A Book of the United States / Exhibiting its geography, divisions, constitution, and government ... and presenting a view of the republic generally, and of the individual states; together with a condensed history of the land, from its first discovery to the present time. The biography of about two hundred of the leading men: a description of the principal cities and towns; with statistical tables

by Unknown

The transactions between the United States and the Indian tribes have occasioned considerable discussion among the philanthropists of both the new and the old world; we shall, therefore, notice the treaties which were formed somewhat particularly. In February, a treaty was concluded with the Creek nation of Indians. The commissioners on the part of the United States represented to the Creeks, that it is the policy and wish of the general government, that the several Indian tribes within the limits of any of the states of the Union should remove to territory to be designated on the west side of the Mississippi river, as well for the better protection and security of the said tribes, and their improvement in civilization, as for the purpose of enabling the United States, in this instance, to comply with a compact entered into with the state of Georgia, on the 24th of April, 1802. The chiefs of the Creek towns assented to the reasonableness of the proposition, and expressed a willingness to emigrate beyond the Mississippi, those of Tokaubatchee excepted. The Creeks accordingly, by the first article of the treaty, ceded to the United States all the lands within the boundaries of the state of Georgia now occupied by them, or to which they have title or claim, lying within certain described boundaries; and by the second it was agreed, that the United States will give in exchange for the lands hereby acquired the like quantity, acre for acre, westward of the Mississippi, on the Arkansas river. Other stipulations favorable to the equitable claims of the emigrating parties were made; particularly that a deputation may be sent to explore the territory herein offered them in exchange; and if the same be not acceptable to them, then they may select any other territory west of the Mississippi, on Red, Canadian, Arkansas, or Missouri rivers, the territory occupied by the Cherokees and Choctaws excepted; and if the territory to be selected shall be in the occupancy of other Indian tribes, then the United States will extinguish the title of such occupants for the benefit of the said emigrants.

The Kansas Indians, by treaty, ceded to the United States all their lands both within and without the limits of Missouri, excepting a reservation beyond that state on the Kansas river, about thirty miles square, including their villages. In consideration of this cession, the United States agreed to pay three thousand five hundred dollars a year for twenty years; to furnish the Kansas immediately with three hundred head of cattle, three hundred hogs, five hundred fowls, three yoke of oxen, and two carts, and with such farming utensils as the Indian superintendent may deem necessary; to provide and support a blacksmith for them; and to employ persons to aid and instruct them in their agricultural pursuits, as the president may deem expedient. Of the ceded lands, thirty-six sections on the Big Blue river were to be laid out under the direction of the president, and sold for the support of schools among the Kansas. Reservations were also made for the benefit of certain half-breeds; and other stipulations mutually satisfactory. It was also agreed, that no private revenge shall be taken by the Indians for the violation of their rights; but that they shall maketheir complaint to the superintendent or other agent, and receive justice in a due course of law; and it was lastly agreed, that the Kansas nation shall never dispose of their lands without the consent of the United States, and that the United States shall always have the free right of navigation in the waters of the Kansas.

A treaty was also concluded with the Great and Little Osages, at St. Louis, Missouri. The general principles of this treaty are the same as those of the treaty with the Kansas. The Indians cede all their lands in Arkansas and elsewhere, and then reserve a defined territory, west of the Missouri line, fifty miles square; an agent to be permitted to reside on the reservation, and the United States to have the right of free navigation in all the waters on the tract. The United States pay an annuity of seven thousand dollars for twenty years; furnish forthwith six hundred head of cattle, six hundred hogs, one thousand fowls, ten yoke of oxen, six carts, with farming utensils, persons to teach the Indians agriculture, and a blacksmith, and build a commodious dwelling-house for each of the four principal chiefs, at his own village. Reservations were made for the establishment of a fund for the support of schools for the benefit of the Osage children; and provision was made for the benefit of the Harmony missionary establishment. The United States also assume certain debts due from certain chiefs of the tribes; and agree to deliver at the Osage villages, as soon as may be, four thousand dollars in merchandise, and two thousand six hundred in horses and their equipments.

In May a general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce, between the United States of America and the republic of Colombia, was signed by the president, at Washington.

The fiftieth anniversary, the jubilee, as it was termed, of American independence, was observed throughout the states with great enthusiasm, and was rendered additionally interesting by the remarkable circumstance that both Adams and Jefferson, eminent men among the fathers of their country, died on that day.

