_To the Senate of the United States_:
I submit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the
following treaties entered into with several of the Indian tribes,
to wit:
A treaty of peace and friendship made and concluded by William Clark,
Ninian Edwards, and Auguste Choteau, commissioners on the part of the
United States of America, and the chiefs and warriors of the Menomene
tribe or nation of Indians, on the 30th of March, 1817, at St. Louis.
A treaty of peace and friendship made and concluded on the 4th June,
1817, at St. Louis, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste
Choteau, commissioners on the part of the United States of America,
and the chiefs and warriors of the Ottoes tribe of Indians.
A treaty of peace and friendship made and concluded on the 5th June,
1817, at St. Louis, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards, and Auguste
Choteau, commissioners on the part of the United States of America,
and the chiefs and warriors of the Poncarar tribe of Indians.
A treaty concluded at the Cherokee Agency on the 8th of July, 1817,
between Major-General Andrew Jackson, Joseph McMinn, governor of the
State of Tennessee, and General David Meriwether, commissioners of the
United States of America, of the one part, and the chiefs, headmen, and
warriors of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi River and the
chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Cherokees on the Arkansas River,
and their deputies, John D. Chisholm and James Rogers.
A treaty concluded on the 29th day of September, 1817, at the foot of
the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie, between Lewis Cass and Duncan
McArthur, commissioners of the United States, and the sachems, chiefs,
and warriors of the Wyandot, Seneca, Delaware, Shawnese, Potawatamies,
Ottawas, and Chippewa tribes of Indians.
The Wyandots and other tribes parties to the treaty lately concluded
with them have, by a deputation to this city, requested permission to
retain possession of such lands as they actually cultivate and reside
on, for the ensuing year. They have also expressed a desire that the
reservations made in their favor should be enlarged, representing that
they had entered into the treaty in full confidence that that would be
done, preferring a reliance on the justice of the United States for such
extension rather than that the treaty should fail.
The Wyandots claim an extension of their reservation to 16 miles square,
and the other tribes in a proportional degree. Sufficient information is
not now in the possession of the Executive to enable it to decide how
far it may be proper to comply with the wishes of these tribes in the
extent desired. The necessary information may be obtained in the course
of the next year, and if they are permitted to remain in the possession
of the lands they cultivate during that time such further extension of
their reservations may be made by law at the next session as justice and
a liberal policy toward these people may require. It is submitted to the
consideration of the Senate whether it may not be proper to annex to
their advice and consent for the ratification of the treaty a
declaration providing for the above objects.