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(copy)

To the President of the United States
Sir,
The Secretary of War has addressed to the gentlemen composing the Georgia delegation to Congress, [added text: copies of ] the extraordinary document furnished by persons who are called the Cherokee delegation . As this is believed to be the first instance in which a diplomatic correspondence has been held with Indian Chiefs, & in which they have been addressed by the department of war in the same terms with those used to the representatives of a state, it becomes a subject of enquiry in what light the Cherokees are at present viewed by the government of the United States. If as an independent nation to be treated with in all the forms of diplomatic respect, the negociations [negotiations] with them should be transferred to the department of State -- and will no doubt be preceded by a proper examination into their authority to speak for the Cherokee tribe in matters affecting its prosperity and existence. If to be viewed as other indians, as persons suffered to reside within the territorial limits of the United States & subject to every restraint which the policy & power of the General Government requires to be imposed upon them for the interest [added text: of the Union, the interest ] of a particular state & their own preservation, it is necessary that these misguided men should be taught by the General Government that there is no alternative between their removal beyond the limits of the State of Georgia & their extinction -- The Government of the United States will deceive them grossly if they


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are led to believe that at this day, their consent is necessary to the fulfilment of its obligations to the State of Georgia. Their will must yeild [yield] to the paramount duties of the General Government to itself & to each member of the Confederacy. The Cherokees allege, if indeed the representation made is made with their authority that they are resolved neither to leave nor sell their lands on which they reside: land which belong to the State of Georgia -- over which Georgia did claim sovereignty until the adoption of the Federal Constitution -- & over which she will exercise her power whenever any administration of the General Government resolves to fix permanently upon them any persons who are not & whom she will never suffer to become her citizens. The doctrines of the government sanctioned by the highest tribunal of our Country, vindicate the claim of Georgia to the ownership of the soil. The Indians are simply occupants -- tenants at will -- incapable of transferring even their naked possession except through the instrumentality of the United States to the State of Georgia. Aware of the tenure by which their temporary possession is held, their head men have sought in many instances to secure from the United States a title to the soil itself. Stipulations have been enterred [entered] into by the general government equally contradictory to the rights of Georgia & the obligations of the United States: -- Stipulations, however, which shew [show] that the general government have the acknowledged right to transfer the possession of the Cherokee lands to the State of Georgia. The power which takes from the Cherokee tribe a portion of soil, to confer it on a Cherokee Chief, under a different tenure, can rightfully take from the Cherokee nation for the benefit of a state.
It is with deep concern that the necessity is


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felt of [unclear text: pressing ] upon the general Government the considerations that are due to its character for good faith, in its contract, with a member of the union. Since the year
1802 implicit reliance has been placed in the general government & the just expectation has been indulged, that in the execution of its high duties the executive administration would carefully and steadily pursue the object for which the faith of the union was pledged. -- the peaceable extinguishment on reasonable terms, of the indian title to [added text: all the ] lands within the territorial limits of Georgia. In
1817 the public declaration of the President to Congress, that an arrangement had been made by which in exchange for lands beyond the Mississippi, a great part, if not the whole of the land possessed by the Cherokee tribe, eastward of that River, in the States of North Carolina, Tennessee & Georgia, & in the territory of Alabama, would be soon acquired, gave a just expectation that the national pledge given to Georgia would be redeemed. In the eight years which have succeeded, these anticipations of the President have been realized every where but in Georgia. The Successive purchases made since that period have crowded the Cherokees out of Tennessee, Alabama & North Carolina, almost altogether into Georgia & the terms upon which they have been made have created all the difficulties now encountered in the peaceful acquisition on reasonable terms of the lands upon which the Cherokees are now permitted to remain -- difficulties which are every hour increasing from the policy pursued by the general government. It is with all due respect a subject of serious inquiry, what produced the extraordinary change in the wishes of the Cherokee tribe as expressed in the treaty of
1817? How it happened that the Cherokees of the Upper Towns


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most of whom were without the limits of Georgia & who desired to be permanently fixed on the lands up on which they then lived, were induced in
1819 to abandon their designs & many of them to become inhabitants of the region beyond the Mississippi, while the Cherokees of the Lower Towns (most of them within the State of Georgia) anxiously desiring to remove in
1817 were in
1819 tempted to remain & filled with the desire of a permanent establishment there? The same exertions that produced this, can effect another change, can induce the remnant still in the limits of Georgia, to follow their brethern [brethren] to the West, to a Territory which the [added text: general ] government can rightfully bestow upon them as a temporary or permanent property, without interfering with the right or encroaching upon the Sovereignty of any State. Agreement is not necessary to shew [show], that a power which interposes obstacles to the accomplishment of its own promises, violates its faith; -- & that to plead the impossibility to perform an engagement, when that impossibility is produced by those who engaged to perform it would be equally dishonorable & hypocritical. The president is probably not aware that the United States will be liable to such accusations, if the present moment is suffered to pass without a full compliance on their part, with the obligation of the Treaty of Cession of
1802. What has created the strong desire of the Cherokee Indians to remain where they are? The policy of the General Government; -- the pretended guarranties [guarantees] of their possessions: -- the attempted changes in the nature of their titles to them: -- the lessons received from their


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masters in the Arts of Civilized life: -- the acquisitions of property & the desire of extending & securing it: a policy just & generous to the Indians, but solely at the expense of a member of the union -- at war not less with the rights of that member of the union, than with the solemn promises of the general government. The United States have the same right to colonize a tribe of Indians from the Columbia or Red River in Georgia, as they have to pursue a system of policy whose aim or end shall be the permanency of the Cherokees within that state
If the Cherokees are unwilling to remove the causes of that unwillingness are to be traced to the United States. If a peaceable purchase cannot be made in the ordinary mode nothing remains to be done but to order their removal to a designated Territory beyond the limits of Georgia & giving an ample equivalent for the Territory left by them & an ample support to the Territory granted to them. An order of this kind will not be disregarded by the Cherokee tribe whose interest will be essentially promoted by a compliance with it (whatever may be the effect of it upon a few chief men who seem to consider their own interest as separate of& distinct from that of their brethern [brethren] & as it must be obvious that a tranquil & undisturbed possession of a permanent property can alone enable them to acquire the arts of civilized life & to secure to them its benefits.
Our duty is performed by remonstrating against the policy heretofore pursued, by which the


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interests of Georgia have been disregarded to the accomplishment of other objects of general interest & a compliance with a solemn promise postponed for the acquisition of Territory for the General Government: & by insisting, as we do most earnestly, upon an immediate fulfilment of the obligations of the Articles of Cession concluded in
1802, as the only means by which justice can be done to the State we represent & the character of the general government be vindicated.

Washington
[unclear text: 10 ] March 1824
(Signed)
Senators
[Signed] J [John] Elliott
[Signed] N [Nicholas] Ware
Representatives
[Signed] Joel Abbot
[Signed] Geo: [George] Cary
[Signed] Tho [Thomas] W Cobb
[Signed] A [Alfred] Cuthbert
[Signed] Jno [John] Forsyth
[Signed] Wiley Thompson





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To the President on Removal of Indians

1824.