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owy Jcfj9FCK& QUC'jJjjsd OHEEOK1E PHIEJIIX, AF. I) INDIANS’ ABV043ATE. PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF INDIANS.—E. DOUJDINOTT, i.Dil'Ol;. vox., m. KEW EOEOTA, SATURDAY JUXY 10, 18£0. 3£IC. 12. gaiPiiwwi j. utojk j \jjx-i^icwr a»A » _-*‘**awa w*tkv.4/twti ■*>* • utw^- * PRINTED WEEKLY BY JNO. F. WIIEELER, stand to our Omnipotent Maker; and (years before ils adoption, and was "’onLI seem to be just as true to confirmed and sanctioned by it. ^uJ 1 *_ n ®,'* i SIt ^ t *’° creature eannof diminish the 1 We are next told that the Constitu- power of its creator. The gbntle-1 lion recognizes the right of the re man applies it to the General Gov- j spective " State Legislatures to ernment, as the work of the several ! pass their laws over, and annilii- rnonths, or $3 30 if paid at the end o the ♦year t’o subscribers who can read only the Cherokee language the price will be $2,00 in advance, or $2,50 to be paid within the yoar. Every subscription ndU be considered as .continued unless subserners give notice to the contrary before the commencement of a new year,and all arrearages paid. Any person procuring six subscribers and becoming responsible for the payment, shall receive a seventh gratis. Advertisements will ho inserted at seven- fy-tive cents per square for the first inser tion, ant’ thirty-seven and a half cents for each continuance; longer ones in propor tion. SCPAll letters addressed to the Editor, post jiaid, will receive due attention. O tv y J A U O A AD h S ; J F. Ca, g .j. voAv.r.Mhi T.v.or 5 u>v’ jh<niA.i D-toDA. Bo.iE ~ihWf»a*»y i;t.i d?p ivojb.i M.9..I TGTZ TEA50-J' 5 D0J,5,*>I*m).I. TGTZ VI.P TAO-A Til DO ICT D?-l CPOJB.I P4o?.I. DS.l^otEZ TC yiV D0.D*»I*<».1, 0-y.tT D,1P (Pe.lI'-.I (ftvyz cpc,r ar.t?h.icxy, wr-*^ m-n States. Is it (rue that it cannot that it does not lake any power from ils several members? The argu ment is, that if the Union can secure to the Indians, any | orlion of their territory by treaty, they may cede a- way a whole State. This would in deed, as the gentleman must admit, be a gross and palpable abuse of the authority. 11 is reasoning then must be, that the United States cannot pos sess any power which, by perversion, may be exerted to the destruction of late these communities, by that clause in the first article, which pro vides that an enumeration of inhabit ants as a basis of representation shall be made, “excluding Indians not tax ed.” This provision undoubtedly implies that there could be individual Indians subject to taxation, and therefore to be eounti d; it also expressly declares that them might lie those within a Stain,. ‘..ol taxed.” Why not? Did not those wh . formed & adopted the Constitution s<- understand n : To answer tlisqucs- KT.1Z V.IR DOJs&otl'rit.l. D,*IF OcXy-V &7.1V. transferring a State. Can they make war? It would be the readiest means of lopping off a member by leaving it defenceless. Can (hoy or ganize; discipline, and call forth (he militia, & control flic whole physical strength? Sir, these are powers ex pressly inserted in (lie Constitution, o°o i b.i i«-4oX).i Yt.zur>, tctz TEJUOvrno-jmid they are not to be argued out of it, by apprehensions of extravagant possible abuses. The General Gove rnnv'nt was formed by the States—and the crea tine, says Hie gentlemafi, cannot have power to destroy any one of its crea tors. The Stato Governments. Sir, were formed by individuals. If any of these should be guilty of a capital oflence, might lie not say in (lie lan guage of the Chairmen, you cannot take my life—it is impossible in the nature of things that the creature can have power to destroy one of its crea tors. It is argued that (lie existence of an Indian community, within the char tered limits of a Sta'te. is inconsistent with “« Republican form of Govern ment” as guarrntitd, hv the Ccnstim tion, to eve ry 8ta:e. This argument has been much re- licd on. It was advanced by the Secretary of War, repeated bv the Committee, and reiterated in the speech of the Chairman If this be so, Mr. President, a most unexpected result follows; it is-—that Georgia never pet hail a republican form of Gov ernment— for (hero lias never been a moment, when such tribes did not ex ist within her borders. At. the time of the adoption of the Constitution, tin’s same Cherokee nation was much more numerous, and held sway over a much wider region than at the pres ent time. Nay the Constitution il- There may have Seen, nay there one its members.Can they then treat ! were, in some of the States, individ- wit i any foreign nation? If so there J ual natives voluntarily icsuting wilh- is the same danger of wrongfully j in the white settlements, separate AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE P1KENIX. The following persons are authorized to receive subscriptions and payments for the Cherokee Phoenix. Messrs. Peip.ce & Williams, No. 20 Market St. Boston, Mass. Gcoroe M. Tracy, Agent of the A. B. C. F. M. New York. Rev. