former an
nual payments, $5,000 a year, in
goods.
Art. 4. The Cherokees agree that
$50 shall be deducted from their an
nuity for everv horse stollen by any
of their people from the neighbouring
whites.
Art. 3. These articles to be per
manent additions to the treaty of
Holston, as soon as ratified. They
were soon after ratified.
It has appeared, in the course of
this discussion, that (lie treaty with
the Creeks, in 1790. was fhe basis of
the treaty of Holston in 1791 This
was confirmed in 1792, and again,
expressly and solemnly, in 1794.
Thus we have four distinct documents,
which received the approbation of
General Washington, and his cabinet,
all agreeing in the same principles,
and all ratified by the Senate of the
United States. Several other trea
ties, in which the same principles
were involved, were formed with
other tribes of Indians, during the
same administration. In one of these,
the United States engage, that they
will n. r rf'i/nr 4, »e lands reserved to
the Indians but ‘hat the Indians ‘shall
have the fe use and enjoyment
thereof, until they choose to sell the
same to the people of the United
Si at es.’
FIFTH TREATV, OR TREATY 0E "EI.-
LICO.
Tins treaty was signed “near Ttl-
lico, on Cherokee ground,’ October
2 1798, by Thomas Butler and
George Walton. Commissioners of
the United States, and thirty-nine
Cherokee Chiefs and warriors, in the
presence of Silas Dinsmoor, Agent
of the United States among the Cher
okees, and thirteen other witnesses,
among whom was the late Mr. Charles
Hicks, who acted os interpreter on
the occasion.
The treaty begins with a long pre
amble, slating the reasons why it was
necessary to make another treaty;
and among the reasons are these two
clauses, viz. “for the purpose of
doing justice to the Cherokee nation of
Indians,” and “in order to promote
the interest and safety of the said
Stales-”
Art. 1. Peace renewed and de
clared perpetual.
Art 2 The treaties subsisting
bet seen the parties in full force;
‘ together with, the construction ana
usage under the respective articles: and
so to continue. ”
Art. 3. Limits (o remain the same,
‘•where not altered by the present
treaty.”
Art 4. The Cherokee nation “do
hereby relinquish und cede tb the Uui-
ted States all the lands within the
following points and lines;’ [Here
follow s a boundary, by which a con
siderable district of laud in East
Tennessee, was ceded to the United
States, j
Art. 5. The line described in the
treaty to he marked immediately,
“which said line shall form a part of
the boundary between the United Slates
and the Cherokee nation.”
Art. G. In consideration of the
preceding cession, the United Stales
agree to pay $5,000 on signing, and
$1,000 annually, in addition to pre
vious stipulation* of this kind; '••and
will, continue llie GUARANTY of the
REMAINDER OF THEIR COUNTRY
EUREV c,lt, us nutate anti, contained
in jurnier treaties.”
Art. 7. A road granted by “the
CiKHOitee iiiuiun, uciuss a small
corner olitien couiiuy, to lliC citizens
ui me c .uicrt Stales, and in cousiu* ra-
iiuii oi tins gram, Um vAlb»o:.ci.B are
to go permuted “to hunt amt la. e
game upon ibe lands relinquished and
ceded by tins treaty,” until st.tue-
menls shall make sum hunting impro
per.
Art. 8. Due notice to be given ut
the payment of the annual slipc.ius,
and Uiu United States to lurmsu
provisions lor a reasonable number oi
Cherokees, wtm snail «.sm mbie ou
these aeoasions.
Art. 9. Horses stolen from Chero
kees by wnucs to be paid lor uy tin
United Stales, ..nil tioises stolen iiom
iv tines by Giieiokces to be paid fur
by a deduction Horn tnc annuity.
AKr 10. The Agent oi the United
SlUics residing among the UheroKccs
to iiav. a sum lent piece ui ground
ailolteti J‘jf Ins tempornry use.
Lastiyt tins ticniy to • he carried
into eflen on both sides wad uU goou
Jiiith.”
fhe treaty was ratified sooil titter
oy P.esidi n. Adams, and ilic Senate
oi me United States.
A lew remains on this treaty may
not be improper.
The wot us ceoc. nation, i.no guar
anty, aie usee in the same‘sense ncic,
as m the treaty of iinlstou, seven
yeais before, During im nueivul,
the govermuenl cl the United bitav s
liad been trequenlly employed in
ilia King treaties with numerous inht s
oi li.dians; and it is sale to s, v, that
m no peiiud oi out m.lioual history,
was the meaningot publn uotuments
mure thoroughly weighed, or the ten
dency .and ultimate elicit oi public
nieasnres moie seriously considered;
aim the world may he tlialUigcu to
produce an example oi the adinmislra-
tion ot a government over au exten
sive territory , and over a people m
new, various, «i:tl coiriplicatee rela
tions, in which lower mistakes,
either theoretical or practical, wm:
made, than during the administration
oi General Washington.
