A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 3, part 1: Andrew Jackson (Second Term)
History
A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 3, part 1: Andrew Jackson (Second Term)
Jackson, Andrew, 1767-1845; Presidents -- United States; United States -- History -- Sources; United States -- Politics and government
The plan for their removal and reestablishment is founded upon the
knowledge we have gained of their character and habits, and has been
dictated by a spirit of enlarged liberality. A territory exceeding in
extent that relinquished has been granted to each tribe. Of its
climate, fertility, and capacity to support an Indian population the
representations are highly favorable. To these districts the Indians are
removed at the expense of the United States, and with certain supplies
of clothing, arms, ammunition, and other indispensable articles; they
are also furnished gratuitously with provisions for the period of a year
after their arrival at their new homes. In that time, from the nature
of the country and of the products raised by them, they can subsist
themselves by agricultural labor, if they choose to resort to that mode
of life; if they do not they are upon the skirts of the great prairies,
where countless herds of buffalo roam, and a short time suffices to
adapt their own habits to the changes which a change of the animals
destined for their food may require. Ample arrangements have also been
made for the support of schools; in some instances council houses and
churches are to be erected, dwellings constructed for the chiefs, and
mills for common use. Funds have been set apart for the maintenance of
the poor; the most necessary mechanical arts have been introduced, and
blacksmiths, gunsmiths, wheelwrights, millwrights, etc., are supported
among them. Steel and iron, and sometimes salt, are purchased for them,
and plows and other farming utensils, domestic animals, looms, spinning
wheels, cards, etc., are presented to them. And besides these beneficial
arrangements, annuities are in all cases paid, amounting in some
instances to more than $30 for each individual of the tribe, and in all
cases sufficiently great, if justly divided and prudently expended, to
enable them, in addition to their own exertions, to live comfortably.
And as a stimulus for exertion, it is now provided by law that "in all
cases of the appointment of interpreters or other persons employed for
the benefit of the Indians a preference shall be given to persons of
Indian descent, if such can be found who are properly qualified for the
discharge of the duties."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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