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y. Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y. Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C. William Moultrie Reid, Charleston, s. c. Col. George Smith, Statesville, W. T. Jeremiah Austil, Mobile, Ala. Rev. Cyrus KixGsnbRY, Mayhciv, Choc- laiv Nation. Cd.pt. William Robertson, Augusta, G eorjria. Col. JamSs Turk, Bcllefonte, Ala. Fndiau«. SPEECH OF MU. SP1.AGIE OF MAINE. In the Senate of the United States. April 10, 1830. Mr. President: what have the Sen ate heard to obviate the force ol the arguments which I have adduced? what answers have been given? I will advert to them all. And first, as to the acts and acqui escence of Georgia,, we have the re ply in the repott of the Committee, that as she protested against the treaty of Hopewell, made in 1785, “no inference can lie drawn to her “disadvantage, from her silence or ■“from any thing she map have siid “involution to any subsequent treaty, be- “cause in each of them a change w«- “made, by which a portion of her “territory & jurisdiction w rtS restored to her, “thus her coition rendered beter,’&cWlw, f l0 C6 not perceive that, under this (orni of words of restoring— what the never possessed; but which belo 1 - t0 ti l(} Cherokees, before site had a being—the substantial, real cause of her assent is alleged to bo the benefits which she. received! \cs, !Sir; she did receive the fruits of ! ihcsc solemn contracts; by the es- tabling of peace and additions to her territories, in 1791; by the cessions vof 1798, 18^4, 1805, 1806, 1807, 1816, 1817, &. 1S19. Anil shall we •be told that because it was her inter est to be silent, became she was re ceiving the considerations,of the com pacts, therefore she now; after twen ty years assent, is under no obligation to abide by them? The Hon. Chairman, in his opening speech, assigned several reasons why the United States could not constitu tionally form such treaties. The first was that “the creature could not have power to destroy its creator.” This expression is calculated to mis lead the judgment, be.eguse it refers the mind at once to the relation, in wvhich we frail and feeble mortals from any tribe, and freely subjecting t.’jenflelves to the local laws. There were tie so iou whose nation, as a body, had disnpp> and; and because those persons bad, of their own ac cord, thus sought the State jurisdic tion. does it follow that it co ffil be exover Indian nations, who bad always resisted it, and with whom, at'(he moment this clause was writ ten. a -d the Constitution foimcd, the United States had a treaty guaranty ing them against such taxation, and year since. 1 have counted uc jess 1 hen one hundred and tw enty four In- , , dian trta.ies formed under the pres- tion wc must ascertain how that trif Constitution, being more than word w as used, and what were the three for ea< h year. If authority ideas attached to it, at the lime and j and piuctice can settle any question, anterior to ils insertion ill that instru- tnis is at an end. incut. This lulo of const met ion is 1 In 1790, General Washington dc- the foundation of all science. When . Bvered a speech to the 8 eiie.lt a In- any term is used by an author it is Gians, some extracts from which 1 will understood to cany with it (lie iiinos i >>o\\ read. which he has previously affixed to it;; “L the Piesident of the United that he denotes by it what he alwaysi States by my cun month, and by a lias done. Hence, in the science of*'"'Hen speech signed with rny oun law, w ben tl:e student lias ascertain- J hand and scaled with the rad of ihc i tri ad what a writer menus by (be words le( i Stales, t»peak to the btneka na- fee simple, oi larceny, if he subse-' lion. qucntly liuds those words used by (lie! The general Government only has same author he attaches to them the . tile power to treat with the In-tan same meaning. | nations, any treaty formed and L. id 1 hose contracts with aboriginal j without its authority, will not Le communities have been dei omii ated j binding. treaties from the settlement ol this | Here then is the security lor the com.try. It has been their peculiar J *'cmainder of your lands. No state and appropriate name, w ithout even j nor person can purchase your lends, an alias aid ns. (heat Britain made ; ut) Iess at some public treaty licldun- trcnt.es with the Indians; the several! G*’ 1, the authority of the United States, co.ouiis ioinicd many, and gave them ^ General Govennnent will never the same appellation. The (Jontin. 