VOL. I, No. 4 JULY, 1916
Smith College Studies in History
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT SIDNEY BRADSHAW FAY
Editors
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY 1790-1807
By EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF
1822-1823
By ANNIE HELOISE ABEL
NORTHAMPTON, MASS.
Published Quarterly by the Department of History of Smith College
Entered as second class matter December 14, 1915, at the postofflce at Northampton, Mass., under the act of August 24, 1912.
SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT SIDNEY BRADSHAW FAY
EDITORS
THE SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY is published quarterly, in October, January, April and July, by the Department of History of Smith College. The subscription price is fifty cents for single numbers, one dollar and a half for the year. Subscriptions and requests for exchanges should be addressed to Professor SIDNEY B. FAY, Northampton, Mass.
THE SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY aims primarily to afford a medium for the publication of studies in History and Government by investigators who have some relation to the College, either as faculty, alumnae, students or friends. In aims also to publish from time to time brief notes in the field of History and Government which may be of special interest to alumnae of Smith College and to others interested in the higher education of women. Contributions of studies or notes which promise to further either of these aims will be welcomed, and should be addressed to Professor JOHN S. BASSETT, Northampton, Mass.
THE FIRST NUMBER OF THE SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
IS
"AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT AS A MANUFACTURING STATE"
By GRACE PIERPONT FULLER AND THE SECOND AND THIRD NUMBERS ARE
"THE OPERATION OF THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU IN SOUTH CAROLINA"
Chapters l-VUl By LAURA JOSEPHINE WEBSTER
VoL.gl, No. 4 JULY, 1916
Smith College Studies in History
JOHN SPENCER BASSETT SIDNEY BRADSHAW FAY
Editors
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY
1790-1807
By EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF
1822-1823
By ANNIE HELOISE ABEL
NORTHAMPTON, MASS.
Published Quarterly by the Department of History of Smith College
TK 1911
1064632
Women's Suffrage in New Jersey: 1790-1807
BY EDWARD RAYMOND TURNER, PH.D.
Professor of History, the University of Michigan
[NoTE: The author had completed the research for this paper and most of the writing of it, when he learned that Dr. Annie Heloise Abel had for some time been collecting data for the future composition of an article on the same subject. It was afterwards seen that both had examined, apparently, the existing material, and had obtained nearly identical results. Under the circumstances two studies were not to be thought of; and collaboration upon one, while considered, was ultimately deemed inadvisable. This study, then, is substantially as I wrote it early in 1913, but Dr. Abel has not only read it over, but contributed a great deal of constructive criticism, numerous references, and not a few of her own ideas. Those used by me, which are supplementary to what I had myself discovered, I have marked "A", though it must be said that the portions so marked denote only a small part of the service rendered. I am not sure that Dr. Abel would approve of all parts of this study, but I am very certain that I have written it a great deal better because of her encouragement and assistance. — E. R. T.]
Increasing agitation about extending the franchise to women ihas been accompanied by study of the position of women in the past, with the intention of proving that once they had political rights which afterwards were lost. It is pointed out that women as well as men inherited feudal tenure, partook of gild privileges, and held rights in boroughs;1 that they granted money to the king of England, were summoned to parliament, and could return members to parliament.2 In the history of the American colonies it has been noted that Margaret Brent asserted her right to sit in the assembly of Maryland.3 In some cases, I think, false conclusions with respect to suffrage have certainly been drawn.
Bollock and Maitland, History of English Law (Cambridge, 1911), L 72, 262, 263, 308, 314; Luchaire, La Societe Fran<;aise au Temps de Philippe- August e (Paris, 1909), p. 373; Gross, The Gild Merchant, I, 29, 30, II, 4, 14, 49, 125, 127, 128, 212; Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons, I, 39, 40, 78, 79, 97, (A).
2 Rotuli Parliamentorum, III, 546; Palgrave, Parliamentary Writs, I, 164; May, Constitutional History of England, vol. Ill, by Francis Holland (New York, 1912), p. 59 (A); C. C. Stopes, British Free-women, Their Historical Privilege, p. 96; M. G. Fawcett, Women's Suffrage, pp. 8, 9.
^Archives of Maryland, I, 215.
166 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
In New Jersey, however, in the period from 1790 to 1807, women were permitted to vote, and not a few of them actually did so. It is probable that this is the most important instance of voting in government elections by English-speaking women in any early time.
This story, like others similar, has to do largely with one of the roughly drawn state constitutions of the early Revolutionary period. In 1776 the second Continental Congress recommended that the people of the colonies erect state governments. Accord- ingly in New Jersey a convention meeting at Burlington, Trenton, and New Brunswick, May 26 to July 2, secretly drafted a docu- ment which shortly after was published. The manner in which this convention did its work, and the reasons which led to the particular form of the constitution, are scarcely known, for the task was done in secret, and very scanty records have been pre- served.4 But it is known that the draft was prepared in two days, and agreed to in six more;5 and there is no doubt that afterwards some of the provisions were found ill-considered and others difficult to understand. In regard to the suffrage this constitution provided that ".all inhabitants" of the state having certain qualifications might vote.6
In colonial times the franchise had been restricted practically to freeholders,7 but at the beginning of the Revolution desire for a wider electorate is manifest in numerous petitions for allowing householders to vote.8 As a result of this, in February,
* Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Convention of New- Jersey. . . . 1776, etc. (Trenton, 1831).
5 (Trenton) The State Gazette, and New Jersey Advertiser, March 27, 1798.
6 "That all Inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim a vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for Repre- sentatives in Council and Assembly; and also for all other public officers, that shall be elected by the people of the county at large" : Poore, Federal and State Constitutions, II, 1311.
7 A. E. McKinley, The Suffrage Franchise in the Thirteen English Colonies in America, pp. 228, 229, 238, 248 (A).
8 Minutes of the Provincial Congress and Council of Safety (1879), pp. 207, 220, 231, 340, 346, 372; American Archives, fourth series, IV. 1579, 1594 (A).
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE; IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 167
1776, the Provincial Congress had appointed a committee to pre- pare an ordinance embodying an extension of the franchise to "every person" of full age and of one year's residence and worth fifty pounds.9 These were the provisions which were incorpor- ated a little later in the constitution. It is not improbable that the patriots, a minority in New Jersey, hoped to win to their support numerous malcontents who desired a share in the govern- ment of the commonwealth.
In 1777 an act passed to regulate elections did not state the qualifications of electors, but declared that the judges of elections were to be chosen by "the Inhabitants of each County, entitled to vote for Representatives in the said Council and General As- sembly," and that if objection were made to any person offering to vote he should declare "I verily believe I am twenty-one Years of Age, and worth Fifty Pounds lawful Money clear Estate in this State; and that I am and have been for one whole Year last past an Inhabitant of this County. w This act was continued until 1779, when another was passed to the same effect. In 1783 a general election law stated the suffrage qualifications as clearly as they had been laid down in the constitution : "All Inhabitants of this State of full Age, who are worth Fifty Pounds, Proclama- tion Money, clear Estate in the same, and have resided within the County in which they claim a Vote for twelve Months im- mediately preceding the Election, shall be entitled to vote for Representatives in Council and Assembly, and also for all other publick Officers that shall be elected by the People of the County at large."11 Meanwhile it does not seem that there was any agitation as to whether the law and the constitution permitted women to vote. The matter was neither affirmed nor denied, and seems not to have been a subject of discussion.
In 1790 revision of the election law for certain counties was
9 Minutes of the Provincial Congress, p. 373; also pp. 429, 430 (A).
10 Acts of the . . . General Assembly of the State of New-Jersey, 1776-1777, pp. 54, 56.
11 Ibid., pp. 123, 124 (October 11, 1777); Ibid., 1779, p. 98 (June 10, 1779) ; ibid., 1779-80, pp. 34, 35 (December 24, 1779) ; ibid., 1783, p. 17 {December 16, 1783).
168 SMITH COIJ^GE; STUDIES IN HISTORY
taken up in the assembly.12 It was said long after that on this occasion, while a new bill was being drafted, Joseph Cooper, a Friend of West Jersey, and a member of the committee in charge, urged that women had the right to vote, and to please him the committee reported a bill in which the franchise was conferred upon voters referred to as "he or she."13 The bill passed the assembly with only three votes against it, and became law on November 18.14 This act declared that "all free Inhabitants of this State" of full age and with the required qualifications of residence and property "shall be entitled to vote," and that "no Person shall be entitled to vote in any other Township or Precinct, than that in which he or she doth actually reside at the Time of the Election."15 It may be remarked that the provisions of this act were extended to other counties somewhat later.16
The account of the part taken by Joseph Cooper must be regarded as traditional, but it would not be surprising if the explicit inclusion of women in the franchise were brought about through the influence of Friends, since the Quakers had consist- ently maintained the essential equality of women with men. Thomas Clarkson, who was about this time making a study of the Friends in England, notes the good qualities and the practical education of their women. "Independently of their private char- acter," he adds, "they have that which no other body of women have, a public character."17 Among the Friends women preached, they appointed representatives to the meetings, held their own councils at which women presided, chose their own committees, and appointed women overseers and elders. They held office in
12 Votes and Proceedings of . . . the General Assembly of . . . New Jersey, October 30, November 14, 1789, May 19, 21, October 27, 1790.
