REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEES FROM GEORGIA.
The removal of the Creek Indians from this State was accomplished
by the treaty of 1826, and that satisfied the obligations of the
United States to Georgia, under the compact of 1802, so far as the
Creek tribe was concerned. But the same obligation remained with
respect to the Cherokees, contracted at the same time, and founded
on the same valuable consideration, namely: the cession by Georgia
to the United States of her western territory, now constituting the
two States of Alabama and Mississippi. And twenty-five years' delay,
and under incessant application, the compact had been carried into
effect with respect to the Creeks; it was now thirty-five years
since it was formed, and it still remained unexecuted with respect
to the Cherokees. Georgia was impatient and importunate, and justly
so, for the removal of this tribe, the last remaining obstacle
to the full enjoyment of all her territory. General Jackson was
equally anxious to effect the removal, both as an act of justice to
Georgia, and also to Alabama (part of whose territory was likewise
covered by the Cherokees), and also to complete the business of
the total removal of all the Indians from the east to the west
side of the Mississippi. It was the only tribe remaining in any
of the States, and he was in the last year of his presidency, and
the time becoming short, as well as the occasion urgent, and the
question becoming more complex and difficult. Part of the tribe had
removed long before. Faction split the remainder that staid behind.
Intrusive counsellors, chiefly from the Northern States, came in
to inflame dissension, aggravate difficulties, and impede removal.
For climax to this state of things, party spirit laid hold of it,
and the politicians in opposition to General Jackson endeavored to
turn it to the prejudice of his administration. Nothing daunted by
this combination of obstacles, General Jackson pursued his plan
with firmness and vigor, well seconded by his Secretary at War, Mr.
Cass--the War Department being then charged with the administration
of the Indian affairs. In the autumn of 1835, a commission had been
appointed to treat with the half tribe in Georgia and Alabama.
It was very judiciously composed to accomplish its purpose, being
partly military and partly ecclesiastic. General William Carroll,
of Tennessee, well known to all the Southern Indians as a brave and
humane warrior, and the Reverend John F. Schermerhorn, of New-York,
well known as a missionary laborer, composed the commission; and it
had all the success which the President expected.
In the winter of 1835-'36, a treaty was negotiated, by which the
Cherokees, making clean disposal of all their possessions east of
the Mississippi, ceded the whole, and agreed to go West, to join the
half tribe beyond that river. The consideration paid them was ample,
and besides the moneyed consideration, they had large inducements,
founded in views of their own welfare, to make the removal. These
inducements were set out by themselves in the preamble to the
treaty, and were declared to be: "A desire to get rid of the
difficulties experienced by a residence within the settled parts of
the United States; and to reunite their people, by joining those
who had crossed the Mississippi; and to live in a country beyond
the limits of State sovereignties, and where they could establish
and enjoy a government of their choice, and perpetuate a state of
society, which might be most consonant with their views, habits,
and condition, and which might tend to their individual comfort,
and their advancement in civilization." These were sensible reasons
for desiring a removal, and, added to the moneyed consideration,
made it immensely desirable to the Indians. The direct consideration
was five millions of dollars, which, added to stipulations to pay
for the improvements on the ceded lands--to defray the expenses
of removal to their new homes beyond the Mississippi--to subsist
them for one year after their arrival--to commute school funds and
annuities--to allow pre-emptions and pay for reserves--with some
liberal grants of money from Congress, for the sake of quieting
complaints--and some large departmental allowances, amounted, in
the whole, to more than twelve millions of dollars! Being almost
as much for their single extinction of Indian title in the corner
of two States, as the whole province of Louisiana cost! And this
in addition to seven millions of acres granted for their new home,
and making a larger and a better home than the one they had left.
Considered as a moneyed transaction, the advantage was altogether,
and out of all proportion, on the side of the Indians; but relief to
the States, and quiet to the Indians, and the completion of a wise
and humane policy, were overruling considerations, which sanctioned
the enormity of the amount paid.