The parties were so enrelul of the
inviolability and integrity of the
Cherokee territory, that the use
oi u short road, in llie northern
extremity of that terriloiy, ^uow m
the htaie of Kentucky,, at a grout
distance from llie actual icsidcn t oi
the Cherokees geneiuliy, was iin.de
the ground oi a solemn treaiy stipula
tion, and an equivalent was^ivuiioi ii.
Nay more, the Agent ol me United
biuii s. residing among lho Cherokees,
to distribute the annual payments, to
encourage the nativts .n i.^itjuiUiic-
and manufactures, aim to ext cute ilic
treaties m other icspct Is, could not
claim even the teinpoiu y use ol ianu
for a garden, oi a cow pasture, till
this small convenience Wosalicwt-u
him by treaty.
'flit* United States not only ac
knowledge former treaties and ueclaic
them to be in lull lone, bid * lho
construction and usage under then
respective articles are acknowledg
ed, ratified, and dm lured lu be the
rule of future usage and construction.
This is a very remarkable provision;
and Was (louhtKss adopted lo quiet
the Cherokees in regard lo encroacn-
ments feared trom the United Stales,
'fhe construction and usage, under
the previous treaties, can be proved
at this day, by living witnesses, and
by public archives, to have tended
invariably to this one point—that the
Cherokees were to retain the unim
paired sovereignty of their country;
and that to enable them to do this
permanently, and in the most eflectu-
al manner, they were to be taught all
the common arts of civilized life.
To this course they were urged, in
the most afiectionate manner, by
letters vviitten with General Wash
ington's own hand. This was pressed
upon them at every council, uud
habitually in private, by the Agent ol
llie United .States, in pursuance of
vvnl.eu and verbal instructions irom
the head of the War Department.
No historical facts can be proved \ ilh
more absolute certainty than these,
&. there is not, it is believed,even the
pivicttec ofany evidence to the conira-
<D
It appears, moieover, in the pre
amble i<> tins treaty of Tellico, that
the “misunderstandings’* had arisen,
because wane settlers had transgress
ed the Cherokee boundary, ‘•contra
ry to the intention of previous trea
ties;” and that these intruders had
been removed by the authority ol the
t oiled Stales.
Again: this treaty w as negotiate;)
by George Walton, a citizen of Geor
gia, in whom tlial Stall reposed treat
confidence and by Thomas Butler,
cammandiiig the troops d ibe 1 nited
Stales, in the State of l emiessee:
and it was executed flo use its own
language,) ‘ on Cherokee ground.”
'fhus, the country of I he Cherokees
is tailed, as I have already shown,
“their lands, ’ their “tei ritory;”
“their nation,” and their “ground.”
These epithets aie used, not by care
less letter writers nor in loose de
bate; hut in the most solemn insl ru
men's, by which nations hind them
selves to each other. And what is
there on the other side? Is it said; or
implied, that the Cherokees had a
! q lifted title? a lease for a term of
1 years? a right to hunt, till Georgia
j should vvant the land for grow ing corn
i or co’ton? the privilege of administer-
■ ir.g 'heir own laws, till Georgia should
i exercise hei rightful jurisdiction, us a
sovereign and independent State? U
there any tiling that looks inis way?
Not a word; not a syllable; nut the
most distant hint. While it is as
serted in various Conns, and implied
more than a hundred times over, that
the Cherokees were a nation, capable
of treating with other nations; that
they had a country, which was ac
knowledged lo he indisputably their
own; that they had a government to
punish criminals and to deliver up
renegndoes; and that they were to
become a civilized people, permanent
ly attached to the soil; there is not,
in ail these instruments, a single in-
timation, or ground ot plausible argu
ment, to the conirary.
Lasily. this treaty qut only adopts
the word • guaranty” from tue lu-aly
of Holston, hut interprets it, ^as eve
ry civilian in Europe and America
would have clone.) to be applicable
.to ‘■■ the remainder oj their country
FOREVER; ; that is. ifor llie mean
ing can be no less,) the UUe»okCc.s
were to retain the clear title and un-
incumbered possession oft he remain
der of their country, which they j.ie-
viotis'y had oi tlie ir/io/c; anu such ti
tle i.ud possession were guarantiee lo
them forever, by the power auu gooit
faith of the United States.
W ILLiAivi PLKN.
NO. IX.
