The posts of Detroit and Mackinac having been originally int_A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 1, part 3: Thomas Jefferson

Governments which established and held them as mere depots for commerce

with the Indians, very small cessions of land around them were obtained

or asked from the native proprietors, and these posts depended for

protection on the strength of their garrisons. The principles of our

Government leading us to the employment of such moderate garrisons in

time of peace as may merely take care of the post, and to a reliance on

the neighboring militia for its support in the first moments of war,

I have thought it would be important to obtain from the Indians such a

cession in the neighborhood of these posts as might maintain a militia

proportioned to this object; and I have particularly contemplated, with

this view, the acquisition of the eastern moiety of the peninsula

between lakes Michigan and Huron, comprehending the waters of the latter

and of Detroit River, so soon as it could be effected with the perfect

good will of the natives. Governor Hull was therefore appointed a

commissioner to treat with them on this subject, but was instructed to

confine his propositions for the present to so much of the tract before

described as lay south of Saguina Bay and round to the Connecticut

Reserve, so as to consolidate the new with the present settled country.

The result has been an acquisition of so much only of what would have

been acceptable as extends from the neighborhood of Saguina Bay to the

Miami of the Lakes, with a prospect of soon obtaining a breadth of 2

miles for a communication from the Miami to the Connecticut Reserve.

The treaty for this purpose entered into with the Ottoways, Chippeways,

Wyandots, and Pottawattamies at Detroit on the 17th of November last is

now transmitted to the Senate, and I ask their advice and consent as to

its ratification.

I communicate herewith such papers as bear any material relation to

the subject.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 15, 1808.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

Although it is deemed very desirable that the United States should

obtain from the native proprietors the whole left bank of the

Mississippi to a certain breadth, yet to obliterate from the Indian

mind an impression deeply made in it that we are constantly forming

designs on their lands I have thought it best where urged by no

peculiar necessity to leave to themselves and to the pressure of

their own convenience only to come forward with offers of sale to

the United States.

The Choctaws, being indebted to certain mercantile characters beyond

what could be discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their huntings, and

pressed for payment by those creditors, proposed at length to the United

States to cede lands to the amount of their debts, and designated them

in two different portions of their country. These designations not at

all suiting us, their proposals were declined for that reason, and with

an intimation that if their own convenience should ever dispose them to

cede their lands on the Mississippi we should be willing to purchase.

Still urged by their creditors, as well as by their own desire to be

liberated from debt, they at length proposed to make a cession which

should be to our convenience. James Robertson, of Tennessee, and Silas

Dinsmore were thereupon appointed commissioners to treat with them on

that subject, with instructions to purchase only on the Mississippi. On

meeting their chiefs, however, it was found that such was the attachment

of the nation to their lands on the Mississippi that their chiefs could

not undertake to cede them; but they offered all their lands south of

a line to be run from their and our boundary at the Omochita eastwardly

to their boundary with the Creeks, on the ridge between the Tombigbee

and Alabama, which would unite our possessions there from Natchez

to Tombigbee. A treaty to this effect was accordingly signed at

Pooshapekanuk on the 16th of November, 1805; but this being against

express instructions, and not according with the object then in view,

I was disinclined to its ratification, and therefore did not at the last

session of Congress lay it before the Senate for their advice, but have

suffered it to lie unacted on.

Progressive difficulties, however, in our foreign relations have brought

into view considerations other than those which then prevailed. It is

now, perhaps, become as interesting to obtain footing for a strong

settlement of militia along our southern frontier eastward of the

Mississippi as on the west of that river, and more so than higher up

the river itself. The consolidation of the Mississippi Territory and

the establishing a barrier of separation between the Indians and our

Southern neighbors are also important objects. The cession is supposed

to contain about 5,000,000 acres, of which the greater part is said to

be fit for cultivation, and no inconsiderable proportion of the first

quality, on the various waters it includes; and the Choctaws and their

creditors are still anxious for the sale.

I therefore now transmit the treaty for the consideration of the Senate,

and I ask their advice and consent as to its ratification. I communicate

at the same time such papers as bear any material relation to the

subject, together with a map on which is sketched the northern limit of

the cession, rather to give a general idea than with any pretension to

exactness, which our present knowledge of the country would not warrant.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 20, 1808.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

Some days previous to your resolutions of the 13th instant a court of

inquiry had been instituted at the request of General Wilkinson, charged

to make the inquiry into his conduct which the first resolution desires,

and had commenced their proceedings. To the judge-advocate of that court

the papers and information on that subject transmitted to me by the

House of Representatives have been delivered, to be used according to

the rules and powers of that court.

The request of a communication of any information which may have been

received at any time since the establishment of the present Government

touching combinations with foreign agents for dismembering the Union

or the corrupt receipt of money by any officer of the United States

from the agents of foreign governments can be complied with but in a

partial degree.

It is well understood that in the first or second year of the Presidency

of General Washington information was given to him relating to

certain combinations with the agents of a foreign government for the

dismemberment of the Union, which combinations had taken place before

the establishment of the present Federal Government. This information,

however, is believed never to have been deposited in any public office,

or left in that of the President's secretary, these having been duly

examined, but to have been considered as personally confidential, and

therefore retained among his private papers. A communication from the

governor of Virginia to President Washington is found in the office

of the President's secretary, which, although not strictly within the

terms of the request of the House of Representatives, is communicated,

inasmuch as it may throw some light on the subjects of the

correspondence of that time between certain foreign agents and citizens

of the United States.

