At a general convention, of delegates, "duly authorized for that
purpose," held at New Echota, in the Cherokee Nation, July 26, 1827, a
constitution, was adopted for the nation, predicated upon their assumed
sovereignty and independence as one of the distinct nations of the
earth. Such an instrument could not fail of exciting to the highest
pitch the feelings and animosity of the authorities and people of
Georgia.
_Georgia's opinion of the Indian title._--Governor Forsyth
inclosed[304] a copy of the "presumptuous" document to the President,
at the same time desiring to know what the United States proposed to
do about the "erection of a separate government within the limits of a
sovereign State."
He also inclosed the report of a committee and the resolutions of the
legislature of Georgia predicated thereon as exhibiting the sentiments
of that body on the subject. This committee, in reporting to the
legislature the results of their investigations, assert that anterior
to the Revolutionary war the Cherokee lands in Georgia belonged to
Great Britain, and that the right as to both domain and empire was
complete and perfect in that nation. The possession by the Indians was
permissive. They were under the protection of Great Britain. Their
title was temporary, being mere tenants at will, and such tenancy might
have been determined at any moment either by force or by negotiation,
at the pleasure of that power. Upon the close of the Revolution,
Georgia assumed all the rights and powers in relation to the lands
and Indians in question previously belonging to Great Britain, and
had not since divested herself of any right or power in relation to
such lands, further than she had in respect of all the balance of
her territory. She was now at full liberty and had the power and the
right to possess herself, by any means she might choose, of the lands
in dispute, and to extend over them her authority and laws. Although
possessing this right, she was averse to exercising it until all other
means of redress had failed. She now made one other and last appeal
to the General Government to open negotiations with the Cherokees on
this subject. If no such negotiation should be opened, or if, being
opened, it should result unsuccessfully, it was recommended to the next
legislature of Georgia to take immediate possession of the disputed
territory and to extend her jurisdiction and laws over the same. In a
spirit of liberality, however, it was suggested that, in any treaty the
United States might make with the Cherokees, Georgia would agree to
allow reserves to be made to individual Indians not exceeding in the
aggregate one-sixth part of the entire territory in dispute. Should the
Indians still refuse to negotiate, they were solemnly warned of the
unfortunate consequences likely to follow, as the lands _belonged_ to
Georgia, and that she _must_ and _would_ have them.
A resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States,
in the month of March following, calling upon the President for
information upon the subject, brought forth[305] copies of all the
correspondence relative to the matter, and the distinct avowal that
the records of the United States failed to show any act of executive
recognition of the new form of Cherokee government, but that, on the
contrary, their status toward the United States was regarded as not in
the slightest degree changed.