1 tronscut to your Lcin^g defrauded; hut eutal Congress from the time it first { H " HI protect you in all your inSt assembled, until it was merged in the riglifs- present national Government" uniform-1 Hear well, and let it he heard by ly called them Beaties They did so it. every person in your nation, that ih’o 1775, 1776, 1778, 1783, 1781, 1785 ' President of the United Slates de- 1786, 178 SB. and even to l!u: j vlnrcs, that the General Government every other exert ise of State author- 'by of the formutiou and ndontion of* considers itself bound to protect you ity over them? By what imaginable the Constitution. Wo lind (hem ie-; ll,al * the lands secured to you'by process could these words, “Indians ! peatedly and paiticulaily menlio •(■(! . 1 r(?i!, J' of Fort Stamvix, the d2d of* not taxed,” produce the magical el-j hi July, Angus', and Oo'uher, 17817 I Detoher, 1784, excepting such parts feet of annulling the treaty of Hope- . the Constitution being lot mod in Sep- i J ou ma y since have fairly sold to oer- wcll, then existing in full force? 1 Icmbcr of the same year. i sons propci ly authorized to purchase Let us suhstilute the word, aliens, [ Nor is this all. In tl.e articles cf ^ Vl '" ’’ for Indians, d'lie clause would then | vonfcdeialion, power w as given io exclude, “aliens not taxed.” Will it j make treaties, it had becn^ repeat-’ be contended that foreigners existing j «diy exercised in establishing our re-j '-'f as a nation, with whom we had Iren- j bilious with Indian tlibes; particular- of you/ A pain— But.your great object srr ms to bo ihe Security of your icniaintag lauds, I haio tlicrefo'C upon this point nl to be sufficiently strong and tics, as such, would be subject to the : ly the Delawares, the Six nations,, laws of a State? Would it not op- the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the' c * 0;| i’ •ply exclusively to the a liOns, who had j Cliiekasav, s, and the Shaw rues: and] Bliat in future you cannot be dc- veparated themselves from their nu-! ‘>n the. first of .September, 1778, w us | ^ 01 .' our lands, 'i hat you pcs- tiou and mingled with our citizens? i issued (he proclamation of Congress I S U S ?'* sell t vd tie right tj re* Asa last resort, and to me Mr. j and ol General VI nshiugi. n to (.lilor* e 'Jas'ing to sell ytiir lands. President, 't seems a desperate cne, 'he treaty of Hopewell. i Th.H lliercfoie the sale of yotn 4 - H lias been eainesily contended by i i he won! treaties, thus invariably *• future will depend entirely the gentle:'!!: n lV .’ii Tennessee, Ala- | known un i used, ut d vvhiidi liad ic-! |yeuiselves. i hama. and Gem gi i M’TCinley and Forsyth , not constitution diy w ill) any iiulia.i nation, ailed States--that the to make “(rec.tic'- ' due compacts o. agrectren;-- communities, Wliereuif, Sir, the peace and war can exist, States must of necessity, light to make a Meaty That this relation rnnv Messrs. White, ' oeived a practical cou-.w uelion un- that we can- j der the Confederation was inserted :.ko any treaty. I by tlu: same great men in the Consti- •ithin the C- t ut ion of t lie United Slates. Could -. ;;rcss power . !l|, y ore doubt its meaning? Did not embrace , Georgia misunderstand it? She bad villi such * herself maile treaties w iih all the forms rid.it ion ot the United possess the of peace, ist with [ol negotiation, through commissioners * fully empowered, in 1773, 1783 and 1785, they were so d her at the time and <*\ •Bui that when")’on shall find it for your inltiosl, to sell any parts o! your lands, the United States mvrt le present t.y their Jgciit. and will be you)' security, that you shall not be dem and ed jn the bargain you shall make. You know that all the lands secur ed to you by the treaty of Fort Slan- w ix, excepting such parts as you may lenominaleil by | since have fairly sold, are yotns, • nd cr afterwards. * 'ba 1 only your own acts can convey sell (onfi 1 ins the* pre-existing 1 !'