The unhappy differences of mind among the Cherokees east of the
Mississippi on the subject of removal, which had been fast approaching
a climax as a consequence of the treaty of 1817, had been rather
stimulated than otherwise by the frequent departure of parties for
their new western home, and the constant importunities of the United
States and State officials (frequently bearing the semblance of
threats) having in view the removal of the entire tribe. The many
and open acts of violence practiced by the "home" as against the
"emigration" party at length called forth[252] a vigorous letter
of denunciation from the Secretary of War to Governor McMinn, the
emigration superintendent. After detailing at much length the many
advantages that would accrue to the Cherokee Nation by a removal beyond
the contaminating influences always attendant upon the contact of a
rude and barbarous people with a higher type of civilization, the
unselfish and fatherly interest the Government of the United States
had always manifested and still felt in the comfort and progress of
the Cherokee people, and the great degree of liberality that had
characterized its action in securing for the Cherokees in their new
homes an indefinite outlet to the bountiful hunting grounds of the
West, the Secretary concluded by an expression of the determination on
the part of the United States to protect at all hazards from insult
and injury to person or property every Cherokee who should express an
opinion or take action favorable to the scheme of emigration. He also
instructed Governor McMinn to lose no opportunity of impressing upon
the minds of the Cherokees that the practical effect of a complete
execution of the treaty of 1817 would be, as had been the intention
of the Government when it was negotiated, to compel them either to
remove to the Arkansas or to accept individual reservations and become
citizens of the States within whose limits they respectively resided.