13 W. A. Whitehead, "A Brief Statement of the Facts Connected with the Origin, Practice and Prohibition of Female Suffrage in New Jersey," Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, first series, VIII, 102 (1856).
14 Votes of the Assembly, November 4, 1790; Acts of New Jersey, 1790, p. 669.
15 Acts of New Jersey, 1790, pp. 672, 673. 16 Ibid., 1796, p. 49 (March 10).
7 "This is a new era in female history," he declares : A Portraiture of Quakerism (New York, 1806), III, 246.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 169
the same manner that men did, though they could not be corres- pondents, arbitrators, legislators, or on committees of appeal. Substantially no distinction was made between men and women in the society.18 Notwithstanding, there is apparently at this time no evidence that the women of New Jersey, whether of the society of Friends or not, sought the franchise or made use of it after their right had been acknowledged.
For some years no important change was made in the election law. When in 1794 an act was passed prescribing the manner in which representatives were to be chosen to the Federal con- gress, it was directed that the elections should be held "under the same regulations" as those under which members of the state legislature were chosen.19 There was, however, considerable dissatisfaction with the existing provisions owing to lack of uni- formity and frequent change. In some counties of the state vot- ing was by ballot, in others it was viva voce ; but from time to time counties were admitted to one class or taken over into the other.20 A new law seemed desirable, and in 1796 a committee was appointed to prepare a bill to secure "a uniform mode of election." The bill which they reported was taken rapidly through the council, and brought down to the assembly, where with some amendment it was passed by a vote of thirty-two to four.21 While it was passing through the legislature there seems to have been no debate whatever on the subject of women's franchise. The purpose of the bill was to secure uniformity of procedure.22 Again by this act "all free inhabitants" properly qualified were to vote, and women were included as well as
18 Ibid., pp. 250, 251.
39 Acts of New Jersey, 1794-5, pp. 928, 931; ibid., 1796, p. 119.
"Ibid., 1777, p. 61; 1779, p. 36; 1783, pp. 15-17, 75, 76; 1788, p. 502; 1790, p. 671 ; 1794, p. 950; 1795, p. 1059; 1796, p. 49.
^Journals of the Proceedings of the Legislative Council, October 26, November 4, 10, 11, 12, 14, 1796; Votes of the Assembly, November 15, 1796, January 21, February 10, 16, 21, 22, 1797.
** "By this 'bill the election throughout the state is made uniform, and to be by townships and by ballot:" (Newark) Centinel of Freedom, March 15, 1797.
170 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
men, the legislators taking particular care to make this clear.23 It is not apparent that up to this time many women of New Jersey had availed themselves of the privilege accorded them, but an instance soon occurred which attracted general attention. In October, in Essex County, a lively contest arose between John Condict of Newark and William Crane of Elizabeth, candi- dates for the legislature respectively of the Republican and the Federalist parties. Condict triumphed by a narrow margin, but not until a throng of women in Elizabethtown had gone to the polls in a last effort to save his rival.24 The account of this oc- currence, which was immediately published in the local paper, was widely circulated.25 The comment would seem to indicate that this was the first time that any number of women had ever voted in the state26
The observations are very interesting. One writer of the op- posing political party coarsely declared that "the husbands and sweethearts of these heroines begin to suspect that some motive other than a love of the federal cause excited the enterprize." A local wit asserted that it was "a general opinion that females ought not to intermeddle in political affairs." He added that the emperor of Java employed women to advantage in his diplomatic service ; while a correspondent asked whether it was not probable "that we should have obtained better terms in a certain treaty, had some WIDOW been employed to negotiate it, instead of an
* "No person shall be entitled to vote in any other township or precinct, than that in which he or she doth actually reside at the time of the election:" Acts of New Jersey, 1797, pp. 171-174 (February 22). "Every voter shall openly, and in full view deliver his or her ballot ... to the said judge :" ibid., p. 173. It should be noted, however, that in 1798 an act for the regulation of townships declared that "every white male person" with qualifications required might vote on township matters, "and no other person :" Laws of New Jersey (published by William Patterson, Newark, 1800), p. 283 (A).
21 Whitehead, p. 102; (Newark) Centinel, October 18, 1797; Wood's Newark Gazette, and New Jersey Advertiser, October 18, 1797.
25 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, October 18, 1797; (Trenton) State Gazette, October 24, 1797; (Newark) Centinel, October^25, 1797.
20 Somewhat later this was specifically stated : "It will be recollected that it was at Elizabeth that the women were first introduced to the election poll in this county, and I believe in this state :" "Manlius" in (Newark) Centinel, February 17, 1807.
WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE IN NKW JERSEY, 1790-1807 171
extraordinary MALE minister."27 Some of the comments had a curiously modern tone. One observer spoke of the "rights of women,"28 and another published a humourous poem, striking in itself, and of interest as affording a clue to the arguments which advocates of the cause had been urging :
NEW-JERSEY hail ! thrice happy state !
thy genius still befriends thee ; The Arts obedient round thee wait,
and Science still attends thee : In freedom's cause you gain'd applause,
and nobly spurned subjection; You're now the Oracle of Laws,
and Freedom of Election!
Let Democrats, with senseless prate,
maintain the softer sex, sir, Should ne'er with politics of state
their gentle minds perplex, sir; Such vulgar prejudice we scorn;
their sex is no objection: New trophies shall our brows adorn,
by Freedom of Election!
What tho' we read, in days of yore,
the woman's occupation, Was to direct the wheel and loom,
not to direct the nation : This narrow-minded policy
by us hath met detection ; While woman's bound, man can't be free,
nor have a fair Election.
Oh ! what parade those widows made !
some marching cheek by jole, sir; In stage, or chair, some beat the air,
and press'd on to the Pole, sir: While men of rank, who played this prank,
beat up the widow's quarters; Their hands they laid on every maid,
and scarce spar'd wives, or daughters!
27 (Newark) Centinel, October 18, 1797; (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, October 18, 1797.
8 "The Rights of Man have been warmly insisted on by Tom Paine and other democrats, but we outstrip them in the science of government, and not only preach the Rights of Women, but boldly push it into practice — Madame Wolstencrafts has certainly the merit of broaching this sub- ject:" (Newark) Centinel, October 18, 1797.
172 SMITH COLLEGE; STUDIES IN HISTORY
This precious clause of section laws
we shortly will amend, sir ; And woman's rights, with all our might,
we'll labour to defend, sir : To Congress, lo ! widows shall go,
like metamorphosed witches ! Cloath'd with the dignity of state,
and eke, in coat and breeches !
Then freedom hail ! thy powers prevail
o'er prejudice and error; No longer shall man tyrannize,
and rule the world in terror : Now one and all, proclaim the fall
of Tyrants ! — Open wide your throats, And welcome in the peaceful scene,
of government in petticoats ! ! !
It was predicted that "as women are now to take a part in the jurisprudence of our state, we may shortly expect to see them take the helm — of government."29
The affair seems to have been an unusual one, and I have found no mention of women exercising the franchise in the years immediately following; but it is said that they voted throughout the state in 1800, and there is no doubt that they voted in a state election in 1802, and probably in another also four years later.30 In 1798 a writer lamented the fact that voting by women gave the towns advantage over the country, because townsmen could more easily bring their women to elections, and declared that "Many important election contests, have been terminated at last, by these auxiliaries." 31 It would appear, however, that they did not vote generally or on many occasions, since the newspapers do not usually mention them in describing elections.32 It is, of course possible that the papers fail to comment upon what had come to be regarded as a matter of course, but there is reason to
w "THE; FREEDOM OF ELECTION. A NEW SONG. To the Tune of — The Battle of the Kegs," ibid.
30Whitehead, p. 103; (Trenton) True American, October 25, 1802; Votes of the Assembly, November 16, 1802; (Newark) Centinel, February 17, 1807.
31"Eumenes" in (Trenton) State Gazette, January 23, 1798.
32 For example, (Newark) Centinel, January 4, 1797 (A) ; The Newark Gazette, October 21, 28, 1800; (Morristown) Genius of Liberty, October 23, 1800; Centinel, October 23, November 13, 1804.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 173
believe that the people of New Jersey did not so look upon the matter.