£■•»Vr [ (hose native tribes lias rover bee; o Iopewell, which reco^ni,,.r(j and doubled, and will not at. tiiis day be guarantied toe se|ia ,, T, r * existence oi I lie liioe; n*ia VrnP h i3 now contend- !'5 mcompatiblo with that funda- inental compact. Is the existence of a body politic, which the Legislature cannot destroy, necessarily incompat ible with a Republican form of Gov- ernimyt? Mow is it with Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, or the chartered cities of other States? Another proposition derived from the same elevated source, and urged with equal vehemence litre, is that these treaties cannot be valid, be cause the Constitution declare that “no nets Slate shall he formed or e- “roctcd within the jurisdiction of any “other State, without the consent of “the Legislature” thereof. Sir, no one proposes to erente a new State, blit to continue an old tribe, or State, if von so please to denom inate it. It is to keep faith with a political community more ancient than Georgia herself; it is to preserve, not to form anew. Here again, 1 would observe that this nation ol Cherokees was as much a Stale at the lime of the adoption of the Con stitution as now, and had much great er power, and more extensive domin ion; nnd ihat the treaty of Hopewell, which, this argument insists, formed a new State sinct the Con-titution, and in violation thereof, was made tn r o questioned. No one will have the as surance, in the face of all history, in defiance of what is known by the whole world, to declare that our con tests with the aboriginal nations are on their part insurrections, rebellions subjecting them to be tried and exe cuted as trailois. The Secretary of War will not say so, for lie told the Cherokees, in April last, “Your pco- “ple were at enmity with the United “States, and waged a war open our “frontier settlements; a durable “peace was not entered into with you “until 1791.” The Committee and its Chairman (Mr. AV liite) will not tell us so* for their report, accompa nying this bill, declares that (lie Cher okee 8 waged “a war against the citi zens of (lieso Slate, prior to the treaty of Moisten, in, 1791 ^’-Rebel lion !—by those who never owed allegiance, and with whom, ever since our national existence, we have either bad open war or subsisting treaties! But independent of this power oi peace and war, why does £not tlie general authority to make treaties embrace those with the Indians! Gentlemen content themselves with a positive and earnest denial. The word treaties, say they, in (lie Constitution does not mean com pacts or contracts with Indian tribes; On tiie 3d of August 1787, a motion ' 'bem away. 'ey Speak therefore vour was made by Mr. Few, delegate in ! wishes on the subject of tiling’the Congress, from Georgia, secTfaled by 15 r0ul ‘d- The United States will bo Mr. Blount from Nurlli Carolina, to ; happy to afford you every assistance lake measures to “explain and eon- ! < n 'be only business which w ill add to firm all former treaties’’ with the ! numbers and happiness. Creek Indians. ; r ^ ic United Slates will be true and There is as much evidence that J'dthful to their engagements. this word was intended to embrace j Given at Philadelphia, 29lli Dc- conventioiis with sm h communities as comber, 1790.. the Creeks or Cherokees, as those I GEORGE WASHINGTON, with transallanliu nations, such as By the President: France and Spain. Contemporary exposition lias al ways been deemed of great force in settling even the in *sl difficult quos- Thomas Jefff.rson. By command of (be President of the 47 nited States of America — II. Knox,— Secretary Jor the I)e'- t ions of constitutional law. Praelic c P ailmCllt r J 11 a) ■' and precedent too have oflen been | “The United States will be true considered as decisive authority, j and faithful 1 to their engagement s ’ Mr. Madison, who has, with so much Such was the solemn declaration of justice, been denomin: led the great constitutional lawyer of this country, declared in a message to Congress, that the question of the conslitotion- aliiy of the Bank of the United States, had been so settled by the sanction of the different departments of tlie Gov ernment, (hat it was no longer to be agitated, and yet only one bank bad then been chartered. If bis argument had, in that instance, any force, it is here irresistable. From the organization of the Gov ernment, down to (bis very session of Congress, tlie practice lias been un broken and invariable. We find these treaties made in 1789, 1790. 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, the Father his Country in the infancy of this Republic. Heaven grant that his sacred promises may lie kept and his confident prediction verified. The question is now befoie us. No sophistry can evade, no ingenuity can elude it. Will “the United States be true and faithful to their engage* ments,” or false and treacherous? The Cherokees present this sol- emu interrogatory, and w,e must re- turn a deliberate response. It seems almost, as if their case had been formed for the purpose of determin ing whether it be possible to bind this nation l^v its plighted faith. I have already referred to our r«». peated and reiterated engagements (IT «c * if,! i i lilt.'! J|M i) i ' V ", } jkl •' $* 1798, and almoor, if not quite, every by the sajas of the Revolution, in tho