NO. III.
The following documents from the Indian State Department, will show the advance which has been made in the science of government, and the art of diplomacy:
The nation has recently undergone quite a revolution, and the people have substituted a popular Representative Government, for the government of the Chiefs, which has heretofore existed. At a Convention, held at Cattaraugus on the 4th of December, 1848, the delegates, in a very formal manner, abrogated the old government, and proclaimed the new order of things, very much after the manner of the founders of our government. Their Declaration is not quite as long as the Mecklenburgh meeting, while its style is not unlike Mr. Jefferson’s. The Constitution, defining the duties and powers of the officers of government, is quite detailed. The Supreme Judiciary is composed of three judges, who are designated Peace-Makers. The legislative powers of the nation are vested in a Council of eighteen, chosen by the universal suffrages of the nation; but no treaty is to be binding, until it is ratified by three fourths of all the voters, and three fourths of all the mothers in the nation! This may be considered an advance, even beyond the legislative theory of the French Assembly. One provision of this Constitution exhibits a degree of national frugality, well worthy of imitation by those gentlemen in our own Congress, who spend so much of the “dear people’s” money in talking about their rights and interests. The Seneca Constitution declares that the compensation of members of the Council, shall be one dollar each per day, while in session; “but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars during any one year.” With such a provision, they will need no one-hour rule, and there will be no danger of their Council becoming “en permanence.”
Among the acts of the Convention, was the re-naming an estimable citizen of Baltimore—Philip E. Thomas; a gentleman [[304]]whom the Senecas recognize as an old and true friend. In acknowledgment of the many kindnesses which they had received at his hands, they had on a former occasion made Mr. Thomas a Chief, giving him the name of Sagaoh (Benevolent). But now it became necessary to give him a new title, and he was accordingly named Hai-wa-noh, which signifies the Ambassador. The minutes of the Convention state that this ceremony was performed amidst “great sensation, and applause of approbation!”
Declaration of the Seneca Nation of Indians—Changing their form of Government, and adopting a Constitutional Charter:
We, the people of the Seneca Nation of Indians, by virtue of the right inherent in every people, trusting in the justice and necessity of our undertaking, and humbly invoking the blessing of the God of Nations upon our efforts to improve our civil condition, and to secure to our nation the administration of equitable, wholesome laws, do hereby abolish, abrogate and annul our form of government by Chiefs, because it has failed to answer the purposes for which all governments should be created.
It affords no security in the enjoyment of property.
It provides no laws regulating the institution of marriage, but tolerates polygamy.
It makes no provision for the poor, but leaves the destitute to perish.
It leaves the people dependent on foreign aid for the means of education.
It has no judiciary, nor executive departments.
It is an irresponsible, self-created aristocracy.
Its powers are absolute and unlimited in assigning away the people’s rights; but indefinite and not exercised in making municipal regulations for their benefit or protection.
We cannot enumerate the evils growing out of a system so defective, nor calculate its overpowering weight on the progress of improvement.
But to remedy these defects, we proclaim and establish the [[305]]following Constitution, or Charter, and implore the Government of the United States, and the State of New York, to aid in providing us with laws, under which progress shall be possible.
Sec. 1. Our Government shall have a Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments.
Sec. 2. The legislative power shall be vested in a Council of eighteen members, who shall be termed the Councillors of the Seneca Nation, and who shall be elected annually on the first Tuesday in May in each year; and who shall be apportioned to each Reservation, according to its population—two thirds of whom assembled in regular session, and duly organized, shall constitute a quorum, and be competent for the transaction of business; but to all bills for the appropriation of public moneys, the assent of two thirds of the members elected shall be necessary, in order that the bill should become a law.
Sec. 3. The executive power shall be vested in a President, whose duty it shall be to preside at all meetings of the Council—having only a casting vote therein—and to see that all laws are duly executed; and to communicate to the Council, at every session, a statement of the condition of the national business, and to recommend for the action of the Council such matters as he may deem expedient. In the absence of the President, the Council may choose a presiding officer pro tempore.
Sec. 4. The judiciary power shall be vested in three Peace-Makers on each Reservation; and two of whom shall have power to hold courts, subject to an appeal to the Council, and to such courts of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit. The jurisdiction, forms of process, and proceeding in the Peace-Makers’ courts, shall be the same as the courts of the justices of the peace of the State of New York, except in the proof of wills, and the settlement of deceased persons’ estates—in which cases the Peace-Makers shall have such power as shall be conferred by law.
