stipulations have been entered into, by which they receive annual sums
of money, and other sums are also to be expended in useful articles,
and for the purposes of education. Agents are stationed among them,
who, as well as the teachers provided for them, make annual reports to
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who includes these documents in
his own annual report to Congress. Governments, properly constituted
by themselves, are also guarantied to them, and it is understood to
be the design to lead them to establish elective governments in each
tribe, similar to our own State governments; all to be united in a kind
of federal republic. Some of the tribes have adopted the preliminary
measure, and have already made important advances towards civilization.
The relative position of the various tribes is as follows. Immediately
on the Red River, beginning at the south, are the Chickasaws; then
follow, in order, towards the north, the Choctaws, Seminoles, Creeks,
Cherokees, Shawanese, Senecas, Quapaws, Oneidas and Tuscaroras,
Piankeshaws and Weahs, Peorias and Kaskaskias-Shawanese, Kansas,
Delawares, Kickapoos; then, north of these, the Omahaws and Otoes,
Missouris, Pancas, and Pawnees; north of the Missouri, the Sacs and
Foxes; and west of the Peorias and Oneidas are the Osages.
The Chickasaws have become, in a great degree, merged in the Choctaws.
Their district, called the Chickasaw District, they purchased of the
Choctaws for $530,000. By the treaty of 24th of May, 1834, it is
provided, that $3,000 shall annually, for fifteen years, be expended,
under the direction of the Secretary of War, for the education of
the Chickasaws. They are a wealthy people, having invested nearly
$2,000,000, from which they will soon receive interest; they have also
a large fund for various objects, $10,000 of which is, at the present
time, applied to the purposes of civilization.
The Choctaw country embraces 19,200,000 acres of good soil, and some
6,000,000 more of a poorer quality. This people are said now to be
improving in civilization and comfort. They have many large farms,
and much live stock, three flouring mills, ten or twelve cotton-gins,
eighty-eight looms, and two hundred and twenty spinning-wheels.
The Choctaw nation has adopted a written constitution, similar to that
of the United States. Their legislative body is said to transact its
business with great decorum and propriety. Their journals are kept in
the English language, but, in the progress of business, are also read
off in the Choctaw. They have four judicial districts, and the usual
officers of justice. They are likewise, says the agent among them, fast
approaching to the division of lands, and carefully seize and destroy
whisky illegally introduced among them. By the treaty of 1830, forty
Choctaw youths are to be kept at school, under the direction of the
president of the United States, for the term of twenty years. Also, the
sum of $2,500 is to be applied for the support of three teachers of
schools among them, for the same number of years. They have, likewise,
a balance of $25,000 of unexpended annuities, which is to be applied to
the support of schools at twelve different places; and, by the treaty
of 1825, they have a further annuity of $6,000, for the support of
schools.
There are among them, as appears from the last report of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, fifteen teachers and four hundred
and five scholars. The missions there are under the direction of the
American Board of Commissioners at Boston, and in their last report
they state that the churches have all been enlarged, the aggregate
increase having been somewhat more than one hundred. The whole number
now connected with five churches is four hundred and seventy-one. The
number of Choctaws able to read is steadily increasing, and the demand
for books is becoming greater every year.
The Creeks are not so well organized, in respect to their government,
as the Choctaws or Cherokees. There are two bands or parties, one under
McIntosh, the other under Little Doctor. The first of these brought
from their former home their old laws; the latter have framed theirs
since their removal. Both of them have their general councils, who
combine the legislative, executive, and judicial departments in one.
They own salt-springs, cultivate the ground, and follow other pursuits
of civilization. Many of them, also, are said to have large stocks of
cattle. Before the crops of 1837 had been gathered, it is stated that
they had sold corn to the amount of upwards of $39,000, and that vast
quantities then remained unsold; and even the emigrants, who arrived
in the country during the winter and spring previous to the harvest
of that year, broke the turf, fenced their fields, raised their crops
for the first time, and sold their surplus of corn for $10,000. By the
treaty of the 6th of March, 1832, it is stipulated that an annuity of
$3,000 shall be expended by the United States, under the direction of
the president, for twenty years, in the education of their children.
Besides this, $1,000, by the treaty of the 14th of February, 1833, is
to be annually expended, during the pleasure of Congress, for the same
object. A great number of the Creeks, and of the Seminoles who are now
merged in that tribe, died on the way, or shortly after their removal
to the Indian Territory.
The Cherokees have probably made the greatest advances in civilization
of any of the Indian nations on our western border. They own numerous
salt-springs, which are worked by themselves, and in which they
manufacture, it is said, one hundred bushels of salt, daily. They
also own two lead-mines. The eastern portion of their country, which
embraces the settlements, contains about 2,500,000 acres. They have a
large stock of cattle, wagons, ploughs, looms, and spinning-wheels;
their lands are well inclosed with rail-fences; and they have
comfortable log-houses, with stone chimneys and plank floors, which are
well furnished. They have, likewise, seven native merchants, and one
regular physician.
