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9th Decr. [December] 1824

The following address was this day made to the Chiefs.
Friends & Brothers,
We attended your Council yesterday & received your talk, which we are glad to find made in a spirit of good feeling and liberality.
This was expected of you on account of the kindness and protection which has always been extended to you by the United States. You have requested that the whole of our talk be delivered at this time. -- We have no objection to go fully into the subject, and although the time allowed is very short, we believe we shall be able to comply with your request -- Brothers, We now proceed to explain the nature of your connexion [connection] with the general Government, and although it may not be very pleasing, it is nevertheless true. --
We ask you how did the Muscogee Nation come by this Country? You came from the West and took the Country from another people who were in possession -- After living here a great many years, the people from over the big waters came in large vessels and took some of the Country from you & set up their own government, and made laws, & made you obey them.
Ninety two years ago, the British granted a charter to all the land between Savannah & Altamaha rivers, up to their heads, and thence to the Western ocean --


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Then afterward, sixty years ago, the same British government extended the limits of Georgia to the St. Mary's River; thence along the Florida line to Mississippi River -- All this was Georgia, untill [until]
1802. -- We will now tell you how the country we have described happened to belong to the United States. About fifty years ago, a war broke out between the British & her own people, who were here -- The war lasted seven years and the British were conquered. You took part in that war and were conquered also. All the Country which was conquered, belonged then to the Conquerors. The British were all driven off, and you would have shared the same fate, but for the humanity & goodness of the new government which [added text: was ] established after the war.
This new government was called the United States of America, and directly after it was formed, it held treaties with you & all other Indian tribes. -- You are not the only tribe that fought on the side of the British, every other tribe did the same and all were treated alike. All gave up, and claimed protection, & were received into favour [favor] . The Delawares made a treaty at Fort Pitt and gave up their power -- The Six Nations did the like at Fort Stanwix, the Cherokees at Hopewell, and the Creeks at New York. -- Since the war of the Revolution when General Washington fought, the Indian tribes have had no power in the United States. It was not your fault that your forefathers fought against this Country, yet you have to be the sufferers by their [unclear text: rashness ] . Since this time some of you have shewn [shown] yourselves worthy of being the President's children, by fighting by the side of the white-man against the foes of liberty. The President will always stand by you, and protect you against


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want, & against your enemies. He has not sent us here to make offers, or to propose schemes for your injury or destruction. On the contrary the most earnest wish of his heart is that you should be preserved, that you should live & prosper -- That you should advance in civilization, That you should have good laws & obey them -- that you should have schools & learn, That you should have churches & worship him who made you. But the question is, how are we to attain these desirable ends? The President in great goodness has pointed out the way fifteen years ago, he advised some of his red children to go beyond the Mississippi. --
Five thousand went, and are far from intrusion and disturbance from the Whites. Their limits are extended and they are not surrounded and hemmed in on every side. If the young men wish to pursue the game, it is there found in abundance. If they wish to become herdsmen & cultivators, the land is well suited for these purposes. But above all if you wish to quit the chase, to free yourselves from barbarism, and settle down in the calm pursuits of civilization, and good morals, and to raise up a generation of Christians, you had better go. The aid and protection of the government will go with you. The good wishes of the best men alive will go with you and the Missionaries, with their schools & meeting houses, and good examples, & prayers will be planted in the midst of you. -- Brothers, the talk which we now deliver to you, is from the mouth of a great & good man Our Father the President. In speaking to his Cherokee children he says these words "my impression is strong that it [added text: will ] promote essentially --


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the Security and [deleted text: the ] happiness of the tribes within our limits if they could be prevailed on to retire West and North of our States & Territories and lands to be procured for them by the United States in exchange for those on which they now reside. Surrounded as they are & pressed as they will be on every side by the white population, it will be difficult, if not impossible for them, with their kind of government to sustain order among them. Their interior will be exposed to frequent disturbances, to remedy which, the interposition of the United States will be indispensable, and that their government will gradually lose its authority, untill [until] it is annihilated."
"In this process the moral character of the tribes will also be lost; since the change will be too rapid to admit their improvement in civilization to enable them to institute and sustain a government founded upon our principles, if such a change were compatible either with the compact of Georgia; or to become members of a State should any State be willing to adopt them in such numbers. But all these evils may be avoided, if these tribes will remove beyond the limits of our present States and territories." These are the words of the President, and no longer ago than last March.
We will now give you the talk of the Secretary of War, Mr. Calhoun, to the Cherokees last January -- He says, "you must be sensible that it will [word omitted in text: be ] impossible for you to remain for any length of time in your present situation as a distinct Society or Nation, within the limits of Georgia