In the first or second year of the Administration of President Adams

Andrew Ellicott, then employed in designating, in conjunction with the

Spanish authorities, the boundaries between the territories of the

United States and Spain, under the treaty with that nation, communicated

to the Executive of the United States papers and information respecting

the subjects of the present inquiry, which were deposited in the

Office of State. Copies of these are now transmitted to the House of

Representatives, except of a single letter and a reference from the

said Andrew Ellicott, which, being expressly desired to be kept secret,

is therefore not communicated, but its contents can be obtained from

himself in a more legal form, and directions have been given to summon

him to appear as a witness before the court of inquiry.

A paper on "The Commerce of Louisiana," bearing date the 18th of

April, 1798, is found in the Office of State, supposed to have been

communicated by Mr. Daniel Clark, of New Orleans, then a subject of

Spain, and now of the House of Representatives of the United States,

stating certain commercial transactions of General Wilkinson in New

Orleans. An extract from this is now communicated, because it contains

facts which may have some bearing on the questions relating to him.

The destruction of the War Office by fire in the close of 1800 involved

all information it contained at that date.

The papers already described therefore constitute the whole of the

information on the subjects deposited in the public offices during the

preceding Administrations, as far as has yet been found; but it can

not be affirmed that there may be no other, because, the papers of the

office being filed for the most part alphabetically, unless aided by the

suggestion of any particular name which may have given such information,

nothing short of a careful examination of the papers in the offices

generally could authorize such an affirmation.

About a twelvemonth after I came to the administration of the Government

Mr. Clark gave some verbal information to myself, as well as to the

Secretary of State, relating to the same combinations for the

dismemberment of the Union. He was listened to freely, and he then

delivered the letter of Governor Gayoso, addressed to himself, of which

a copy is now communicated. After his return to New Orleans he forwarded

to the Secretary of State other papers, with a request that after

perusal they should be burnt. This, however, was not done, and he was so

informed by the Secretary of State, and that they would be held subject

to his orders. These papers have not yet been found in the office.

A letter, therefore, has been addressed to the former chief clerk, who

may perhaps give information respecting them. As far as our memories

enable us to say, they related only to the combinations before spoken

of, and not at all to the corrupt receipt of money by any officer of

the United States; consequently they respected what was considered as

a dead matter, known to the preceding Administrations, and offering

nothing new to call for investigations, which those nearest the dates

of the transactions had not thought proper to institute.

In the course of the communications made to me on the subject of the

conspiracy of Aaron Burr I sometimes received letters, some of them

anonymous, some under names true or false, expressing suspicions and

insinuations against General Wilkinson; but one only of them, and that

anonymous, specified any particular fact, and that fact was one of those

which had been already communicated to a former Administration.

No other information within the purview of the request of the House is

known to have been received by any department of the Government from the

establishment of the present Federal Government. That which has been

recently communicated to the House of Representatives, and by them

to me, is the first direct testimony ever made known to me charging

General Wilkinson with the corrupt receipt of money, and the House of

Representatives may be assured that the duties which this information

devolves on me shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality. Should any

want of power in the court to compel the rendering of testimony obstruct

that full and impartial inquiry which alone can establish guilt or

innocence and satisfy justice, the legislative authority only will be

competent to the remedy.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 30, 1808.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

The Choctaws, being indebted to their merchants beyond what could be

discharged by the ordinary proceeds of their buntings, and pressed for

payment, proposed to the United States to cede lands to the amount of

their debts, and designated them in two different portions of their

country. These designations, not at all suiting us, were declined. Still

urged by their creditors, as well as by their own desire to be liberated

from debt, they at length proposed to make a cession which should be to

our convenience. By a treaty signed at Pooshapuckanuck on the 16th of

November, 1805, they accordingly ceded all their lands south of a line

to be run from their and our boundary at the Omochita eastwardly to

their boundary with the Creeks, on the ridge between the Tombigbee and

Alabama, as is more particularly described in the treaty, containing

about 5,000,000 acres, as is supposed, and uniting our possessions there

from Adams to Washington County.

The location contemplated in the instructions to the commissioners was

on the Mississippi. That in the treaty being entirely different, I was

at that time disinclined to its ratification, and I have suffered it to

lie unacted on. But progressive difficulties in our foreign relations

have brought into view considerations other than those which then

prevailed. It is now, perhaps, as interesting to obtain footing for a

strong settlement of militia along our southern frontier eastward of the

Mississippi as on the west of that river, and more so than higher up the

river itself. The consolidation of the Mississippi Territory and the

establishment of a barrier of separation between the Indians and our

Southern neighbors are also important objects; and the Choctaws and

their creditors being still anxious that the sale should be made, I

submitted the treaty to the Senate, who have advised and consented to

its ratification. I therefore now lay it before both Houses of Congress

for the exercise of their constitutional powers as to the means of

fulfilling it.

TH. JEFFERSON.

JANUARY 30, 1808.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The posts of Detroit and Mackinac having been originally intended by the