Congress, under date of February 19, 1799,[127] appropriated $25,000
to defray the expense of negotiating a treaty or treaties with the
Indians, and again, on the 13th of May, 1800,[128] appropriated $15,000
to defray the expense of holding a treaty or treaties with the Indian
tribes southwest of the Ohio River, with the proviso that nothing in
the act should be construed to admit an obligation on the part of the
United States to extinguish for the benefit of any State or individual
the Indian claim to any lands lying within the limits of the United
States.
Pursuant to the authority conferred by these enactments, President
Jefferson appointed[129] General James Wilkinson, Wm. R. Davie, and
Benj. Hawkins as commissioners, and they were instructed by the
Secretary of War to proceed to negotiate treaties with the Cherokees,
Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws.
_Objects of the treaty._--The objects sought to be attained with the
Cherokees were to secure their consent, 1st. To cede to the United
States all that portion of their territory lying to the northward of a
direct line to be run from a point mentioned in treaty of October 2,
1798, on Tennessee River, 1 mile above its junction with the Clinch,
to the point at or near the head of the West Fork of Stone's River, on
the ridge dividing the waters of the Cumberland and Duck Rivers which
is struck by a southwest line from the point where the Kentucky road
crosses Cumberland River, as described in the treaty of Holston.
2. That the Tennessee River should be the boundary from its mouth to
the mouth of Duck River; that Duck River should be the boundary thence
to the mouth of Rock Creek; and that a direct line should be run for a
continuation of the boundary from the mouth of Rock Creek to the point
on the ridge that divides the waters of Cumberland from Duck River.
3. That a road should be opened from the boundary line to a circular
tract on Tennessee River at the mouth of Bear River, reserved to the
United States by treaty of 1786 with the Chickasaws. From this point
the road should continue until it reached the Choctaw territory, where
it was to connect with a road through the country of the latter to
Natchez. The entire line of this road must be open to the free use of
citizens of the United States.
4. In case the Indians should refuse to cede any of the lands
designated, the commissioners were instructed to obtain, if possible,
a cession of all the land lying northward of the road leading from
Knoxville to the Nashville settlements, run conformably to the treaty
of 1791. If they should be unwilling to grant this, then to ask for a
strip of land from 1 to 5 miles in width, to include the said road in
its whole extent across their lands. Whether success or failure should
attend the first or second objects of their mission, the commissioners
were to seek the consummation of the third proposition for a road to
the Bear Creek reservation, which would otherwise be of no practical
value to the United States.
If consent was obtained to the first three proposals or to the
alternative marked 4th, an annuity of $1,000 was authorized and an
immediate sum not exceeding $5,000 in cash or goods. If, as had been
represented to the War Department, the Cherokees and Chickasaws both
claimed the land on either side of Tennessee River for a considerable
distance, the commissioners were instructed that they must obtain the
assent of both tribes to the opening of the road.
Six days after the issuance of these instructions, a delegation of
Cherokees, headed by Chief "Glass," arrived in Washington, and obtained
an interview with the Secretary of War.[130] They represented that the
promise had been made them, at the treaty of 1798, that they would
never be asked to cede any more land. Now they learned that the United
States was about to hold another treaty with them to secure further
cessions. They also desired to know whether the United States or the
settlers got the land theretofore ceded, and why they had not been
furnished with the map showing the boundary lines by the treaty of
1798, as had been promised them. In his reply,[131] after seeing the
President, the Secretary of War informed them that no desire existed to
purchase any more land from them unless they were anxious to sell; that
the map should be at once furnished them; that the States of Kentucky
and Tennessee had been formed out of the lands already purchased from
them, and the main object of the proposed treaty with their nation was
to secure the right of way for roads through their country in order to
maintain communication between detached white settlements.
The delegation strenuously objected to the proposed "Georgia" road and
were informed that the matter would not be pressed, but that the road
to Bear River and Natchez was a necessity.
As a result of the visit of this delegation, the instructions to
Messrs. Wilkinson, Davie, and Hawkins were modified,[131] it being
stated by the Secretary of War that he had been mistaken as to
part of the line between the United States and the Cherokees. He
therefore directed that the second object of their instructions should
be suspended as regarded both the Cherokees and the Chickasaws.
Commissioner Davie having declined his appointment, General Andrew
Pickens was substituted in his stead.[132]
_Failure of negotiations._--It is only necessary to observe that the
commissioners failed in the accomplishment of any of their designs with
the Cherokees.