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or any other State. Such a community is incompatible with our System and must yield to it. -- "
"This truth is too striking and too obvious not to be seen by all of you. Surrounded as you are by the people of the several States, you must either cease to be a distinct community, and become at no distant period a part of the State within whose limits you are, or remove beyond the limits of any State." We have thus given you the talks of two of the highest authorities of the United States, the President & the Secretary of War. These to be sure, were delivered to the Cherokees, but they apply with equal force to you, for both are within the Georgia limits, and the United States are bound to extinguish your title. Brothers, we might add the talks of the Members of Congress from Georgia to the President, and also the talks of our head man the Governor of Georgia. We have these by us, and will explain them to you verbally. They are too long to be included in this writing. We can here say this much of them, that they set forth very strongly [deleted text: the very Strongly ] the rights of Georgia, that the President has listened to them, and sent us here for the purpose of settling matters which threaten to produce, the greatest disturbances, and serious consequences --
Brothers --
Before we came into your country, we read in the newspapers where some of you had held [added text: two ] meetings, at Tuckabatchee & Pole Cat Springs & signed a talk to "follow the pattern of the Cherokees, and


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never sell another foot of land." We fear that you have suffered yourselves to be mislead [misled] . You have made a hasty conclusion, which you cannot support. -- Whether this was produced by the Cherokee talk which was sent to you, or by the intermeddling officiousness of interested individuals; or by both, we are not exactly prepared to say. But we warn you against the advice of intruders and false Prophets. As lofty grounds as the Cherokees have taken, we have no doubt of seeing the time when they will come under the laws of the Whites or go to the West where they can be to themselves. These two meetings which you have had are rash and premature
They are not binding, even upon those who signed them, much less are they binding upon the Nation. This is the place, where laws are made in full Council -- not at Tuckabatchee or Pole Cat Springs, where a mere handfull [handful] are gathered together, not perhaps by their own consent, as by designing individuals. This Nation was once led into a dreadful war by advisers and false prophets -- Take care how you listen to talks which came from such sources. No man, no nation has a right to interfere with the affairs of this Nation, -- We shall make our propositions open and fair to this Council. If our talk is received, we doubt not but that the good of yourselves and of the United States will be advanced. If it is rejected, it will be to the injury of [added text: both ] . There shall be no interference, with us, and we shall be inclined to try the extent of our powers, if we detect any interference with you.


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Brothers
We have heard you say that you love the country that you live in, and that you are opposed to a removal. This is not the first country which had been sold by its proprietors. The United States have lately bought Florida of Spain, and the Spaniards are gone, part to Cuba, and others beyond the Seas. The United States, some years ago, bought Louisiana from France, and many of the inhabitants removed thousands of miles from the place of their birth, and where their fathers were buried. The United States have lately made a treaty with the Seminoles, and have marked out a country for them, and told them to go to it. -- The United States have exchanged lands with the Choctaws, and that tribe have a flourishing settlement, with which they are very much pleased, on Red River, including the Warm Springs. Other instances might be given where countries have been sold and people removed.
We believe, that by an exchange and removal this nation would secure a [added text: safe & ] permanent resting place where they would be free from interruption and disturbance. You would have some encouragement to clear fields & build good houses -- They would be yours & yours not for a short time but for yourselves and generations afterwards. You flourish best, when at a distance from the settlements. In going through your country, where do we find the most improvement.
On the lines of the States, and even on the publick [public] roads, we hardly ever see a field or a house.


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You retire within to get clear of the intrusions and encroachments of disorderly whites who sometimes gather upon our frontier. But even in the interiour [interior] the state of your improvements are such as to show that there is something wrong. That you do not consider yourselves at home. You told the Commissioners at the Springs that your people had quit hunting and settled down to the [added text: industrious ] use of the axe, hoe, plough, & loom. The game is gone, but still we find you [unclear text: ranging ] in parties in all directions. Some to Florida, some to the Cherokee & Choctaw Nations & some have gone even beyond the Mississippi. --
Brothers, --
We plainly see, & we know it to be true from the talks of the President, the Secretary of War, the Governor of Georgia, the Georgia delegation in Congress and the Legislature of Georgia, for years past, that one of two things must be done. You must come under the laws of the Whites, or you must remove.
Brothers, these are not hard propositions. If you intend to be industrious and [added text: to ] go to work in earnest, and to be orderly and [deleted text: to ] improve in civilization, then our laws, will not be burthensome [burdensome] . But the difference would be so quick, and so great that at first it might make you restless & uneasy. But if you go where you will, a change in your condition will be the study of Christians, and the work of the Government.
Brothers,
We now tell you, what we, in


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the name of your father the President want you to do. We want the country which [added text: you ] now occupy. It is within the lines of Georgia & Alabama. These states, insist upon having their lines cleared. The president will do this by giving you a better country, and will aid you in removing, protect you where you may go against Whites, and all others, and give you a solemn guaranty [guarantee] in the title & occupancy of the New Country which you may select. --
We now leave you to pause, to examine, & decide. This talk comes to you full of friendship, yet it is [deleted text: full ] of serious and important import. By deciding for yourselves, it may prevent others from deciding for you.
We want an answer as soon as it may be convenient to give it. The Congress of the United States and the Legislature of Georgia are both in session, and they will want to know what has been done --

We again assure the Nation of our
friendly feeling --
[Signed] Duncan G. Campbell
[Signed] James Meriwether
U.S. [unclear text: Commrs. ] [Commissioners]





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Copy of Commissioners 2nd talk to Council