Sec. 5. All causes over which the Peace-Makers have not jurisdiction, may be heard before the Council, or such courts [[306]]of the State of New York as the Legislature thereof shall permit.
Sec. 6. The power of making treaties shall be vested in the Council; but no treaty shall be binding upon the nation until the same shall be submitted to the people, and be approved by three fourths of all the legal voters, and also by three fourths of all the mothers in the nation.
Sec. 7. There shall be a clerk and treasurer, and superintendent of schools, and overseers of the poor, and assessors, and overseers of highways, whose duties shall be regulated by law.
Sec. 8. Every officer who shall be authorized to receive public money, shall be required to give such security as the President and the attorney for the Seneca nation shall approve.
Sec. 9. There shall be a marshal, and two deputies, on each Reservation (Cattaraugus and Allegany), who shall execute all processes issued by the courts, and do such other duties as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 10. All officers named in this Constitution, or Charter, shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, and for the same time, as members of the Council, and vacancies occurring in any office shall be filled in the manner to be prescribed by law; and every male Indian of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, either residing on one of the Reservations (the Cattaraugus, Allegany, or Oil Spring), or owning, possessing, and occupying any lands upon either of said Reservations, and which lands may have been taxed for highways, or other purposes, shall be entitled to vote at all elections.
Sec. 11. Any legal voter shall be eligible to any office named in this Constitution or Charter; and all officers elect shall be inducted into office, and if necessary shall be impeached by the use of such forms and regulations as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 12. The compensation of members of the Council shall be one dollar per day while in session; but no member shall receive more than twenty-six dollars in any one year. The compensation of all the officers shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 13. The Council shall meet annually on the first Tuesday [[307]]in June, and extra sessions may be convened by the President at any time he shall think proper.
Sec. 14. The Council shall have power to make any laws not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or of the State of New York.
Sec. 15. All offences which shall be punishable by the laws of the United States, or of the State of New York, shall be tried and punished in the Peace-Makers’ Court, or before the Council, as shall be prescribed by law.
Sec. 16. The right of any member of the ancient confederacy of the Iroquois to the occupancy of our lands, and other privileges, shall be respected as heretofore; and the Council shall pass laws for the admission of any Indian of other tribes or nations to citizenship and adoption into the Seneca nation of Indians by his or her application, for his, or herself, or family.
Sec. 17. This Charter may be altered or amended by a Council of the people, convened for that purpose, on three months’ previous notice, by a vote of two thirds of the legal voters present at such convention.
Sec. 18. The saw-mills on the different Reservations, now in operation, are hereby declared to be national property, and the funds accruing therefrom shall be by the Council appropriated to national purposes. But nothing in this Charter shall be construed as prohibiting the erection of mills and other works for manufacturing or other purposes, by any private individual, upon his own premises, provided that in so doing he do not trespass upon the rights of any other individual; and all such erections by individuals shall be respected as strictly private property.
Sec. 19. The laws passed by the Legislature of the State of New York for the protection and improvement of the Seneca nation of Indians, and also all laws and regulations heretofore adopted by the Chiefs, in legal council assembled, shall continue in full force and effect as heretofore, except so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution or Charter.
I hereby certify that the above copy has been examined [[308]]and compared with the original, now on file in the Archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct transcript of the same and of the whole of said Declaration, Constitution, and Charter.
William Jemerson,
Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians,
Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County.
New York, December 5, 1848.
RESOLUTIONS,
Adopted by the Convention of the Seneca Nation of Indians, December 4th, 1848.
Resolved,—That this Convention feel grateful for the religious and scientific instruction which benevolent societies and individuals have bestowed upon us, as well as for the introduction of proper means among us for our improvement; and particularly do we desire to express our gratitude to the Society of Friends; they were the first to introduce the means for our culture and improvement, and laid the foundation of our education and civilization, by which means we have become wiser and enlightened, and been enabled to see and understand our rights; they also befriended and aided us when friendless, and without means to sustain ourselves in time of peril—always zealous and unremitting in their labors for our welfare. Also to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in sending us missionaries and teachers to enlighten our minds, and direct us to the true light, and teach us the plan of salvation: and also the State of New York, for their benevolent efforts in enacting laws for our protection and improvement, as well as for the large and generous appropriations made by them for the erection of school-houses, and the payment of school teachers among our people, and we desire that these kind offices may be continued.
