In January, 1834, a few weeks after the assembling of Congress, the
Cherokee delegation again arrived in Washington.[395] Sundry interviews
and considerable correspondence with the War Department seemed barren
of results or even hope. The delegation submitted[396] a proposition
for adjustment in another form. Remarking upon their feeble numbers,
and surrounded as they were by a nation so powerful as the United
States, they could not but clearly see, they said, that their existence
and permanent welfare as a people must depend upon that relation which
should eventually lead to an amalgamation with the people of the United
States. As the prospects of securing this object collectively, in their
present location in the character of a territorial or State government,
seemed to be seriously opposed and threatened by the States interested
in their own aggrandizement, and as the Cherokees had refused, and
would never voluntarily consent, to remove west of the Mississippi,
the question was propounded whether the Government would enter into
an arrangement on the basis of the Cherokees becoming prospectively
citizens of the United States, provided the former would cede to the
United States a portion of their territory for the use of Georgia; and
whether the United States would agree to have the laws and treaties
executed and enforced for the effectual protection of the Cherokees
on the remainder of their territory for a definite period, with the
understanding that upon the expiration of that period the Cherokees
were to be subjected to the laws of the States within whose limits
they might be, and to take an individual standing as citizens thereof,
the same as other free citizens of the United States, with liberty to
dispose of their surplus lands in such manner as might be agreed upon.
_Cherokee proposals declined._--The reply[397] to this proposition was
that the President did not see the slightest hope of a termination to
the embarrassments under which the Cherokees labored except in their
removal to the country west of the Mississippi.
_Proposal of Andrew Ross._--In the mean time[398] Andrew Ross, who was
a member of the Cherokee delegation, suggested to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs that if he were authorized so to do he would proceed to
the Cherokee country and bring a few chiefs or respectable individuals
of the nation to Washington, with whom a treaty could be effected
for the cession of the whole or part of the Cherokee territory. His
plan was approved, with the understanding that if a treaty should be
concluded the expenses of the delegation would be paid by the United
States. Ross succeeded in assembling some fifteen or twenty Cherokees
at the Cherokee agency, all of whom were favorable to the scheme of
emigration. Under the self-styled appellation of a committee, they
proceeded to appoint a chief and assistant chief in the persons of
William Hicks and John McIntosh, and selected eight of their own number
as the remainder of the delegation to visit Washington.[399]
_Protest of John Ross and thirteen thousand Cherokees._--Upon
their arrival Hon. J. H. Eaton was designated[400] to conduct the
negotiations with them. During the pendency of the negotiations Mr.
Baton advised John Ross of the purpose in view and solicited his
co-operation in the scheme. Mr. Ross refused[401] this proposal with
much warmth, and took occasion to add in behalf of the Cherokee Nation
that "in the face of Heaven and earth, before God and man, I most
solemnly protest against any treaty whatever being entered into with
those of whom you say one is in progress so as to affect the rights and
interests of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi River."
Chief Ross also presented a protest, alleged to have been signed by
more than thirteen thousand Cherokees, against the negotiation of such
a treaty.
_Preliminary treaty concluded with Andrew Ross et al._--Disregarding
the protest of Chief Ross and distrusting the verity of that purporting
to have been so numerously signed in the nation, the negotiations
proceeded, and a treaty or agreement was concluded on the 19th day of
June, 1834. The treaty provided for the opening of emigrant enrolling
books, with a memorandum heading declaring the assent of the subscriber
to a treaty yet to be concluded with the United States based upon the
terms previously offered by the President, covering a cession and
removal, and with the proviso that if no such subsequent treaty should
be concluded within the next few months then the subscribers would
cede to the United States all their right and interest in the Cherokee
lands east of the Mississippi. In consideration of this they were to be
removed and subsisted for one year at the expense of the United States,
to receive the ascertained value of their improvements, and to be
entitled to all such stipulations as should thereafter be made in favor
of those who should not then remove.
The treaty, however, failed of ratification, though the enrolling books
were opened[402] and a few of the Cherokees entered their names for
emigration.