[PEN-L:9581] Indian Removal

["Frank Durgin" <fdurgin1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                                                  Indian Removal
                       Extract from Andrew Jackson's Seventh Annual Message
to Congress
                                                    December 7, 1835



The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain within the
settled portions of the United States to the country west
of the Mississippi River approaches its consummation. It was adopted on the
most mature consideration of the condition of this
race, and ought to be persisted in till the object is accomplished, and
prosecuted with as much vigor as a just regard to their
circumstances will permit, and as fast as their consent can be obtained.
All preceding experiments for the improvement of the
Indians have failed. It seems now to be an established fact they they can
not live in contact with a civilized community and
prosper. Ages of fruitless endeavors have at length brought us to a
knowledge of this principle of intercommunication with
them. The past we can not recall, but the future we can provide for.
Independently of the treaty stipulations into which we
have entered with the various tribes for the usufructuary rights they have
ceded to us, no one can doubt the moral duty of the
Government of the United States to protect and if possible to preserve and
perpetuate the scattered remnants of this race which
are left within our borders. In the discharge of this duty an extensive
region in the West has been assigned for their permanent
residence. It has been divided into districts and allotted among them. Many
have already removed and others are preparing to
go, and with the exception of two small bands living in Ohio and Indiana,
not exceeding 1,500 persons, and of the Cherokees,
all the tribes on the east side of the Mississippi, and extending from Lake
Michigan to Florida, have entered into engagements
which will lead to their transplantation.

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."

Such are the arrangements for the physical comfort and for the moral
improvement of the Indians. The necessary measures
for their political advancement and for their separation from our citizens
have not been neglected. The pledge of the United
States has been given by Congress that the country destined for the
residence of this people shall be forever "secured and
guaranteed to them." A country west of Missouri and Arkansas has been
assigned to them, into which the white settlements
are not to be pushed. No political communities can be formed in that
extensive region, except those which are established by
the Indians themselves or by the Untied States for them and with their
concurrence. A barrier has thus been raised for their
protection against the encroachment of our citizens, and guarding the
Indians as far as possible from those evils which have
brought them to their present condition. Summary authority has been given
by law to destroy all ardent spirits found in their
country, without waiting the doubtful result and slow process of a legal
seizure. I consider the absolute and unconditional
interdiction of this article among these people as the first and great step
in their melioration. Halfway measures will answer no
purpose. These can not successfully contend against the cupidity of the
seller and the overpowering appetite of the buyer. And
the destructive effects of the traffic are marked in every page of the
history of our Indian intercourse. . . .

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