From the first there had been doubt as to the propriety of women being admitted to the suffrage,33 and very soon their right to participate was called in question. Beginning in 1796 and continuing through the next four years appeared a remarkable series of newspaper articles, which criticised the constitution and explained the necessity of revising it.34 In 1798 the author said : "It has ever been a matter of dispute upon the constitution, whether females, as well as males, are entitled to elect officers of government. If we were to be guided by the letter of the charter, it would seem to place them on the same footing in this particular ; and yet, recurring to political right and the nature of things, a very forcible construction has been raised against the admission of women, to participate in the public suffrage."35 In 1799 a corres- pondent writing to his paper urged the desirability of amending the state constitution. Among the things to be considered, he said^ was the placing of the rights "of electors and elected upon safer j and more rational principles" by "ascertaining the right of females I to vote at elections."36 In the year following the editor of the] Newark Centinel bitterly arraigned the corruption of the Federal ists of Elizabethtown in bringing forward "the widows and maids of that place ... to vote for the federal ticket."37 In 1802 a writer decrying a corrupt election said, "we have seen in
33 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, October 18, 1797; (Trenton) State Gazette, October 24, 1797; (Newark) Centinel, October 25, 1797.
84 Published in (Trenton) State Gazette, March, 1796, February 14, 1797, January 9, 16, 23, 30, February 6, 13, 20, 27, March 6, 20, 27, April 3, June 12, July 24, 31, August 14, 21, September 4, 11, 18, October 2, 9, 30, November 6, 1798, and in other numbers. Apparently some of the articles were printed in various papers: (Morristown) Genius of Liberty, October 9, 1800 (A). Many of them were published together as a pam- phlet: Humenes: Being a Collection of Papers, Written for the purpose of exhibiting some of the more prominent Errors and Omissions of', the Constitution of New-Jersey . . . and to Prove the Necessity of Calling a Convention, for Revision and Amendment (Trenton, 1799). The author was William Griffith of Burlington. For the quotations from Humenes I am indebted to the late William Nelson of Paterson, New Jersey.
35 Humenes, p. 33; State Gazette, January 23, 1798.
36 (Trenton) Federalist, November 4, 1799. 87 (Newark) Centinel, December 9, 1800.
174 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
Elizabeth-Town the practice of bringing women and girls to vote first introduced, in direct violation of the spirit and in- tention of the law."38
To some there appeared no doubt that women were enfran- chised by the constitution of the state,39 and that the state election laws confirmed this. In 1800 a member of the legislature de- clared that when the Assembly was considering a bill to regulate the election of representatives to the Congress of the United States, a motion was made to amend by adding: "That it is the true intent and meaning of this act, that the inspectors of elections in the several Townships of this State, shall not refuse the vote of any widow or unmarried woman of full age . . . provided each of the said persons shall make it appear on oath or otherwise, to the satisfaction of the said inspectors, that . . . she is worth ;£50 clear estate." The amendment was rejected because it was said that the constitution clearly guaranteed this right to women, and the inspectors must be guided thereby. "Our Constitution," he added, "gives this right to maids or widows black or white."40 Two years later, when an election law was being considered, it was moved "to exclude all persons from voting excepting free white males," but the proposition was easily voted down.41
That there was uncertainty notwithstanding, is evident from the fact that among those who agreed that women should vote, there was disagreement about what women might do this. The constitution stated explicitly that all properly qualified "inhabi- tants" should have the franchise, and the election laws made it clear that this referred to women as well as to men, without any exception save that they be duly qualified. It was the prevailing opinion, however, that married women were excluded. In de-
38 Ibid., November 2, 1802.
39 "I believe, that the convention, who framed the constitution, had no view to the admission of females, either single women or widows, to elect the public officers; but such is the phraseology of the constitution, that it seems a violation of it, not to admit their votes. The best constitutions have guarded against any mistakes, on this head;" "The generally received opinion. . . is, that the constitution permits it :" Eumenes, pp. 33, 34.
40 (Newark) Centinel, November 11, 1800.
41 Votes of the Assembly, November 29, 1802.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 175
scribing the elections in which women voted some of the con- temporary writers mention only widows and women unmarried.42 In 1802, when an election was contested, one of the complaints was "that married women voted." The committee by whom the complaint was heard upheld the election, because it appeared that only one had done this, and she, being deserted by her husband several years before, had resumed her former name, and under that name paid taxes. But on the same occasion the committee dismissed another such complaint on a technicality.43 It can scarcely be doubted that some married women did vote without protest.44 It may be remarked that the election law of 1797, when it specified the inclusion of women in the franchise, omitted the words "clear estate" in the property qualification as expressed in the constitution, apparently ignoring a restriction which would have excluded married women as the law of property was at that time.45
It seems probable that the general opinion, so far as it found expression, was that women might vote, if not under the consti- tution, at least under the state laws. Frequently there were complaints about improper elections, but usually no objection is made to qualified female voters. In 1798 a petition alleged fraud and undue influence, but made no allusion to women. Two years later the Federalists of Essex County were accused of receiving among other votes known to be illegal those of "negro wenches," but the complaint was that they were negresses, supported by charity.46 In 1802 the Federalists again used the votes of women,
42 (Newark) Centinel, October 18, 1797, December 9, 1800.
43 Votes of the Assembly, November 16, 1802.
44 A sarcastic writer declares that during the election at Elizabeth in 1797, "the alacrity with which the matterns, and even maids, assembled, afforded a transient prospect of immediate relief" to the Federalists. He speaks also of the "husbands and sweethearts" of these women: (Newark) Centinel, October 18, 1797.
15 "Fifty pounds proclamation money, clear estate," 1776: Poore, II, 1311; "Fifty Pounds Proclamation Money clear Estate," 1790; Acts of New Jersey, 1790, p. 672; "fifty pounds, proclamation money," 1797: ibid., 1797, p. 174; see Carpenter v. Cornish (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1912) : 83 Atlantic Reporter 31.
46 (Newark) Centinel, February 20, 1798, December 16, 1800.
176 SMITH COLLEGE: STUDIES IN HISTORY
but objection was made because some of the votes received were of women not qualified as to residence, age, and property,47 If one examines the evidence and the legal precedents, the difficulty of deciding the question is as apparent now as it was then. Some of the important provisions in early state constitu- tions were drafted in such manner that what they seemed to mean in plain words was very different from what they were in- terpreted to mean. In Pennsylvania, the suffrage clauses in the constitutions of 1776 and 1790 were so worded that it was for a great many years doubtful whether or not negroes might vote ; and when the matter came up for final interpretation in 1838, the supreme court itself was reluctant to decide.48 These con- stitutions provided that every "freeman" properly qualified might vote, and the difficulty lay in deciding the significance of "free- man,"— whether it referred to all men free, or was to be under- stood with certain legal limitations valid when the instrument was drawn and previously.49 Similarly, the New Jersey consti- tution of 1776, which granted the franchise to "all inhabitants," may seem more inclusive than it was intended to be. Had women voted in New Jersey in colonial days, then there might be no question about the term comprehending women as well as men, but no woman is known to have done this, and the colonial laws granted the suffrage in terms as vague as those afterwards writ- ten.50 If, when the constitution was adopted, there had been agitation for the inclusion of women in the franchise, and if the matter had been debated in the convention, it might be supposed that the suffrage clause represented an innovation, and included women with men, but there seems to be no record that the matter was discussed. Ambiguous phrases must be understood in the sense which they probably had to the men who used them for a particular purpose. It then becomes probable that "all inhabi-
47 (Trenton) True American, October 25, 1802; (Newark) Centinel, November 2, 1802.
48 E. R. Turner, The Negro in Pennsylvania, 1639-1861, pp. 169-190. 49Poore, II, 1542, 1551; Hobbs v. Fogg (Supreme Court of Pennsyl- vania, 1838) : 6 Watts 553-560.
50 Allinson, Laws of New Jersey, pp. 6, 69, 70, 306.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 177
tants" means no more than "all men," since before 1776 only men had voted in New Jersey. .Some force is given to this contention by the fact that the constitution itself ordains that the previous laws of the province shall remain in force unless they are in- compatible with the constitution, and no law to regulate the qualifications of electors was passed until 1783, when the ex- pression "all Inhabitants" remained as in the constitution.51 Moreover, from a strictly legal point of view, the constitution of 1776, in ordaining that all qualified inhabitants might vote, who had resided for twelve months preceding in the county "in which they claim a vote," might be thought to exclude all but men, since in 1776 men alone, it would seem, had by long custom made the privilege good.52
If resort be had to contemporary expressions the same ambigu- ous wording is discovered, as might be expected. In 1776 a peti- tion from the inhabitants of Morristown asked that "all officers in civil government may be annually elected by the people."53 In 1782 the legislature declared that "every Person" on parole or under indictment for aiding the enemies of the state should be in- capable of voting.54. In 1801 an advertisement notified the "In- habitants of the Township of Morris" that "the annual Election for the choice of members of the Legislature, Sheriff, &c. will open."55 On the other hand, somewhat earlier, a member of the legislature declared in the Assembly that it was a fundamental principle of good government that representation and taxation should go together, and lamented that some men were excluded from the suffrage. "This," he said, "requires a revision; every man, in my opinion, who pays a tax for the support of govern- ment, has a right to vote for a man by whom he is to be taxed."56
It cannot be denied that the matter is dubious and that there is ground for difference of opinion; but the important thing is
81 Poore, II, 1313 ; Acts of New Jersey, 1783, p. 17.
52 Poore, II, 1311 ; 83 Atlantic Reporter 32.
53 Journal of the Votes and Proceedings of the Convention of New- Jersey . . . 1776, p. 20.
"Acts of New Jersey, 1782, p. 119.
