1824. THE CHEROKEES REFUSE TO SELL. 177 United States should buy all or a part of the Cherokee territory within the State of Georgia; another, that the Indians should remove beyond the Mississippi to a tract just as large as the one they would leave behind them; a third, that they should cede to the United States for the use of Georgia as much land as they could spare. "It To each proposition the council made one answer: is the fixed and unalterable determination of this nation never again to cede one foot of land," and from this fixed determination the commissioners could not turn the Indians.* Nevertheless, the Cherokees were much alarmed at the prospect before them, and a delegation was soon on its way to Washington to confer with Monroe, to whom in time they addressed a memorial. He was assured that the Cherokees were determined not to part with another foot of soil, was reminded of the bad effects which the repeated attempts to dislodge the Indians had on them by unsettling their minds, and was implored to ask Congress to have the Government released from its compact with Georgia. Calhoun, as Secretary of War, answered the memorial, and assured the Indians that the compact must be kept; that it was impossible for them to longer remain as a distinct nation within the limits of any State; and that they must sooner or later either become a part of Georgia or remove to a region beyond the Mississippi, where they would no longer be annoyed by the encroachment of civilization. Again the Cherokees refused, and told the Secretary plainly that their lands could never be obtained "peaceably" nor "on reasonable terms." Calhoun sent this reply to the Governor of Georgia with the request for an expression of opinion on the subject. The Governor in his answer denounced the Federal Government for the sloth and feebleness which for twenty years had marked its conduct in Indian affairs; asserted that the Indians were mere tenants at will; declared that Georgia * American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. ii, pp. 465–473. + January 19, 1824. January 30, 1824. * February 17, 1824. February 28, 1824. Ibid., p. 473. American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. ii, p. 473. VOL. V.-13 was determined to have their land at any cost; and that if they did not yield it willingly the United States must either aid Georgia in taking it or fight her. The memorial from the Legislature, the letter from the Governor, and another from the members of Congress from Georgia * again aroused Monroe, and led him to defend the Indian policy of the Government in a special message to Congress. † The Cherokees having positively refused to cede their land, it was manifest, he said, that they could be removed only by force. But, in his opinion, there was no obligation resting on the United States to use force. The language of the compact was "peaceably " and "on reasonable terms." The Cherokee agent soon after was commanded "without delay and in the most effectual manner forthwith to expel white intruders from Cherokee lands." By this time the Creeks, well knowing that their turn would come next, had become so uneasy that a meeting of their chiefs and head men was held at a place called Tuckebachee. After "deep and solemn reflection," it was decided "with one voice" to follow the example set by the Cherokees, and " on no account to sell one foot of our land, neither by exchange nor otherwise." Lest any chief should think lightly of this resolution, the meeting went further, and decreed that death should be the penalty for any infraction of this law.‡ Not long after this determination had been reached the same commissioners who had been treating with the Cherokees summoned the chiefs of the Creeks to meet them in December at Broken Arrow. Alarmed at the summons, the chiefs met a second time, at Polecat Springs, and, having reaffirmed the decision reached at Tuekebachee, issued an appeal for justice to "our white and Christian brothers," * and went at the appointed time to Broken Arrow. Nothing *March 10, 1824. + Senate Documents No. 63, Eighteenth Congress, First Session, vol. iii. Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Richardson. Vol. ii, pp. 234–237. "We have guns and ropes, and if any of our people should break these laws those guns and ropes are to be their end." The Tuckebachee Resolutions are printed in Niles's Register, vol. xxvii, pp. 222–223. # See Niles's Register for December 4, 1824, vol. xxvii, pp. 222–223. 1825. THE TREATY OF INDIAN SPRINGS. 179 was accomplished; but it was clear to the commissioners that there were a few chiefs and head men who, for a consideration, were ready and willing to sacrifice the interests of their people. With these a treaty was concluded some weeks later at Indian Springs, was hurried to Washington, and, despite the protestations of the Indian agent, was ratified by the Senate in the last moments of Monroe's term of office. In consideration of four hundred thousand dollars and land beyond the Mississippi, these chiefs sold to the United States almost all the territory the Creeks owned within the State of Georgia. Dishonesty, fraud, and conspiracy tainted the treaty; yet Adams, without stopping to examine into the manner in which it was obtained, signed and made it law. As the news spread among the Creeks that they had been betrayed, that their land was sold, and that in a little while, abandoning all that they held most dear, they must begin a long pilgrimage to new homes in a country a thousand miles away, their grief gave