The idea of a Guaranty, and of a
country, as a terriloiy belonging lo
Indians, was not new, even at the
period of the treaty of lloiston.
The first treaty, which I have been
able to find, made with Indians by the
U. States in their confederated char
acter, was executed at Fort Pill, on
the 17th of September, 1778. it
contains the following very remarka
ble article.
“Art. 6. Whereas the enemies of
the United States have endeavored
by every artifice in their power, to
possess the Indians in general with
the opinion, that it is the design of
the States aforesaid to extirpate
(he Indians and take possession of
their country; to obviate such false
suggestion, the United Stales do en
gage lo guaranty to the aforesaid na
tion of Delawares and tjicir heirs,
all their territorial rights in the fullest
and most ample manner, as it hath
been bounded by former treaties, as
loiig as they, the said Delaware na
tion, i^lLahi<JfiJzi«jiiEUiold fast, the
ctiaui oi fi knuiSdip now dn„ r*
ed into. Ami n is lurtuer og.ced
on, between the vonliacting
v siiouid it for the fu\ue ne lounu . oii-|
ducive to the mutual Kterest oi ^oth
parties) lo invite any oilier mu>s,
who have been friends lo ,he interest
ol tire United States, lo joih the t .ies-
ent confederation-, ami to form a
kSt.ile, wnereol the Lt,aware
shall he the head, and have a .
ation in Congress-, provideu no,.,,,,g'
com allied iu tins article to be co .
eiud as conclusive, until i. metis
with the approbation oi Congress.—-
[That it did meet with the appruba’-
lion ol Congress is manifest; because
it is now pail of a national treaty ]
flic bare suggestion, that the Dor-
led fist a t s designed to take possession
■J the Inuian country nas trea ten as a
slander and a calumny. The le -do-
riot rights ot the Indians were to be „
respetled,&ihe Indian tribes gei.cn h-
ly were encouraged with lire proposal,,
that they mi^lit be lepresented in i in
gress. The natural implication c. i s
last proposal must have been, that ;he
Indians not liny had lerritoi ial rig. s, r .
but might expect to retain them; r, ,,af
neatly, in the s; me manner as *bC
.Slate of\ irgmia, or.Coiaiectiiui
the other * onfecl.erated r< jiuhlier { *■'
peeted to retain iAeiVterHturial righte...
Let it be remembered, that
treaty was made when llie United
Slates were struggling for independ^
encc against the whole force ol the
British empire, and when every -iec
cession ol strength to the Amieriv alf
cause, and every subtraction from the
power of tin enemy, was a mailer of
great importance. Nor should it be
forgotten that othi r treaties formed;.-
with the Indians, after the peace of
Great Britain, were extremely de
sirable lo the United States; that (W
exhausted treasury of the nation t ould
ill afford the expi use of Indian nai95
that the Indians had the undisputed
possession of boundless lorosts, on i.Il
our frontiers; that many of them had
endured public and private injuries,
which were unavenged and cnecin-
pensated; that the Indian tribes w/u-e
stiong, compared with their subse*’
quent dec line aud their present total
w aut of power; and that the United
.Stales were weak, compared will#
their present gigantic strength
Though the treaties were formed
in such circumstances, not a single
article bore hardly, or o. pressiveiy,.
on llie United States, or on the n.-vy
settlers The Indians claimed noth
ing unjust or unreasonable. The ear
ly negotiations wear the aspect of mini
tual neuelit, and appear to have been?
concluded with n desire to, secure-'
permanent peace to the parties, found
ed on the acknowledgement of thei^
mutual iights.
Are the people of the United State*
uuwiliiug to give a fair, candid, and
natural construction to a treaty thus
made? I might say, are they un-
wtiling to give it the only construc
tion of which it is capable? Are they
unwilling to admit a meaning which
stands pionnneyily upon the very ja 0
ot the transaction, and which no in
genuity can distort, pervert, or c-
vadc." Will they refuse to be bound
by the plainest and most solemn en
gagements. deliberately formed, rat
ified, acted upon, < onfirmed, ratified
again and again by the highest author
ity of our republic? How can it for
a moment be apprehended, that the
co-ordinate branches of our Govern
ment—our highest legislative, execu
tive, and judicial functionaries, w ill
manifest so total a disregard of fv-
ery principle of public morality?
SIXTH come ACT WITH THE CI1EH06
REES. ,
This instrument was executed mi
the 20th of October, 1803, by Re
turn J. Meigs, Agent of the Unitc4
States among the Cherokees, and by
fourteen Cherokee Chiefs, beginning
with Black Fox the principal Chiefs
and ending with .the famous Jamotf
Vann. It was witnessed by five offi
cers of Ibe United Stotos Army,