56 (Morristown) Genius of Liberty, October 1, 1801.
56 (Newark) Centinel, April 24, 1798.
178 SMITH COLLEGE; STUDIES IN HISTORY
that this doubtfulness existed. In the years after 1776 it was not clear to all people of New Jersey whether the constitution admitted women to vote or not. Two laws explanatory were passed by the legislature, but the legislature might annul them, as it afterwards did, and then the meaning of the constitution would depend ultimately upon the decision of the majority of the people. Meanwhile the subject of women's suffrage remained a debatable question which might be decided differently by differ- ent men. The fourth article of the constitution, said Eumenes, declares that all inhabitants qualified shall vote. "Those who support the rights of women, say, that 'all inhabitants/ must mean all women inhabiting, as well as all men; whereas, it is urged or. the other side, that the makers must have meant all male inhabi- tants, and that the expression is to be restrained, so as to arrive at the intent of the framers of the instrument." And he adds: "This difference of sentiment has given rise to diversity of practice on this head, and furnished a pretence, from which, many an electioneering trick has resulted ... It is well known, that women are admitted or rejected, just as it may suit the views of the persons in direction."57
The uncertainty had to do not merely with women but with negroes as well, and conceivably with slaves and with servants also. This was a time when the Friends of Pennsylvania and the states near by were exerting themselves to the utmost for the betterment of the blacks, and were beginning to urge their econo- mic and political equality with white people.58 In Pennsylvania there was probably little voting by negroes at this time, but in New Jersey it was not infrequent, and sometimes unquestioned ; while until 1790 the law did not explicitly forbid the vote to servants and to slaves.59
Accordingly it may be seen that during the period after 1776 there was in regard to suffrage in New Jersey considerable un- certainty, owing to the wording of the fundamental law and
67 Eumenes, p. 33.
68 Turner, The Negro in Pennsylvania, pp. 210, 211.
89 (Newark) Centinel, November 11, December 9, 1800; Votes of the Assembly, November 16, 1802; Acts of New Jersey, 1790, p. 672.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE: IN New JFRSSY, 1790-1807 179
of the legislative enactments supplementary to it; and that this uncertainty had to do with unfree persons and negroes, but par- ticularly with the women of the state; that the law was construed diversely in different places and at different times; and that the very uncertainty afforded ground for abuse. As a matter of fact, the passion and excitement of election contests and unscrupulous desire to win caused repeated abuse and notorious scandal.
Those who believe that political corruption and local mal- administration are greater evils arisen in a modern civilization of industrial development and combination, should study the details of American political history in earliest days to see how our ancestors lamented these same things, and opposed them; perhaps, with less vigor. In New Jersey the law made elaborate provision for the proper conduct of elections, and provided penal- ties for bribery, slander, corruption, and intimidation.60 This was of little avail. Often there was outrageous disregard of civic honesty, followed by frantic appeals for legal redress or legis- lative intervention. In 1794 the Supreme Court declared void an election in which voters were admitted on their bare declaration and in which the ballot-box was probably broken open.61 In 1798 Federalists complained of voting by aliens newly arrived.62 Following an election about the same time, the defeated party maintained that the victors had used undue influence, that voters had been admitted without proper tests, and that the ballot-box had been opened.63 On another occasion a Republican meeting in Essex County declared that the Federalists had taken the votes of British officers on half pay, of Frenchmen with no property, and of pauper negro women.64 In 1802 petitions came to the legislature from Gloucester, Hunterdon, and Monmouth Counties praying an investigation into illegal proceedings during the October elections. To a committee appointed it was related that at Maidenhead married women and citizens of Philadelphia
60 Acts of New Jersey, 1790, pp. 670, 672, 673. 61 1 New Jersey Reports, 283-295.
62 (Newark) Centinel, April 17, 1798; (Trenton) Federalist, November 4, 1799.
63 (Newark) Centinel, February 20, 1798. "Ibid., December 16, 1800.
2
180 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
had voted, and that voting by proxy had been allowed. During the investigation it was maintained that proxies were regularly received there.65 In regard to an election at Trenton it was alleged that voting was done by aliens, non-residents, persons under age, persons without the required amount of property, married women, negroes, and slaves.66 The committee disre- garded the complaints, but some of the newspapers were loud in denunciation. One Republican asserted that the Federalists had triumphed through riot, bribery, and pressure put upon Irish and Scottish industrial workers; while another said that their candidates "were elected by the illegal votes of proxies, boys, beggars, foreigners, and slaves."67 Not a few writers called at- tention to the danger which such corruption threatened to the constitution and liberties of the state. It is not surprising, then that there was discontent with election regulations, and desire to amend them.68
In 1802 a committee was appointed to examine the election laws and report amendments.69 Meanwhile a bill had been introduced, but it was afterwards dropped.70 In the next year, following a petition from Gloucester County, a slight change was made.71 Then in the Autumn of 1806 a bill was introduced in the Assembly. It is probable that some of the members favored a drastic change, but it is not clear that the bill was
05 Votes of the Assembly, October 27, 29, November 1, 4, 16, 1802; (Trenton) True American, October 25, November 8, 1802. 68 Votes of the Assembly, November 16, 1802.
67 (Newark) Centinel, November 2, 1802; (Trenton) True American, November 15, 1802. It was suggested that the editors of the Trenton Federalist might do well to portray to their readers "An election scene exhibited with a number of negro slaves advancing to the poll with federal tickets, chaunting the following lines :
"Massa be good, he gibbe me holiday, De tory again be de bes men of all he say, So de paper I tick in de box as he said, And I be no more slave, 'cause I vote for a fed."
(Newark) Centinel, January 11, 1803.
68 (Trenton) Federalist, November 4, 1799, September 28, 1807 (A).
69 Votes of the Assembly, October 27, 1802.
70 Ibid., October 29, 1801; Journals of the Legislative Council, October 29, 30, November 2, 5, 6, 1801, October 26, 1803.
71 Acts of New Jersey, 1803, p. 234 (November 11).
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 181
intended to do more than regulate property qualifications.72 Just at this moment, however, a new aspect was put upon the matter by the perpetration of such frauds that the election at which they occurred is remembered to the present time.
In 1806 it became necessary to build a new court house in Essex County. The old one was at Newark, but the people of Eli- zabethtown desired to get the new one for themselves, and having a majority in the local board of freeholders, resisted placing the proposed building in Newark.73 Finally it was decided to settle the location of the structure by a vote of the people of the county, and the legislature being petitioned to allow this, a law was passed ordering an election.74 Elaborate preparations were made, and there was great excitement on both sides.75 All over the county mass meetings were held and speeches made. It finally became unsafe for the people of Elizabeth to visit Newark, and two men of the latter place were assaulted in the neighboring town.76 In the midst of this feeling the election was held.
The voting began February 10 at Day's Hill, near Elizabeth, which the people of that town desired as the site of the new building. It was the opinion of some that proceedings were fairly conducted at first. Irregularities soon began, however, and when the election was continued at Elizabeth the next day fraud became rampant.77 But when on February 12, the last day of the contest, the turn of Newark came, corruption was so open and shameless that all previous dishonesty was surpassed. Men and boys voted unchallenged, and then went from poll to poll re- peating. Vehicles were used to transport the voters quickly, and throngs of outsiders were brought in to swell the number, spies going meanwhile to Elizabethtown to learn how many votes were
72 Votes of the Assembly, November 5, 22, 1806. "The main features of this bill is to make the tax list the evidence of the requisite quali- fication of voters at elections :" (Trenton) Federalist, November 10, 1806.
73 W. H. Shaw, History of Essex and Hudson Counties, New Jersey (Philadelphia, 1884), I, 212.
74 Votes of the Assembly, February 11, 12, 1806; Acts of New Jersey, 1806, pp. 711, 712 (November 5).
75 (Newark) Centinel, February 17, 1807.
76 Shaw, I, 212, 213.
77 (Newark) Centinel, November 17, 1807.
