WASHINGTON, _March 30, 1824_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress certain papers enumerated in a report from the
Secretary of War, relating to the compact between the United States and
the State of Georgia entered into in 1802, whereby the latter ceded to
the former a portion of the territory then within its limits on the
conditions therein specified. By the fourth article of that compact
it was stipulated that the United States should at their own expense
extinguish for the use of Georgia the Indian title to all the lands
within the State as soon as it might be done _peaceably_ and on
_reasonable_ conditions. These papers show the measures adopted by the
Executive of the United States in fulfillment of the several conditions
of the compact from its date to the present time, and particularly the
negotiations and treaties with the Indian tribes for the extinguishment
of their title, with an estimate of the number of acres purchased and
sums paid for lands they acquired. They show also the state in which
this interesting concern now rests with the Cherokees, one of the tribes
within the State, and the inability of the Executive to make any further
movement with this tribe without the special sanction of Congress.
I have full confidence that my predecessors exerted their best endeavors
to execute this compact in all its parts, of which, indeed, the sums
paid and the lands acquired during their respective terms in fulfillment
of its several stipulations are a full proof. I have also been animated
since I came into this office with the same zeal, from an anxious
desire to meet the wishes of the State, and in the hope that by the
establishment of these tribes beyond the Mississippi their improvement
in civilization, their security and happiness would be promoted. By the
paper bearing date on the 30th of January last, which was communicated
to the chiefs of the Cherokee Nation in this city, who came to protest
against any further appropriations of money for holding treaties with
them, the obligation imposed on the United States by the compact with
Georgia to extinguish the Indian title to the right of soil within the
State, and the incompatibility with our system of their existence as
a distinct community within any State, were pressed with the utmost
earnestness. It was proposed to them at the same time to procure and
convey to them territory beyond the Mississippi in exchange for that
which they hold within the limits of Georgia, or to pay them for it its
value in money. To this proposal their answer, which bears date 11th of
February following, gives an unqualified refusal. By this it is manifest
that at the present time and in their present temper they can be removed
only by force, to which, should it be deemed proper, the power of the
Executive is incompetent.
I have no hesitation, however, to declare it as my opinion that the
Indian title was not affected in the slightest circumstance by the
compact with Georgia, and that there is no obligation on the United
States to remove the Indians by force. The express stipulation of the
compact that their title should be extinguished at the expense of the
United States when it may be done _peaceably_ and on _reasonable_
conditions is a full proof that it was the clear and distinct
understanding of both parties to it that the Indians had a right to
the territory, in the disposal of which they were to be regarded as
free agents. An attempt to remove them by force would, in my opinion,
be unjust. In the future measures to be adopted in regard to the Indians
within our limits, and, in consequence, within the limits of any State,
the United States have duties to perform and a character to sustain
to which they ought not to be indifferent. At an early period their
improvement in the arts of civilized life was made an object with the
Government, and that has since been persevered in. This policy was
dictated by motives of humanity to the aborigines of the country, and
under a firm conviction that the right to adopt and pursue it was
equally applicable to all the tribes within our limits.
My impression is equally strong that it would promote essentially the
security and happiness of the tribes within our limits if they could be
prevailed on to retire west and north of our States and Territories on
lands to be procured for them by the United States, in exchange for
those on which they now reside. Surrounded as they are, and pressed
as they will be, on every side by the white population, it will be
difficult if not impossible for them, with their kind of government, to
sustain order among them. Their interior will be exposed to frequent
disturbances, to remedy which the interposition of the United States
will be indispensable, and thus their government will gradually lose its
authority until it is annihilated. In this process the moral character
of the tribes will also be lost, since the change will be too rapid to
admit their improvement in civilization to enable them to institute and
sustain a government founded on our principles, if such a change were
compatible either with the compact with Georgia or with our general
system, or to become members of a State, should any State be willing
to adopt them in such numbers, regarding the good order, peace, and
tranquillity of such State. But all these evils may be avoided if these
tribes will consent to remove beyond the limits of our present States
and Territories. Lands equally good, and perhaps more fertile, may be
procured for them in those quarters. The relations between the United
States and such Indians would still be the same.
Considerations of humanity and benevolence, which have now great weight,
would operate in that event with an augmented force, since we should
feel sensibly the obligation imposed on us by the accommodation which
they thereby afforded us. Placed at ease, as the United States would
then be, the improvement of those tribes in civilization and in all
the arts and usages of civilized life would become the part of a general
system which might be adopted on great consideration, and in which every
portion of our Union would then take an equal interest. These views have
steadily been pursued by the Executive, and the moneys which have
been placed at its disposal have been so applied in the manner best
calculated, according to its judgment, to produce this desirable result,
as will appear by the documents which accompany the report of the
Secretary of War.
I submit this subject to the consideration of Congress under a high
sense of its importance and of the propriety of an early decision on it.
This compact gives a claim to the State which ought to be executed in
all its conditions with perfect good faith. In doing this, however, it
is the duty of the United States to regard its strict import, and to
make no sacrifice of their interest not called for by the compact nor
contemplated by either of the parties when it was entered into, nor
to commit any breach of right or of humanity in regard to the Indians
repugnant to the judgment and revolting to the feelings of the whole
American people. I submit the subject to your consideration, in full
confidence that you will duly weigh the obligations of the compact with
Georgia, its import in all its parts, and the extent to which the United
States are bound to go under it. I submit it with equal confidence that
you will also weigh the nature of the Indian title to the territory
within the limits of any State, with the stipulations in the several
treaties with this tribe respecting territory held by it within the
State of Georgia, and decide whether any measure on the part of Congress
is called for at the present time, and what such measure shall be if any
is deemed expedient.