Their settled country is divided into four districts, each of which,
every two years, elects two members of the national council, which is
called “The General Council of the Cherokee Nation.” They have three
chiefs, whose approval is necessary for the passage of a law; though
an act, notwithstanding their veto, may be passed by a vote of two
thirds of the council. They have, also, judicial, and other appropriate
officers. By the treaty of the 6th of May, 1823, it is stipulated that
the United States shall pay, annually, $2,000 for ten years, to be
expended, under the direction of the president, in the education of
their children, in their own country, in letters and the mechanic arts;
also, $1,000 towards the purchase of a printing-press and types. By
the treaty of December 29, 1835, the sum of $150,000 is provided for
the support of common schools, and such a literary institution, of a
higher order, as may be established in the Indian country. To this is
also added an education fund of $50,000, making, in all, a permanent
school-fund of $200,000, only the interest of which is used.
From the last report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, it
appears that the Cherokees are steadily advancing in knowledge and
civilization. Many of them are said to be men of decided talents and
learning. The constitution and laws of the nation are printed and
circulated among the people. Education is popular among them, and it
is probable that they will adopt the suggestion of the agent in their
territory, and divide their lands into farms, as individual property.
Some unhappy feuds have existed, and, to a certain degree, still
exist among them, which have resulted in the death of two or three of
their prominent men, especially John Ridge and Elias Boudinot. Their
principal chief is John Ross, a man of fine appearance, of considerable
ability, and a gentleman.
According to the last report of the American Board of Commissioners,
the mission among the Cherokees consists of eighteen persons. There are
five churches, comprising two hundred and thirty members, twenty-six
of whom have been added within a few months. The temperance society
organized there reckons among its members at least 1,560 Cherokees.
One of the most remarkable events in the history of this people is the
invention of a Cherokee alphabet, by George Guess, a native Cherokee.
In the account of the mission, this alphabet is said to furnish,
probably, the most perfect orthography in the world. There has been
a paper published in the Cherokee nation, partly in the English,
and partly in the native language, and edited with considerable
ability. Three presses are employed by the mission in printing books,
principally for this tribe, though some are struck off in other
languages. Since 1835, besides the Gospels of John and Matthew, and the
Epistles of John, there have been printed, at one press, not less than
thirty-two different works, nearly all of which were above twenty pages
each, making an aggregate of upwards of 2,000,000 pages. The whole
number of pages printed among the Cherokees since 1828, as appears by
the last report of the American Board, is 4,725,000.
Five schools, under the care of the mission, contain about one hundred
and sixty Cherokee children.
Some interesting cases of improvement have occurred among this nation,
on which, were there space for it, it would be pleasing to dwell.
The Cherokees bid fair, if no untoward events occur, to realize the
most sanguine expectations of their friends. Much sympathy has been
excited for them, at various periods, during the last thirty years,
and especially when they were driven from their loved homes, and the
territory guarantied to them by so many treaties; and words of burning
eloquence were called forth from some of the most eloquent speakers
in the halls of Congress, in depicting the injustice and cruelty with
which they have been treated. It is to be hoped that the experiment
they are now making may be permitted to go on to its completion,
without any further invasions of their rights and happiness.
Besides these principal tribes, who are deriving benefit from
missionaries and schools among them, there are missionary stations
among the Pawnees, the Sioux, Shawanese, Ottawas, Potawatomies, and
other tribes. By treaty, large portions of land, or annual sums, have
been set apart for the purposes of education, agriculture, and such
other aids to their civilization as appear most desirable. The aversion
to labor among some of these nations is said to be gradually wearing
off, and idolatry and superstition are becoming eradicated. They still
retain their ancient forms of government by chiefs.
The Stockbridge Indians, within the limits of Wisconsin, have recently
been admitted to the rights of citizenship, and during the last winter
(1843-44) the Ottawas within the State of Michigan have petitioned
the legislature of that State for the same privilege. Many interesting
particulars respecting the state of the schools and missions among the
several Indian tribes, and their present prospects, may be found in
the reports of the various missionaries and agents of government, some
of which are also appended to the report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, annually submitted to Congress.
From all these sources we derive the hope, that a more successful
experiment is to be made respecting the aborigines of our country than
has ever before been attempted, and that the time may soon arrive when
they shall be allowed to form a State of this vast republic. The wrongs
they have suffered demand the best reparation which a Christian nation
can make; and the prayer of many a pious and sympathizing heart is
daily breathed forth, that they may henceforth be permitted, without
molestation, to learn and practise the virtues of peace, cheered and
encouraged in every honest endeavour to do well.