182 SMITH COLLEGE; STUDIES IN HISTORY
needed. During this carnival of fraud women vied with men, and seemed, to contemporaries, to excel them. Women and girls, black and white, married and single, with and without qualifi- cations, voted again and again. And finally men and boys dis- guised as women voted once more, and the farce was complete.78 The result of this election was extraordinary. The population of Essex County at this time was about 22,000, from which number nearly 14,000 votes were cast, half as many as were wont to be polled in the entire state.79 The largest number of votes ever given in the county previous to that time had been about 4,500, but on this occasion there were 5,000 in Newark alone.80 The township of Acquacknonk, said to contain about 350 voters, polled nearly 1,900.81 Moreover, the voting was as partisan as it was scandalous. In Elizabethtown scarcely anyone favored New- ark, in which place there was hardly an adverse vote.82 The re-
78 "Men usually honest seemed lost to all sense of honor, so completely were they carried away by the heat of the strife :" Shaw, I, 213 ; "Women vied with the men, and in some instances surpassed them, in illegal voting. Only a few years ago there were living in Newark two ladies, who at the time of the election in their 'teens, voted six times each :" ibid.
79 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, February 17, 1807; (Trenton) True American, November 23, 1807.
80 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, April 14, 1807; (Trenton) True American, February 23, 1807. In 1810 the population was only 6,000: Shaw, I, 213.
81 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, February 24, 1807.
s2 "The following is a statement of the votes in the several townships : For Newark For Day's-Hill
Newark 4792 247
Elizabeth 29 2257
Acquacknonk 1884 7
Springfield 43 2388
Caldwell 860
Westfield 8 927
Rahway 50 325
7665 [7666] 6181 [6151]": (Trenton)
True American, February 23, 1807. Some time before the election it was said that the number of electors was as follows: Newark, 1600; Elizabeth, 1000; Westfield, 600; Rahway, 350; Springfield, 300; Acquack- nonk and Caldwell together, 650: (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal February 3, 1807 (A).
WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE; IN Nsw JEJRSSY, 1790-1807 183
suit was a triumph for Newark, and when the outcome of the contest was known the townsmen broke forth in wild rejoicing.83
The jubilation of the victors was surpassed by agonized appeals from the defeated. Each side accused the other of beginning the fraud, but the outcries of the vanquished were more prolonged and vehement.84 "A more wicked and corrupt scene was never exhibited in this State, or in the United States," said an Elizabethtown writer, while outsiders took up the re- frain.85 Meetings were at once held by the friends of Elizabeth to protest against such corruption, and petition the legislature to order a new election.86 The Council took up the matter in the autumn, and a committee appointed to receive evidence, said there was no doubt that the contest had been illegally conducted. So, an act was passed declaring the election void.87
This episode, unimportant in itself, was far-reaching in it^ consequences, since it attracted general attention and caused wide- spread indignation at election irregularities, just when the legis- lature was considering the alteration of the election law and the reform of various abuses pertaining to it. The consideration of the bill in the previous year had been interrupted at the close of the session; but within a week after the legislature assembled in the autumn, Mr. Condict reported from committee an amended bill to supplement the election law of 1797.88 Condict was the Republican candidate of 1797, who had so nearly been defeated by the votes of the women of Elizabeth. It is possible that he was hostile to their enfranchisement; at all events his bill now contained a provision excluding them from the suffrage. In the
83 (Newark) Centinel, February 17, 1807.
84 Ibid., November 17, 1807; (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, April 14, 1807.
83 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, February 17, 1807. "It affords a melancholy picture of the morals of the people of Essex, and excites the most unpleasant sensations in the breast of every person favourably disposed to free, elective government:" (Trenton) Federalist, February 23, 1807.
88 (Elizabethtown) New Jersey Journal, February 17, April 14, 1807; Journals of the Legislative Council, November 3, 1807.
87 Journals of the Legislative Council, November 5, 25, 26, 1807; Acts of New Jersey, 1807, p. 52 (November 28).
88 Votes of the Assembly, November 3, 1807.
184 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
debate on the second reading, when a motion was made to strike out the excluding clause, he made an eloquent speech in defense of the limitation of the franchise to "free, white, male, citizens." To the objection that the constitution extended the suffrage to "all inhabitants" he replied that these words could mean free white men and free white women married and single, free negroes and free negro women married and single, negro slaves and unfree negro women married and single, and also aliens; no one could suppose that the constitution really did mean this. Legislators should endeavor to understand the real intent of those who framed the constitution. He understood that they had admitted to the franchise only free white males, and that the legislature could debar others. That it ought to do this was made evident by the glaring fraud and corruption which existed under the present system, and which threatened to subvert the liberty of the people.89 There is no doubt that he was voicing the opinion of many others. Earlier in the year a writer commenting upon the proceedings in Essex, declared that they afforded "striking evidence of the miserably defective system of New Jersey elec- tions" ; and a local paper adverting to "the unexampled outrages committed in the democratic county of Essex, at the late court- house election," spoke in favor of the new law.90 However this be, Condict's speech bore down all opposition, and the bill passing both houses by heavy majorities, at once became law.91
"WHEREAS," ran the preamble to the new act, "doubts have been raised and great diversities in practice obtained throughout the state in regard to the admission of aliens, females, and persons of color, or negroes to vote in elections, and also in regard to the mode of ascertaining the qualifications of voters in respect to estate. — AND WHEREAS, it is highly necessary to the safety, quiet, good order and dignity of the state, to clear up the said doubts
88 (Newark) Centinel, November 24, 1807; (Trenton) True American, November 16 (A), 23, 1807.
80 (Trenton) Federalist, February 23, November 30, 1807.
91 (Newark) Centinel, November 24, 1807; Votes of the Assembly, November 11, 1807; Journals of the Legislative Council, November 14, 1807; Acts of New Jersey, 1807, p. 14 (November 16).
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE; IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 185
by an act of the representatives of the people, declaratory of the true sense and meaning of the constitution, and to ensure its just execution in these particulars, according to the intent of the f ramers thereof ;" no persons were thereafter to be allowed to vote except free white men, qualified according to the law.92
In this manner was the franchise withdrawn from the women of New Jersey. That the law was not directed primarily against them, but was intended to exclude all classes who held the privi- lege doubtfully, is evident from the debates in the legislature, and from the comments made in the newspapers at the time. No marked hostility is shown toward women voters, nor are they blamed for election scandals more than the other classes who had taken part in them. The design of the legislators seems to have been a general amendment of the election law rather than the exclusion of women, and the discussion and publication of the law seem to have caused little or no comment upon this as- pect of it.93 Nor did the women themselves oppose exclusion with any vigor. It does not appear that they petitioned the legis- lature against the bill, or wrote against it in the newspapers. Apparently they regarded it with indifference.94
The law of 1807 was followed by similiar ones in 1820 and in 1839. In 1844 a new constitution expressly limited the suffrage to free white men.95 In 1875 an amendment to the constitution admitted negro men, but continued the exclusion of all women.96 It is said that some of the people of New Jersey regarded the law of 1807 as contrary to the constitution, in so far as it ex- cluded from the franchise women, aliens, and negroes; and that
93 Acts of New Jersey, 1807, pp. 14-17.
93 (Trenton) Federalist, November 16, 30, December 7, 1807; (Newark) Centinel, November 24, December 22, 1807; (Trenton) True American, December 14, 1807.
94 The fact that women's occupations were as yet almost entirely domestic, and that the industrial revolution had not yet begun in New Jersey may explain this in part. In 1790 a writer opposes the introduction of manufactures, since women will be idle unless they go out into the in- dustries : The New-Jersey Journal, and Political Intelligencer, June 30, 1790.
95Poore, II, 1315. "Ibid., 11, 1325.
186 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
their votes were accepted occasionally. An instance of this is mentioned as late as 1837.97 In 1858 Lucy Stone of Orange refused to pay her taxes because as a woman she had no repre- sentation.98 These instances, however, were exceptions to general and quiet acquiescence in the situation.
In 1912 the entire matter was reopened by a suit instituted in the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Here a woman sought a writ of mandamus to compel the local election board to register her name in order that she might vote. In this case her lawyer, also a woman, argued that the state constitution of 1776 included women in the franchise, and that the laws of 1790 and 1797 expressed the privilege more definitely; that the law of 1807 was invalid since it was in contravention of the constitution, and that the similar laws of 1820 and 1839 were invalid for the same reason ; finally, that the constitution of 1844 could not be held to exclude women, since women were not permitted to vote for the delegates who drafted it, and that therefore all subsequent elec- tion laws based upon it were of no effect in debarring women from the suffrage. The Supreme Court decided against all of these contentions, and its decision was afterwards upheld by the Court of Errors and Appeals.99
I have attempted to recount the earliest and most important instance of voting by women in the United States in earlier times. Women may have voted occasionally in New Jersey from 1776 to 1797, but there is no doubt that in the years from 1797 to 1807 they exercised the privilege, if not generally throughout the state, at least from time to time and in considerable numbers. The practice was based upon an interpretation of the constitution plausible then and since, but an interpretation at best dependent upon contemporary opinion and the will of the majority. That it was soon called in question and that women were excluded
97 L. Q. C. Elmer, The Constitution and Government of the Province and State of New Jersey, etc (Newark, 1872), p. 49.
98 Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, first series, VIII, 105.