place to rage and excitement. True to the law of Tuckebachee, the chiefs made haste to execute it, and early in May three of those who signed the treaty of Indian Springs-McIntosh, Tustunugge, and Hawkins by name were put to death. Instantly the whole Georgia frontier was aflame. Hundreds of Creeks, followers of the slaughtered chiefs, deserting their homes, fled with wives and children across the border and sought protection of Governor Troup. A grand jury of the United States District Court presented the killing of the chiefs, called for the vigorous prosecution of any white men concerned, and recommended the fugitives to the protection and succor of the State. For a time it was feared that an Indian uprising and a border war was imminent. But the fear was an idle one. The Indians had murdered no man. Exercising an unquestionable right, they had put three men to death under a law of whose existence the culprits were well aware, and, having done this, they stopped. No thought of war upon the whites had ever been entertained. Indeed, at a meeting of the chiefs of the February 12, 1825. + March 3, 1825. # March 5, 1823. # Niles's Register, May 28, 1825, vol. xxviii, pp. 196, 197. nation, three irrevocable laws were made: One, that they would not receive a dollar of the money to be paid for their land; another, that they would not make war on the whites, nor shed a drop of the blood of any of the soldiers that might be sent to drive them from their homes; and a third, that if they were driven out they would die at the fence corners. While these things were happening in Georgia reports of the killing of McIntosh and Tustunugge were hurried to Washington by Troup, by the Indian agent, and by the son and friends of McIntosh. According to the agent, the deed was directly traceable to a proclamation of Troup assuming jurisdiction and announcing that a survey of the Indian lands would be made at once; according to the Governor, there would have been no trouble save for the criminal conduct of the agent. That the truth might be discovered, Adams despatched a special agent, T. P. Andrews, to examine into the charges made by Troup and by the son of McIntosh. That peace might be preserved, the President sent General Gaines to Georgia with orders to quiet the excitement of the Creeks, and, if necessary, to call on Governor Troup for militia to keep the Indians in order. It was late in May when Andrews, on his way South, reached Milledgeville and delivered to Troup a letter from the Secretary of War stating that "the President expected" that the survey would not be made. By the express terms of the treaty the Creeks might delay their removal till September first, 1826. Without their consent, therefore, even the President could not before September, 1826, order a survey of their lands. But Troup cared nothing for this. In his opinion, the wish of the President was "unreasonable" and "most extraordinary." On the instant, said he, of the ratification of the treaty the title and jurisdiction to the Creek territory became absolute in Georgia, without any manner of exception or qualification. Authority was indeed given to the United States to protect the Indians in their persons and effects. But beyond this it "could not pass." Soil and jurisdiction went together, and if Georgia did not have both at that moment she never could have either by a better title. 1826. GEORGIA DEFIES THE PRESIDENT. 181 And now began a most unseemly contest between Troup, Gaines, and the President as to whether the survey should or should not be made, which brought the parties more than once to the verge of civil war. While the quarrel was still at its height, Adams settled the trouble with the Creeks. He was convinced by the report of Gaines that the signers of the treaty of Indian Springs did not represent a fiftieth part of the nation. He was satisfied that the Indians would never quit their territory save under compulsion. He was determined not to use force; and in order to avoid it instructed the Secretary of War to summon the chiefs to Washington, where, in 1826, a new treaty was framed and ratified by the Senate. The territory ceded was immense in area, but far less than had been given up by the spurious treaty of Indian Springs, and this in the eyes of Georgians was unpardonable. Troup, utterly disregarding the fact that a treaty duly executed is the supreme law of the land, ignored that made at Washington, declared that he recognized none but that signed at Indian Springs, and ordered the surveyors to begin work on the territory not ceded by the Creeks. But the Indians forced them to stop, and appealed to Adams, who bade the District Attorney and the marshal arrest the surveyors and bring them before the proper court; told Troup that, if necessary, an armed force would be sent to Georgia to stop the survey; and in a special message laid the whole matter before Congress. That body did nothing, and Georgia went on with her aggressions against the Indians in her own way, and decreed that no Indian who did not speak the English language should testify in her courts.* That her position might not be misunderstood, the Legislature assigned the duty of defining it to a joint committee on the state of the Republic, which considered two questions; what was the nature and present situation of the claim of Georgia on the General Government; and what the nature and extent of the title of Georgia to the Cherokee lands in dispute. The claim of Georgia on the General Government, it was * Laws of Georgia, December 26, 1826. |