Such, then, as we have attempted to sketch it, is the history of the
aborigines of America. It is sad to reflect that so many pages of it
have been written, as it were, in blood, and that such multitudes have
perished in the vain attempt to resist outrage and oppression.
THE PROSPECTS OF THE WESTERN TRIBES.
Columbus, speaking of the American Indians, said:--“I swear to your
Majesties that there is not a better people in the world; they love
their neighbours as themselves; their language is the sweetest,
softest, and most cheerful, for they always speak smiling; and,
although they go naked, let your Majesties believe me, their customs
are very becoming; and their king, who is served with great majesty,
has such engaging manners, that it gives great pleasure to see him; and
also to consider the great retentive faculty of that people, and their
desire of knowledge, which incites them to ask the causes and effects
of things.”
After the dark and bloody account we have given of the history of the
Indians,--especially those within the compass of our own country,--we
may smile at the flattering picture presented by the discoverer of the
New World. But we must consider that the natives of the West Indies,
of whom Columbus speaks, were the mildest portion of the great Indian
family; and, besides, at the time to which he refers, they had not
become exasperated by the repeated and cruel wrongs of the Europeans.
In estimating the native capacities of the aborigines, and especially
their fitness for civilization, we must take into consideration the
long train of influences which has been moulding them, for centuries,
into their present condition. The history of Peru, as well as that of
Mexico, abundantly proves that a portion of them had an aptitude for
improvement, evinced by the progress they made in various arts; and
it may be added, that, under the instructions of Eliot and Mayhew,
even the tribes of New England, regarded as among the most savage and
irredeemable, made rapid strides in Christianity and the peaceful arts
of civilized life.
If, therefore, in our picture of these Northern nations, we have been
called upon to delineate them chiefly as warriors, revelling in blood,
and delighting in the terrific scenes of slaughter, pillage, and
conflagration, it must not be inferred that such is their intrinsic and
necessary character. An experiment is, indeed, now making, on a large
scale, and under favorable auspices, having for its object to bring
them into the family of civilized man; and in our view of the present
condition of the Indians in the United States, we have exhibited the
hopeful advances already made by some of the tribes in refinement and
the Christian virtues.
The question, then, as to the possibility of civilizing the Indians
within our borders, seems, at first view, to be favorably determined.
The subject is one of deep interest, and claims the attention of
enlightened minds throughout our republic. Our ancestors have inflicted
fearful wrongs upon this race; for centuries, their blood has cried
to heaven for vengeance. Nor is our own generation free from similar
guilt, or similar accountability. But besides the deep debt thus
incurred, and which, in this age of light, we should be earnest to
discharge in behalf of the remnants of these people, their numbers are
still considerable, and, from their own importance in this point of
view, they may well claim the attention of the philanthropist.
And there is still another aspect in which this subject becomes one
of deep interest. The tribes within the Indian Territory can now
muster fifty thousand warriors. They have a fine country, and, in the
aggregate, possess a considerable amount of property. Stretching along
our defenceless western frontier, they may render themselves indeed
formidable, whenever they choose to combine against us. They have
horses in abundance, and can transfer themselves, with the fleetness
of the Arab, from one point to another. They have fire-arms, in
addition to the spear, the bow and arrow, and the tomahawk. They have,
contiguous to them, the Camanches on the south, and numerous other
tribes on the north and west. These can easily be made their allies, in
case of need.
The position of these tribes is, therefore, one of great strength. Let
us now consider that their minds must be full of bitter remembrances
towards our people. The story of Philip, Sassacus, and Logan may
not have descended in their traditions to the present day, but the
general story of their race is familiar to them all. When Keokuck
replied to Governor Everett in the State-house in Boston, in 1837, he
said he had been told by the old men of his tribe, that the ancestors
of the Indians once owned and occupied the lands to the shores of
the Atlantic. It must be a familiar fact to the Indians, from the
Mississippi to the borders of the Pacific, that they were lords of
this continent, and that the white man has dispossessed them of their
inheritance. They must not only know this general truth, but they must
also know and deeply feel the violence and injustice of that process by
which their nations have been wasted, and the inheritance, which God,
and nature, and their ancestors had bequeathed to them, was wrenched
from their hands.
The particular experience of many of them must also contribute to
increase their store of bitter recollections. The fate of Tecumseh is
familiar to many of them, for those still live who fought by his side.
The story of the Everglades, and the doom of Osceola, must be often
repeated by those who participated in the scenes of the late Florida
war. The bloodhounds, imported from Cuba to hunt them down in the
thickets, will be introduced to give effective coloring to the picture
of suffering, to embitter the feeling of indignation, and, if need be,
to rouse the soul to acts of retribution.
While, therefore, the tribes are now placed by treaty within the Indian
territory, and are adopting, by degrees, the arts of civilization,
under the auspices of the United States, it must be remembered that
they are there not willingly, and that they have carried with them the
long accumulated remembrances of their painful history.