89 Mary Philbrook, Argument (State Library, Trenton); 83 Atlantic Reporter, 31-34.
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE IN NEW JERSEY, 1790-1807 187
from the franchise was owing to the desire to amend an am- biguous law working badly, and was possible because of the in- difference of the women and the hostility of many of the men. It is true that exclusion was owing partly to the fraud and illegal practices of some women voters, but these women were not worse than the men among whom they voted.
The Cherokee Negotiations of 1822 and 1823
BY ANNIE HELOISE ABEL
Professor of History in Smith College
The Cherokee negotiations of 1822 and 1823 stand in Indian history as the first strong evidence of the pressure that the State of Georgia was prepared to bring to bear upon the United States government in order to force a compliance with her interpretation of the Compact of 1802. The final outcome of the policy then inaugurated was the expulsion of the Indians from the territory east of the Mississippi.
The documents here published are a portion of a collection of Cherokee Agency Papers, found some years since in the United States Indian Office. The collection originally comprised the correspondence of Return J. Meigs and Joseph McMinn with reference to the abortive negotiations, conducted under authority of congressional enactment. The collection seems to have been broken many years ago and a part of it sent, by the Secretary of War, to Congress. That part was apparently found among the Capitol Archives and used by the compilers for insertion in the American State Papers. Such letters as are to be found there are not re-printed here.
Those that are issued here, in whole or in part, are important as showing how, even in the selection of agents and commis- sioners, the federal government endeavored to subserve the in- terests of Georgia, also how determined the Cherokee leaders were, not to cede any more land to the white people. Nos. 24 and 25 reflect seriously upon the character of General William Mc- Intosh, the same person, presumably, who later gained notoriety and suffered an ignominious death, that of a traitor, as a result of his complicity in the fraud connected with the negotiation of the Creek Treaty of Indian Springs.
A few documents, illustrating the unfriendly attitude of Mc- Minn towards the Cherokees, particularly with reference to the agency site and the removal of intruders, have been omitted
THE GHKROKSK NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 189
because only remotely concerned with the negotiations of 1822 and 1823. Formal communications have been simply calendared.
No. 1.
Calhoun to Meigs,1 June 1, 1822, notifying him that General John Floyd, Major Freeman Walker, and J. A. Cuthbert, "all of Georgia," have been appointed Commissioners by the President to negotiate a treaty of cession with the Cherokees.
No. 2
CHEROKEE: AGENCY, 28th July, 1822. SIR,
I have received a letter from the Secretary of War, the Honble John C. Calhoun, informing me that, the President had appointed General John Floyd, Major Freeman Walker, & the Honble J. A. Cuthbert all of Georgia, Commissioners to treat with the Cherokee Indians, enjoining on me to receive any in- structions on all points which may be connected with the pro- posed treaty, from the Commissioners, & to do & render any service in my power to produce a favorable result to the nego- tiations with the Indians. And that my correspondence with the Commissioners must be through you, as your situation would afford greater facilities for communication both with you & the War department than that of General Floyd or with Mr. Cuthbert. I am ready to render the Commissioners any service in my power to bring your Commission to a successful result. And on this oc- casion permit me to say that much may perhaps depend on the place where the proposed treaty be held. And I conceive it my duty to say that this place will promise a greater prospect for success than any other. The Commissioners can have good ac- commodations for their personal comfort, and good office room for their convenience in transacting the business for themselves, or Secretary; & for correspondence in every direction, and to this place all heavy articles can have water carriage. Beef, flour,
1 Calhoun's letter of instructions to the commissioners, June 15, 1822, is published almost entire, in American State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol II, pp. 464-465.
190 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
bread stuff can be supplied with ease. Should the treaty be held in the interior of the Cherokee nation the expense will be several thousand dollars more than if held here. I mention this because the Indians have a very strong desire to have the Conferences held in the interior of their Country. They have their reasons, & these stand opposed to your wishes. It is my opinion that very much depends as to a successful result to this important business, on the place where the negotiations shall be held. At first thought it may not be considered material (perhaps) : but these things have a bearing on the subject. More decency, more respect, more good order, more of civilization, would be observed here than in any part of the interior of the Cherokee nation.
I wish success to your mission, my duty only induces me to make these observations, and I do it with proper respect & con- sideration. I feel more anxiety that the proposed treaty shall result to the satisfaction of the parties than I have felt on any previous arrangement with this, or any other Indian nation or tribe: because I think the object contemplated is of greater mag- nitude than has been heretofore attempted, with any Indian Nation since the existence of our Government. With respect to Georgia it is of almost immense value, and with respect to the In- dians of this tribe, it is perhaps a question, whether, they are to be or not to be? which question may be determined by the result of the approaching treaty. The Cherokee nation ever since the treaty of Hopewell2 in 1785, have been under the pupilage of the United States, beginning first with the A. B. C. of measures to raise them from a state of nature to a state of civilization & refinement, everything that could be devised to effect the magnan- imous views of the Government has been in successful experi- ment; much has been done; but it is perhaps impossible to civilize & refine any people, while they possess an immense wilder- ness so disproportioned to their population: but notwithstanding this insurmountable obstacle, enough has been done to evince to the world their susceptibility, & capability of improvement in the Arts, and in letters, so provided they can be placed on ground
2Kappler, Indian Laws and Treaties, vol. II, pp. 8-11.
THE: CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 191
where their minds may be excited to sober industry ; nothing else is required to make them MEN. At that treaty in 1785 they gave up their ideas of sovereignty ; they commuted that, for pro- tection: had not that have been done their annihilation would long ago have been sealed. Heaven placed their destiny in the hands of the General Government which has hitherto secured their existence, that magnanimity yet stands pledged to preserve it. They must have an existence some where. Their arrival to a state of civilization would be a phenomenon grateful to the Government, who had by benevolent measures effected it, and to all the lovers of human nature. It would prove a fact doubted by some, that there is a physical impossibility in giving them, or in their capacity to acquire the manners & habits of civilized society. They may themselves probably believe that there is some mystery in our civil communities that will shut them out forever from our artificial Governments, when we know that all the requisites to make a good citizen is only, common sense & honest intentions, and of these we believe they have in as great abundance as ourselves. Jealousy is a predominate trait in the character of all the inhabitants of the forest. And it is difficult to make them believe that our magnanimous Governments will not ask them for cessions of land, or other arrangements with them; which cessions or arrangements, the Government as their parent would candidly advise them to comply with — therefore to remove that jealousy would be gaining an important point. If they are sincerely desirous of civilization they ought not to object to such arrangements as shall place them in the most eligible circumstance to acquire it. When I sat down to write I had no idea of giving you the trouble of reading my long letter. My situation has compelled me to think much on this subject; let that be my apology : but I know that the Commissioners can comprehend me in a moment — and may be assured that I wish to serve them. Please present me respectfully to General Floyd and to the honorable Mr. Cuthbert. I have the honor to be your Obedient Servant,
RETURN J. MEIGS.
192 SMITH COLLEGE: STUDIES IN HISTORY
P. S. I have in conformity with the direction of the Secretary of War taken this mode, in addressing with yourself, all the Commissioners for holding the proposed treaty.
R. J. M.
FREEMAN WALKER Esquire, Augusta, Georgia.
No. 3
CHEROKEE AGENCY, llth September, 1822. SIR,
Last evening after dark I had the honor of receiving your letter3 of the 9th ultimo. Having been advised by the Secretary of War, of the appointment of the Commissioners, directing me at the same time to correspond with them through the Honble Free- man Walker esquire, via Augusta, as this route would afford the greatest facility for the correspondence. In pursuance of that advice, on the 28th July last I addressed a letter to Mr. Walker, stating to him my opinion on most of the points of enquiry in your letter. I received an answer4 from the Honble. Mr. Walker in- forming me that he had declined the acceptance of his appoint- ment, therefore did not feel himself authorized to make any "ar- rangements as to time or place." He expressed a doubt whether either of the other gentlemen would accept their appointment: but that if either of the other gentlemen should accept, he would forward to him my communication to him. In that communi- cation it will appear that I had anticipated some of the questions stated in your letter. I will however reply to your enquirys. 1st. enquiry. "Where would be the most eligible point for hold- ing said treaty &c?" I answer at the site of this Agency, it will be the least expensive & promising a more favorable result than any other point ex- cept at the seat of the War Department under the eye of the supreme Executive & the great Council of the Nation.
