the 2d of March, 1827,301 Congress passed an act authorizing the President to open negotiations with the Cherokees for the extinguishment of their title to such lands as were claimed by them within the limits of the State of North Carolina, and also for such quantity of land as should be necessary in the building of a canal to connect the Hiwassee and Canasauga Rivers.
Ten thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the expenses of such negotiations, and Generals John Cocke, G. L. Davidson, and Alexander Grey were302 appointed commissioners to conduct the same. Their negotiations were barren of results, as were also those of Maj. F. W. Armstrong, who in the following year303 was dispatched on a similar mission.
The Cherokee Nation Adopts a Constitution
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 inclosed304 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 forth305 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.
Cherokee Affairs West of the Mississippi
Whilst all these events having a bearing upon the condition and prospective welfare of that portion of the Cherokee people who had remained in their old homes east of the Mississippi River were happening, those who had taken up their abode in the Arkansas country were likewise having their troubles.
Difficulties with the Osages.—Their disagreements with the Osages, which had, with slight intermission, existed for years, broke out afresh when in February, 1820, a party of Osages robbed and killed three Cherokees. The latter determined upon the prosecution of a general war against the aggressors, and were only persuaded to pause at the earnest solicitation306 of Governor Miller, of Arkansas Territory, until he could visit the villages of the Osages and demand the surrender of the murderers. In company with four of the Cherokee chiefs, he proceeded to the principal Osage village, where they were kindly received by the Osages, who repudiated the action of the murderers and agreed conditionally to surrender them. They, however, produced the treaty concluded in 1818, under the superintendence of Governor Clark, between themselves and the Cherokees, Shawnees, and Delawares, wherein it was agreed that a permanent peace should thenceforth exist between them, and that the Cherokees were to meet them at Fort Smith the following spring and surrender all Osage prisoners, which the former had neglected to do and still retained a number of Osage captives. The Cherokee chiefs admitted that this was true, whereupon Governor Miller advised them that before the Osage murderers could be surrendered, the Cherokees must comply with their agreement by surrendering all prisoners in their hands. An arrangement was made to meet at Fort Smith in October following and effect the exchange,307 which was done. Notwithstanding this adjustment, the feeling of hostility between the two tribes remained. Active warfare broke out again in the summer of 1821,308 and was not suppressed by the most strenuous efforts of the United States authorities until the fall of the following year.309
Boundaries and area.—Governor Miller reported, in connection with this subject, that the Arkansas Cherokees were very restless and dissatisfied. They complained much in that, as they said, no part of the treaty of 1819 had been complied with by the United States and in that they had received no annuity money since their removal to the west of the Mississippi River. Furthermore, their boundaries had not been established, and they still awaited the fulfillment of the promise made them for an extension of their line to the west as far as the Osage line. To this latter scheme the Osages were much opposed, preferring rather to have the country occupied by whites. The adjustment of this boundary question would seem to have been very desirable, inasmuch as nearly one-half of the Cherokees had taken up their abode south of the Arkansas River,310 which was clearly outside of their proper limits. It formed the subject of much correspondence and complaint throughout several years, and was the occasion of a number of visits of representative delegations from the Arkansas Cherokees to Washington. The eastern boundary had, as already stated, been run by General Rector in 1818—'19, but the difficulty in fixing the western line arose from the fact that the quantity of land to which the Cherokees were entitled was to be measured by the area already ceded by them to the United States by the treaties of 1817 and 1819. The ascertainment of this latter quantity with exactness could not be made in advance of the completion of the surveys thereof by the States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. From such reports and estimates as the United States were able to secure from the several State authorities,