Resolved,—That inasmuch as we have abolished our former Government; that by so doing all appointments have now become annulled; therefore
Resolved,—That the Seneca nation of Indians in this General Convention assembled, do hereby express their thanks to [[309]]their friend and brother Sagaoh (Philip E. Thomas), of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, for the faithful discharge of his duties as representative of our nation (under our late Government) to the United States Government at Washington, and having undiminished confidence in his integrity and ability, we do hereby constitute and appoint him our ambassador, under our new form of Government, to represent us, and to have charge of all the interests and affairs of the Seneca nation of Indians to the United States Government at Washington.
Resolved,—That as it is customary among our people, that whenever any important event occurs in the history of our nation, either by the natural transition from childhood to manhood, from Warrior to Chieftain, or from Chieftain to Sachem; therefore we declare, that in consequence of this change in our Government of his re-appointment under the new, and with the consent of the relatives of our friend Sagaoh, that the name Sagaoh shall cease to be his name, by which he was called and known among us, and that hereafter his name shall be Hai-wa-noh (Ambassador, Representative or Chargé d’Affaires) because he is to represent our nation and people, by which appellation he is henceforth to be known among us, and that the ceremony of christening him be immediately performed. Whereupon the ceremony of changing the former Indian name and christening Philip E. Thomas of Baltimore, was performed according to our customs and usages, by Sa-dye-na-wa (John Hudson), and declared that the said Thomas may hereafter be known by the name of Hai-wa-noh. (Great sensation and applause of approbation.)
Resolved,—That the clerk and President are hereby authorized and empowered to prepare the credentials of Hai-wa-noh (Philip E. Thomas), our Ambassador, whom we have hereby constituted and appointed; and forward the same to him as soon as practicable, together with the Declaration, and Constitutional Charter, and request him immediately to repair to the seat of the United States Government, and present them to the proper authorities, and also to notify him of the change [[310]]of his name, and his appointment as an officer of the Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.
Resolved,—That copies of the Declaration, Constitutional Charter, and resolutions of this convention, be forwarded by the clerk to the joint committee of the Society of Friends on Indian concerns; and to the Governors of the States of New York and Massachusetts, with the request that the same be put on file in the proper offices; and that our Representative be requested to present copies of the same to the Congress of the United States, now convened at Washington, and to the Secretary at War, with the request that the same be put on file in their respective departments.
Resolved,—That we have unabated and undiminished confidence in the abilities and qualifications of the United States interpreter (Peter Wilson) for this agency, having always discharged his duty faithfully, and that inasmuch as the late chiefs under our former Government have petitioned for his removal, without just and reasonable cause, we hereby request our representative to protest and remonstrate against his removal.
Resolved,—That the clerk be hereby instructed to prepare and forward copies of the doings and proceedings of this Convention, to the publishers of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, and the New York Tribune, with the request that the same be printed in their respective papers.
I do hereby certify that the above copy has been examined and compared with the original now on file in the archives of the Seneca nation of Indians, by me, and is a correct copy of the same, and of the whole of said resolutions passed by the General Convention.
William Jemerson,
Clerk of the Seneca nation of Indians.
| Cattaraugus Reservation, |  |
| Erie County, N. Y. | |
| December 5, 1848. |
Sir:—You are hereby nominated, constituted, and appointed an Ambassador, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the seat of Government of the United States of America, by the Constitutional Convention and Government of [[311]]the Seneca nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, to represent them in their names and behalf, with full powers and privileges of said office to take charge of the interests and affairs of your Government and nation: and whatever you may do in our names and behalf will be binding upon us, and of the same effect as if we had been present and consenting thereto; and you are hereby authorized and empowered to proceed with the business of your nation as they shall from time to time direct, and as you may deem just and proper.
You are also hereby authorized and requested to proceed immediately to the seat of the United States Government, and present this, your credentials, to the proper authorities.
You are also informed that your official duties commence with the date of this commission and appointment as an officer of the Seneca nation of Indians.
By order of the Convention and Government of the Seneca nation of Indians.
S. W. McLane, President.
William Jemerson, Clerk.
Cattaraugus Reservation, Erie County, N. Y.,
December 5th, 1848.
To HAI-WA-NOH, (Philip E. Thomas,)
Ambassador, &c., &c.,
Baltimore, Maryland.