3 Floyd's letter to Meigs, August 9, 1822, has not been found.
4 The answer, dated August 14, 1822, is on file in the Indian Office.
THE: CHEROKEE; NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 193
2nd. enquiry. "When would be the best time for convening the Indians ?" I answer the 20th October approaching. I will give my reasons. The crops of corn will by that time be generally secured, both by the Indians & the U. S. citizens. No presure will embarrass the minds of either party, all will be disposed to act honorably, & this must be culti- vated. In this country the weather is mild & tem- perate from the 20th of October to the 20th of November — and the Beef will be well fattened.
3rd. enquiry. "What number will probably attend ?" I answer, several thousand. The number of rations issued on such occasions has been from 70,000 to 100,000 rations, that is, of meat, bread stuff, and salt, the component articles ; ardent spirits, soap and can- dles, are excluded on these occasions.
4th. Inquiry. "Whether, & what price, (the lowest,) a contract could be obtained for the supplies of provisions?" I answer, I received a letter5 from the Honble the Secretary of War dated 19th July last, informing me that he had enclosed a copy of my letter to him containing proposals for rations &c. of certain persons therein named, to the Com- missioners.
Those proposals were at the same rate as the contract under which they are now acting, made with them by me by order & approved by the Sec- retary of War at the time, namely, Meat, Bread- stuff, & Salt, at army quantum & weight, at eight cents pr. ration — lower than any contract ever be- fore entered into in this country for the last twen- ty two years. The names of these persons are John D. McCarty, and Mathew McGhee. I am authorized to say, these persons are competent in
5 Included in this collection of agency letters, but omitted here because of slight importance.
194
SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
point of fortune to secure a prompt fulfilment of their engagements, (I am also authorized to say that they will take the contract five mills, or even one cent lower than any other person, or persons ;) taking it for granted ; that the Honorable the Com- missioners will not suffer any person, or persons, to bid with a view only of sporting with the in- terest of men who stand ready to fulfil an honor- able contract, with the Government, having now in their hands, the means. They want no Credit, or any aid by advances, & have the disposition to do their duty. On your requisition they will furnish from 10,000 to 100,000 rations.
5th. Inquiry. Whether the Indians are anxious for a treaty? I answer. It is possible that there may be some who may wish to have a treaty : but if they are so disposed, they dare not say so, in the nation. This has I believe been ever the case. They will never be willing to part with the forest; they wish to raise up a Government within a Government which cannot be possibly permitted. Yet the address of the Commissioners has hitherto generally prevailed to obtain cessions of land- Inquiry 6th. What extent of country remains within the limits to which the claims have not been extinguished? and your opinion of the probability of a success- full issue of the negotiation? 1 answer. I
think there is 10,000,000 of acres lying within the chartered limits of Georgia, Tennessee, and Ala- bama; upward of 7,000,000 of it in Georgia, the remainder in Tennessee & Alabama. But as the latest cessions have not been digested by any map that I have seen, I have no artificial data to aid me in forming an opinion.
If I knew the extent of the Government's views & wishes, also those of the State of Georgia, &
THE CHEROKEE: NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 195
your instructions, I might give my opinion as to the probability of a successful issue. But it is time enough for that, when I shall have the honor to meet you. I have the honor to be Your obedient servant,
RETURN J. MEIGS.
P. S. Your letter was thirty two days on its way, to my hands. I presume you will have re- ceived my communication to the Honble Freeman Walker before this shall have come to hand-6
R. J. M. GENERAL JOHN FLOYD.
Fan-field (Near St. Marys) Georgia.
No. 4 FAIREIELD (PLACE) NEAR ST. MARYS, GEORGIA
September 29th 1822 SIR
Your express bearer (Mr. John Tucker) delivered me yester- day at 2 o'clock, P. M. your dispatches of the llth Inst, in answer to my inquiries of the 9th ultimo-
My requisition upon you for information, was predicated on a letter from the Secretary at War, notifying me of the non- acceptance of Major Walker, and that he had been directed to transmit to me, the papers, and documents, in his possession, rel- ative to the contemplated Treaty. On the receipt of this inform- ation, I lost no time in making the inquiries, deemed necessary, as preparatory to trie performance of the duties required of the Commissioners; since which, together with the papers received from Major Walker, I find your address to him on the 28th July past, in which, (as you justly remark) the most of the informa- tion required has been anticipated.
By a letter of the 24th ult. I have received advises from the Secretary at War, that Major Walker and Mr. Cuthbert having
8 This letter was accompanied by another of the same date, assuring General Floyd that he might safely confide in the bearer, John Tucker.
196 SMITH COLLEGE: STUDIES IN HISTORY
declined to act, as Commissioners, to hold a Treaty with the Cherokees, Duncan G. Campbell Esqr. and Gen1. David Meri- wether, have been appointed by the President to join me in the contemplated negociation, and that they were instructed to com- municate on the subject.
Since which, I have heard not a syllable from either of them, from which I infer that they also, have declined to accept. I regret sincerely this unavoidable delay: especially as the time which you suggest for the commencement accords with my views on the subject. The high estimation, in which I hold the integrity of your character, will have due weight with me, as respects your recommendations of place, for holding the Treaty, and the persons proper to contract with, for the necessary supply of provisions for the accomplishment of the contemplated object.
"The bid, of persons, with a view only of sporting with the interests of men, who stand ready to fulfil an honorable contract, with the Government," will find no encouragement within the controul of my influence-
The sum to be stipulated for any cession, which may be made, is left very much to the sound discretion of the Commissioners : — The extent, and quality, of the country to be ceded will regulate the price, to be given, which will be paid precisely in the manner, as in the late Creek Treaty, nor, is the price allowed to exceed that given in that purchase in proportion to quantity, and quality. The particular portion of country to be treated for, is also left to the discretion of the Commissioners.
The sum appropriated by law, you are doubtless acquainted with, which is placed to my credit in the Bank of Darien. This place of deposit appears too distant to promise facility, and Security, in its transmission, as it may be wanted. Where could it be lodged, to obviate these difficulties, to advantage? With a view to be relieved from a state of suspense I will give Genl. Meriwether, and Mr. Campbell my address, by which I may learn their determination, when I will again address you, and I hope
more satisfactorily. I contemplate visiting— during
the session of the ensuing Legislature in the mean time accept my
THE: CHEROKEE: NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 197
acknowledgement of your prompt attention and Believe me to be Respectfully Your Ob* Ser.
JNO. FLOYD No. 5
CHEROKEE AGENCY, 24th October, 1822. SIR,
I have had the honor of receiving your letters of the 29th & 30th, Ultimo, by which I have experienced some regret on finding that some untoward circumstances have retarded the measures first concerted for holding a treaty or convention with the Chero- kees, very interesting to your State, at as early a period as would have been desirable: because the great numbers generally at- tending on such occasions require that they be held in the open air. The autumnal months have always been preferred to any other season for this business : for altho' the Chiefs have from im- memorial custom held the powers of making all important ar- rangements, they do not like to act in important measures except in the presence of their people, the mass of their population, & they generally come in, Men, Women, & Children. The delay, or elapse of time, more strongly points to this place as the best within the Cherokee nation for the contemplated negotiations, the provisions are on the spot. I will appropriate a convenient room in my Office for the Commissioners use in consulting & maturing their measures.
In your letter of the 29th as above you inform me the funds appropriated by law are placed to your credit, in the Bank of Darien, and that it is "too distant to promise facility & security in its transmission as it may be wanted." You ask me "Where could it be lodged to obviate these difficulties with advantage?" I answer in the Knoxville Bank, 70 miles from this place. Or it might be kept here — having a small military Guard. It has ever been part of the arrangement for holding treaties in this part of the Country to have a small detachment of the militia or regular troops to act under the direction of the Commissioners to insure good order, & have always been found usefull. The congregation of citizens & Indians is generally great & their
198 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
mutual prejudices sometimes produce collisions, & to allay them requires arguments, other than moral persuasion.
If the Commissioners have any disposable funds ready at their requisition, it would be wise policy to have them, that their application might require no delay. 10,000 or 20,000$ made tan- gible at the signing a treaty in Convention will do more than three times the amount in prospect at a distant period. If the populace find out that there is money ready in the hands of the Commissioners, (& they will find it out) they will not be willing to leave the treaty ground without seeing it distributed; for if the money shall go into the national treasury, the after appropriation of it cannot be foreseen. Not only Indians ; but all men are acted on by sensible objects, objects that are visible to the sight & tangi- ble to the fingers ends. The vibration reaches the brain instantly, & warms the heart, & all the affections become volunteers for realizing the object- This is not art, & circumvention; in she present case it is Charity to the greatest number, who are the most helpless, for it is a fact that the infant born today is as great a proprietor as the first Chief, in all the land ; it is the undivided common property of all.
