Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
It will be seen by referring to the report of the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs that the most sanguine expectations of the friends and promoters of
this system have been realized. The Choctaws, Cherokees, and other tribes
that first emigrated beyond the Mississippi have for the most part
abandoned the hunter state and become cultivators of the soil. The
improvement in their condition has been rapid, and it is believed that they
are now fitted to enjoy the advantages of a simple form of government,
which has been submitted to them and received their sanction; and I can not
too strongly urge this subject upon the attention of Congress.
Stipulations have been made with all the Indian tribes to remove them
beyond the Mississippi, except with the bands of the Wyandots, the Six
Nations in New York, the Menomonees, Munsees, and Stockbridges in
Wisconsin, and Miamies in Indiana. With all but the Menomonees it is
expected that arrangements for their emigration will be completed the
present year. The resistance which has been opposed to their removal by
some of the tribes even after treaties had been made with them to that
effect has arisen from various causes, operating differently on each of
them. In most instances they have been instigated to resistance by persons
to whom the trade with them and the acquisition of their annuities were
important, and in some by the personal influence of interested chiefs.
These obstacles must be overcome, for the Government can not relinquish the
execution of this policy without sacrificing important interests and
abandoning the tribes remaining east of the Mississippi to certain
destruction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account