The opposition to the administration of Mr. Adams gained strength and development by daily increase, and numerous parties combined for its support or overthrow in various parts of the country. These parties were generally of a geographical character, and in the nineteenth congress it was usually found that the representatives from the southern, took sides directly opposed to those from the northern and western states. A resolution was expressed in some quarters to put down the administration at every hazard, no matter what might be its policy, its integrity, or its success. The cry of corruption was re-echoed by office seekers, and the more desperate portion of the oppositionists, till it began to gain currency with the public, and proved sufficient to secure the downfall of the administration against which it was raised.

The Panama mission was a fruitful subject of clamor and opposition. It was stigmatized as imprudent, unnecessary, at variance with our true and prevailing policy, and pregnant with peril. Charges of extravagance in expenditures were next brought against the heads of the government, and resolutions were introduced in congress, intimating that the executive patronage was too large, and ought to be diminished. The assertion of the president of his constitutional authority to appoint, during the vacation of congress, diplomatic agents to transact the foreign business of thecountry, was represented as the assumption of an undelegated power. Every opportunity was seized to represent the policy of the federal authorities as tending towards consolidation, and as indicating a disposition for an expensive and magnificent scheme of government.

In conformity with the views of the opposition, a nomination for the next presidency was immediately made, and in October, 1825, the legislature of Tennessee recommended general Jackson to the suffrages of the people of the United States for the highest office in their gift. The nomination he formally accepted, in an address delivered before both houses of the legislature of that state, in which he resigned his seat in the senate. In this address he plainly intimated his dissatisfaction at the result of the late presidential election, and a willingness to sanction an opposition to the administration on the ground of its corrupt origin. This same ground had been taken by the adherents of the vice-president in the discussion of Mr. M’Duffie’s proposed amendment of the constitution in the first session of the nineteenth congress. The public mind was irritated and exasperated by these charges, which were diffused with an industry and zeal to be paralleled only by their baseness. Accusation and recrimination became frequent and passionate, and the most bitter and indignant feelings took place of the tranquillity that had so long reigned in the political world.

At length the charge of corruption was brought from a responsible quarter, and an investigation ensued, which resulted in the complete acquittal of the parties accused. Directly after the adjournment of the eighteenth congress, a letter appeared, bearing date the 8th of March, 1825, purporting to relate a conversation with general Jackson, in which he said that a proposition had been made to him by Mr. Clay’s friends to secure his election to the presidency, on condition that Mr. Adams should not continue as secretary of state. This proposition was said to have been indignantly repelled. A correspondence immediately ensued on this subject between Mr. Beverly, the author of the letter in question, and general Jackson, in which an account of the negotiation alluded to was given at length, and the general disclaimed making any charge against Mr. Clay, and denied having accused him of being privy to the communication. Testimony was now produced by Mr. Clay and his friends, which completely refuted the charge of bargain, and hurled it with scorn in the teeth of his enemies. It was proved beyond a question that in voting for Mr. Adams in the house of representatives, Mr. Clay and his friends had acted with entire consistency, and that any other course would have indeed laid them open to the charge of gross and palpable violation of the principles they had always professed in relation to the election. But the accusation had been made to answer the purpose for which it was framed, and the opposition to the administration had found a permanent basis to build upon.

Mr. Adams continued to act on the principles which he had professed in his inaugural speech, of administering the government without regard to the distinctions of party. In the distribution of offices he asked merely as to the qualifications of the candidates, not of their political opinions. No one suffered by that ruthless policy, which bears so close a resemblance to the proscription of the Roman emperors; the one striking at life itself, the other at the means of life. It is difficult to say which of the two isthe more cruel, but they are surely equally unjust and vindictive. The system which makes the presidential chair a mere scramble for office, and the chief executive of the nation a dispenser of loaves and fishes to political adherents, is too mean, narrow, and contemptible, not to be subversive of all the best purposes of government, and must end in the subversion of government itself. The political forum is converted into an arena of battle, and the first moments of victory are sacred to spoil, devastation, and rapine. The lust of gold stifles the cry of mercy, and all the rules of honorable warfare are violated in the fierceness and vindictiveness of triumph. Office holders should be content with fulfilling the duties of their respective stations, and not consider themselves in the light of mere partisans, rewarded for upholding a particular man or set of men. The people pay them for a different service. Mr. Adams regarded this subject in its true bearings, and he acted in it with the stern and fearless integrity which has marked the whole course of his political life. Regardless of consequences, he was perhaps often injudicious in the diffusion of executive patronage, and sometimes furnished the enemy with artillery to be employed in the destruction of his own citadel.