“I yield,” said Weatherford to General Jackson, “by necessity, not by
choice. My warriors are dead; my people slain; it is vain to resist;
but if I had an army, I would still be in the field against you.” It
is with such a feeling that many of the tribes have retired to their
present abodes; and can we doubt that there is many a daring and
independent soul among them, that would rejoice in the opportunity
to balance the heavy reckoning which stands summed up in their minds
against us?
It has often happened that the wrath of man has been made to work out
the will of Providence. Who can tell that the time is not yet to come,
in which these Indian tribes shall wreak signal vengeance upon us,
and furnish another lesson to the world, in assurance of the fact,
that, in the history of nations, great crimes are usually followed,
sooner or later, by adequate retribution? It seems evident that this
concentration of the Indian tribes in the West must issue in great
events,--either in their civilization, and their final accession, as
citizens, to our republic, or in future struggles, in which their power
will be made the instrument of chastising our country for its former
course of injustice.
In this case, there is but one line of conduct for us to pursue, and
that is alike dictated by policy and right feeling. Let us do all in
our power to bestow upon these three hundred thousand Indians the
benefits of our own religion and civilization, and prepare them, as
speedily as may be, to come within the fold of our own government,
as members of the Union. Let us do this in atonement for former
aggression, as a measure of future safety, and as the obvious dictate
of common philanthropy.
Let us not permit the common suggestion, that the Indian is incapable
of receiving the benefits of civilization, to hinder us from adopting
this course. Upon what basis does this idea of Indian character rest?
Upon no better foundation, we apprehend, than prejudice,--and a
prejudice, too, inculcated, if not engendered, by the desire of finding
apologies for the harsh and desolating policy which has been pursued
toward the race. The Indians are incorrigible,--therefore let them be
swept away. This is the ready logic of those who wish to possess their
lands, or who desire to excuse acts of plunder and aggression.
Let us not adopt conclusions too hastily in this important matter. If,
hitherto, many of the efforts to civilize the Indians have failed,
we must not thence infer that they have a nature which excludes them
for ever from the fold of civilization. May there not be some defect
in the means, some error in the mode, adopted to instruct them? and
cannot we better account for failure in this way, than by resorting to
a supposition which seems to impugn the wisdom and benevolence of the
Creator?
In considering the possibility of civilizing the Indians, the author
of the splendid work on “The History of the North American Tribes
of Indians,” &c., makes the following just and appropriate remarks:
“We consider the question to be, not whether the Indian intellect is
endowed with the capacity to receive civilization, but whether his
savage nature can be so far conciliated, as to make him a fair subject
of the benevolent effort. The question is, not as to the possibility
of eradicating his ferocity, or giving steadiness to his erratic
habits, but as to the practicability of bringing to bear upon him the
influences by which his evil propensities and his waywardness must
be subdued. The wild ass may be tamed into the most docile of the
servants of man; the difficulty is in catching him, in placing him
under the influence of the process of training. Whenever the bridle
is placed upon his head, the work is done; all the rest follows with
the certainty of cause and effect; in the contest between the man and
the brute, between intellect and instinct, the latter must submit. So
it is between the civilized and savage man. The difficulties to be
overcome are the distance by which the races are separated, and the
repulsion which impedes their approach. There is no sympathy between
the refinement of the civilized man and the habits of the savage;
nor any neutral ground, upon which they can meet and compromise away
their points of difference. They are so widely separated in the scale
of being, as to have no common tastes, habits, or opinions; they
meet in jealousy and distrust; disgust and contempt attend all their
intercourse, and the result of their contact is oppression and war.
And why? The repulsive principle is never overcome; the attraction
of sympathy is never established. The parties do not gaze upon each
other patiently and long enough to be reconciled to their mutual
peculiarities, and sit together in peace until they become acquainted.
The habit of enduring each other’s manners is not established, nor the
good-fellowship which results from pacific intercourse, even between
those who are widely separated by character and station.”
Here the great obstacle to the instruction of the Indian tribes is
clearly stated; let this be removed, and we have little doubt that
we shall soon have to regard the current opinion of their obduracy
as founded in error. The circumstances in which these people are now
placed,--large bodies of them having made considerable advances in many
of the arts of civilized life, having adopted regular governments,
holding pacific intercourse with the United States, and enjoying the
ministration of zealous and faithful missionaries among them,--are
favorable to the making of one more experiment for their redemption,
and this, too, with the important advantage of a good understanding
between them and their teachers.
As to the capacity of the aborigines for civilization, we have little
doubt. We have already hinted at the successes of Eliot, Mayhew, and
the Moravians, in Christianizing some of the most savage tribes; and
it would be easy to add other facts of the same nature, and tending to
the same point. We could also set before the reader numerous incidents,
which show that the Indian character is by no means destitute of the
finest elements which belong to human nature.