Advantageous as this treaty was to the Indians, and desirable as it
was to both parties, it was earnestly opposed in the Senate; and
only saved by one vote. The discontented party of the Cherokees,
and the intrusive counsellors, and party spirit, pursued it to
Washington city, and organized an opposition to it, headed by
the great chiefs then opposed to the administration of General
Jackson--Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and Mr. Calhoun. Immediately after
the treaty was communicated to the Senate, Mr. Clay presented a
memorial and protest against it from the "Cherokee nation," as they
were entitled by the faction that protested; and also memorials from
several individual Cherokees; all which were printed and referred to
the Senate's Committee on Indian Affairs, and duly considered when
the merits of the treaty came to be examined. The examination was
long and close, extending at intervals for nearly three months--from
March 7th to the end of May--and assuming very nearly a complete
party aspect. On the 18th of May Mr. Clay made a motion which, as
disclosing the grounds of the opposition to the treaty, deserves
to be set out in its own words. It was a motion to reject the
resolution of ratification, and to adopt this resolve in its place:
"That the instrument of writing, purporting to be a treaty concluded
at New Echota on the 29th of December, 1835, between the United
States and the chiefs, head men and people of the Cherokee tribe of
Indians, and the supplementary articles thereto annexed, were not
made and concluded by authority, on the part of the Cherokee tribe,
competent to bind it; and, therefore, without reference to the terms
and conditions of the said agreement and supplementary articles,
the Senate cannot consent to and advise the ratification thereof,
as a valid treaty, binding upon the Cherokee tribe or nation;"
concluding with a recommendation to the President to treat again
with the Cherokees east of the Mississippi for the whole, or any
of their possessions on this side of that river. The vote on this
resolve and recommendation was, 29 yeas to 15 nays; and it requiring
two-thirds to adopt it, it was, of course, lost. But it showed that
the treaty itself was in imminent danger of being lost, and would
actually be lost, in a vote, as the Senate then stood. The whole
number of the Senate was forty-eight; only forty-four had voted.
There were four members absent, and unless two of these could be got
in, and vote with the friends of the treaty, and no one got in on
the other side, the treaty was rejected. It was a close pinch, and
made me recollect what I have often heard Mr. Randolph say, that
there were always members to get out of the way at a pinching vote,
or to lend a hand at a pinching vote. Fortunately the four absent
senators were classified as friends of the administration, and two
of them came in to our side, the other two refusing to go to the
other side: thus saving the treaty by one vote. The vote stood,
thirty-one for the treaty, fifteen against it; and it was only
saved by a strong Northern vote. The yeas were: Messrs. Benton of
Missouri; Black of Mississippi; Brown of North Carolina; Buchanan of
Pennsylvania; Cuthbert of Georgia; Ewing of Illinois; Goldsborough
of Maryland; Grundy of Tennessee; Hendricks of Indiana; Hubbard of
New Hampshire; Kent of Maryland; King of Alabama; King of Georgia;
Linn of Missouri; McKean of Pennsylvania; Mangum of North Carolina;
Moore of Alabama; Morris of Ohio; Niles of Connecticut; Preston of
South Carolina; Rives of Virginia; Robinson of Illinois; Ruggles and
Shepley of Maine; N. P. Tallmadge of New-York; Tipton of Illinois;
Walker of Mississippi; Wall of New Jersey; White of Tennessee; and
Wright of New-York--31. The nays were: Messrs. Calhoun of South
Carolina; Clay of Kentucky; Clayton of Delaware; Crittenden of
Kentucky; Davis of Massachusetts; Ewing of Ohio; Leigh of Virginia;
Naudain of Delaware; Porter of Louisiana; Prentiss of Vermont;
Robbins of Rhode Island; Southard of New Jersey; Swift of Vermont;
Tomlinson of Connecticut; and Webster of Massachusetts--15. Thus the
treaty was barely saved. One vote less in its favor, or one more
against it, and it would have been lost. Two members were absent. If
either had come in and voted with the opposition, it would have been
lost. It was saved by the free State vote--by the fourteen free
State affirmative votes, which precisely balanced and neutralized
the seven slave State negatives. If any one of these fourteen had
voted with the negatives, or even been absent at the vote, the
treaty would have been lost; and thus the South is indebted to the
North for this most important treaty, which completed the relief
of the Southern States--the Chickasaws, Creeks and Choctaws having
previously agreed to remove, and the treaties with them (except with
the Creeks) having been ratified without serious opposition.
The ratification of this treaty for the removal of the Cherokees
was one of the most difficult and delicate questions which we ever
had to manage, and in which success seemed to be impossible up to
the last moment. It was a Southern question, involving an extension
of slavery, and was opposed by all three of the great opposition
leaders; who only required a minority of one third to make good
their point. At best, it required a good Northern vote, in addition
to the undivided South, to carry the treaty; but, with the South
divided, it seemed hardly possible to obtain the requisite number
to make up for that defection; yet it was done, and done at the
very time that the systematic plan had commenced, to charge the
Northern States with a design to abolish slavery in the South. And
I, who write history, not for applause, but for the sake of the
instruction which it affords, gather up these dry details from the
neglected documents in which they lie hidden, and bring them forth
to the knowledge and consideration of all candid and impartial men,
that they may see the just and fraternal spirit in which the free
States then acted towards their brethren of the South. Nor can
it fail to be observed, as a curious contrast, that, in the very
moment that Mr. Calhoun was seeing cause for Southern alarm lest the
North should abolish slavery in the South, the Northern senators
were extending the area of slavery in Georgia by converting Indian
soil into slave soil: and that against strenuous exertions made by
himself.