EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 5, 1889_.
_To the Congress_:
I transmit herewith, for approval and ratification, a provisional
agreement lately entered into between the Government of the United
States and the Creek Nation of Indians, through their duly authorized
representatives, and which has been approved by the National Council of
said nation, by which agreement the title and interest of the said Creek
Nation of Indians in and to all lands in the Indian Territory or
elsewhere, except such as are held and occupied as the homes of said
nation, are ceded to the United States.
The eighth section of the Indian appropriation bill approved March 3,
1885, authorized the President "to open negotiations with the Creeks,
Seminoles, and Cherokees for the purpose of opening to settlement under
the homestead laws the unassigned lands in the Indian Territory ceded by
them respectively to the United States by the several treaties of August
11, 1866, March 21, 1866, and July 19, 1866." This section also contains
an appropriation in furtherance of its purpose, and requires that the
action of the President thereunder should be reported to Congress.
The "unassigned" lands thus referred to should be construed to be those
which have not been transferred by the United States in pursuance of the
treaties mentioned in the section quoted.
The treaty with the Creeks is dated June 14, 1866. It was confirmed by a
Senate resolution passed July 19, 1866, and was proclaimed August 11,
1866 (14 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 785).
The third article of the treaty makes a cession of lands in the
following words:
In compliance with the desire of the United States to locate other
Indians and freedmen thereon, the Creeks hereby cede and convey to the
United States, to be sold to and used as homes for such other civilized
Indians as the United States may choose to settle thereon, the west half
of their entire domain, to be divided by a line running north and south;
the eastern half of said Creek lands, being retained by them, shall,
except as herein otherwise stipulated, be forever set apart as a home
for said Creek Nation; and in consideration of said cession of the west
half of their lands, estimated to contain 3,250,560 acres, the United
States agree to pay the sum of 30 cents per acre, amounting to $975,168.
The provision that the lands conveyed were "_to be sold to_ and
used as homes for such other civilized Indians," etc., has been steadily
regarded as a limitation upon the grant made to the United States. Such
a construction is admitted to be the true one in many ways, especially
by the continual reservation of the ceded lands from settlement by the
whites, by the sale of a portion of the same to Indians, by the use of
other portions as the home of Indians, and also by various provisions
in proposed legislation in Congress. Thus the bill now pending for the
organization of Oklahoma provides for the payment to the Creeks and
Seminoles of the ordinary Government price of $1.25 per acre, less the
amount heretofore paid.
The section of the law of 1885 first above quoted appears also to have
been passed in contemplation not only of the existence of a claim on the
part of the Creeks, but of the substantial foundation of that claim in
equity, if not in law, and in acknowledgment of the duty of the
Government to satisfactorily discharge the claim of the Indian people
before putting the land to the free uses of settlement and territorial
occupation by whites.
But it seems to have been considered that so far as the lands had been
assigned they may fairly be taken to be such as under the treaty were
"to be sold." As to these, they having been assigned or "sold" in
accordance with said treaty, the claim of the Creeks thereto has been
entirely discharged, and the title from the United States passed
unburdened with any condition or limitation to the grantees. This seems
to be an entirely clear proposition.
The unassigned lands must be those which are unsold, because not
only is that the fair significance of the term, as used technically in
conveyancing, but because the limiting condition in the Creek treaty was
that the lands should be sold to, as well as used as homes for, other
Indians.
The total quantity of lands in the western half of the Acres.
Creek Nation, and which were ceded in 1866, is 3,402,428.88
The assigned lands as above
defined are in three bodies: Acres.
1. The Seminole country,
by the treaty of 1866 200,000.00
2. The Sac and Fox Reservation, sold and
conveyed by article 6 of the treaty of
February 18, 1867 (15 U.S. Statutes at
large, p. 495), amounting to 479,668.05
3. The Pawnee Reservation, granted by
section 4 of the act of Congress of
April 10, 1876 (19 U.S. Statutes at
large, p. 29), for which the Government
received the price allowed the Creeks,
30 cents per acre 53,005.94