I would despise & detest the idea of overreaching the Indian so as to get their lands without a valuable consideration ; but it is right that they should be induced by proper motives calculated to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Under God they are under the greatest obligations to the United States for their present existence & already greatly ameliorated condition. At the close of the revolutionary war they were a conquered people, and according to the laws of war & the laws of nations their then country was forfeited to the conquerors. They were de- cieved by the English & shed their blood, & ours, profusely. Not- withstanding this was the case, the magnanimity of the United States lifting them above the principles of retaliation & revenge, our Government took them by the hand, & asked them the extent of their boundaries, & allotted their limits to live on & hunt on, made a campact with them the substance of which is this— on their part a surrender of their sovereignty in exchange for protection —
THE; CHEROKEE: NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 199
that the United States should have the sole & exclusive right to re- gulate their trade, & manage their affairs as they should think proper! See the 9th article of the treaty of Hopewell in 1785. What does the engagement of protection imply? Does it not imply on the part of the protected, a compliance with the advice of their protectors ? Certainly it does.
The Government now advises them to let one of the States of the Union have a part of their immensely large territory, so disproportioned to their population, that it retards their advance- ment to a state of civilization & refinement.
If they are sincere in their desires for improvement, they will cheerfully comply with the requests of their father the President of the United States, who requests & advises them to let him have a part of their redundant land for his white children of the State of Georgia. His red & white children equally claim his care & protection, & his oath binds him as much to one as the other, & he must do his duty without partiality. Let us all throw away our prejudices & jealousy & live together like brothers who have derived our being from the same source, and who has placed us here where there is room enough for us all. I have the honor to be
Your Obedient Servant,
RETURN J. MEIGS.
P. S. Sir you invited me to write freely and fully on any thing appertaining to the views of the mission. I have endeavored to remove some of the clouds, & some of the prejudices that seem- ed to obscure the subject, that our path may be plain & fairly & justly lead to a satisfactory result. R. J. M. The Honorable John Floyd Georgia.
No. 6
MiLivEDGEviixE, 22d. Novr. 1822. Col°. R. J. Meigs, SIR,
Having been appointed commissioners, on the part of the United States to negotiate with the Cherokee Nation, for the
200 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
extinguishment of their claim to lands lying within the chartered limits of the State of Georgia & signified our provisional ac- ceptance of that appointment, it becomes our duty to apprise you of the time & place we have appointed for holding the treaty.
Gen1. Floyd, (who has transmitted his resignation to the War Department a few days since) has furnished us with all the in- formation he had acquired on this subject.
The reasons advanced in your letter to him of the llth of September, have determined us to select the Agency as the place of our meeting, but our necessary engagements & convenience will not admit of an earlier time than the 15th of January next, at which period you will oblige us by inviting the Indians to con- vene. . . .
JAS. MERIWETHER DUNCAN G. CAMPBEU, Col°. R. J. Meigs-
No. 7
CHEROKEE AGENCY, 22nd. November, 1822. SIR,
I enclose to you the copy of a letter addressed to me by the Cherokee National Council & National Committee, the contents of which they request me to communicate to the Georgia Commis- sioners for holding a treaty with them the present year, which I shall do as soon as possible, but think it my duty to communi- cate it to you.
Their declaration not to meet the Commissioners, is little short of a declaration of independence, which they never lose sight of, which I have frequently mentioned formerly in my letters to you. Such a declaration I consider as disrespectful to the United States Commissioners & to the Government, and (inconsistent) with their standing & dependent circumstances.
Their pretence of having obtained the sentiments of their peo- ple, is a bubble, for the populace are governed by a few leading men who fabricate their political catechism. Indeed their govern- ment is an aristocracy, consisting of about 100 men called Chiefs and those Chiefs are controled by perhaps twenty speculating in-
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 201
dividuals some of these individuals are making fortunes in trade by merchandise a considerable portion of which merchandise is whiskey, & other ardent spirits. The tendency of the conduct of these individuals is to perpetuate barbarism, by encouraging in- dolence.
The United States are now giving their Children a lettered education. It may be a question whether these children will retain their acquirements after they shall have been turned back into Indian Society of 10,000 souls only scattered over a wilder- ness of 10,000,000 of acres of land? If it shall once be ad- mitted that the Cherokees are an independent people, I can hardly conceive our obligations to expend thousands, & thousands, of dollars to bring them to a state of refinement, while in many parts of the United States the children of our citizens are destitute of instruction in letters from the inability of their parents.
If they should persist in their resolution "never again to dis- pose of one foot more of land," the citizens of Tennessee, Geor- gia, & Alabama, would probably hardly be restrained long, from taking possession of their respective claims. This would be regretted by the Government, and I think still, if the United States Commissioners will invite the Cherokees to a confer- ence for the purpose of making friendly arrangements, hav- ing for their object the advantage of both parties, that the Chero- kees would meet them & take them by the hand, & the prospect would be greater, of succeeding than if their rash resolutions had never been made. (Need I make any apology for expressing myself freely on this subject? You enjoined on me to render all the service in my power to bring the negotiations to a favorable result, & this has been my object in my correspondence with the Commissioners.) I have wrote once to Mr. Freeman, and twice to General Floyd, & have received one letter from him. He urges me to write freely to him. In my letters to him I have kept in mind what I thought were your sentiments, in relation to arrange- ments with the Indians.
Some untoward cir cum stances have retarded this business, so that I am not informed of the time, or place, of meeting — Febru-
202 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
ary or early in March next would do very well. The persons here who offered to contract have every thing ready, & they want no advances from Government to enable them to provide- I have the honor to be,
Your obedient servant,
RETURN J. MEIGS. The honorable John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War.
Inclosure
NEW TOWN, Oct. 26th, 1822. Colo. Return J. Meigs SIR,
The courts of the several Districts having been requested to ascertain the sentiments of our citizens in their respective Dis- tricts on the subject of the contemplated Treaty and to report the same to the Head Chiefs — accordingly their several reports having been received and laid before the National Committee and Council the unanimous sentiments of the Cherokee People are determinedly opposed to disposing of one foot of land and therefore have determined not to meet any Commissioners on the subject of treating for land. The Head Chiefs & members of the National Committee & Council have fully accorded in the sentiments of their fellow citizens and accordingly have resolved not to meet any Commissioners on that subject. You will there- fore make this determination of the Nation known to the United States Commissioners in your correspondence with them. We will at all times during the session of our National Council at this place receive with friendship any Agents or Commissioners of the United States on subjects not relating to a Treaty of cession for lands — as our nation have deliberately determined never again to dispose of one foot more of land. We have understood that you have recd instructions from the Secry, of War to employ the militia to remove the intruders off our frontier lands.7 We
7 See McMinn to the Chiefs and Headmen of the Cherokee Nation, October 8. 1823 and the reply of the Cherokee Council, October 11, 1823 [Cherokee Agency Letters, O. I. A.]
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 203
therefore earnestly solicit your early attention to making arrange- ment for their immediate removal- It is certainly a very grievous infringement on the rights & privileges secured to us by Treaties, and we must beg that a stricter regard of justice will be observed by your Government in keeping Intruders off our lands. There are now a great many Intruders on our lands who have raised crops thereon for two years past, and many more will certainly move on during this winter if they are not kept off by your author- ity. We look to you for justice being the Agt. of the United States to support the good faith pledged by our Treaties. We must also request you to urge the investigation & decision of claims lodged in your Office by our Citizens for property stolen from them by the Citizens of the United States. A great portion of those depredations have been committed by those lawless in- truders who have from time to time violated the laws of the United States with impunity, in the face of our repeated com- plaints to you.
We take you by the hand as Brothers & friends.
JNO. Ross, in behalf of the National Committee.
PATH X. KILLER
GOING X. SNAKE:
CHICKASATCHEE X.
MAJOR X- RIDGE, in behalf of the Council
A. McCoy, Clk. N. Committee.
INCLOSURE
NEW TOWN, Cherokee Nation. In committee and council, October 23, 1822
Whereas it appears in the prints of the publick newspapers title to land within the chartered limits claimed by the State of and legislature of Georgia the congress of the United States did appropriate a sum of money last session with a view of holding a treaty with the Cherokees for the purpose of extinguishing their title to lands within the chartered limits claimed by the State of Georgia, and it also appearing in the publick prints that the presi- dent of the United States has appointed Commissioners in con-
204 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
formity to the views of said appropriation, and anticipating a call by the Commissioners, the head Chiefs of the Cherokee nation requested the Judges to ascertain the sentiments and dis- position of the citizens of their respective districts on the subject, and to report the same to them, which reports having been ac- cordingly made, and now laid before the National Committee and Council, declaring unanimously with one voice a determination to hold no treaties with any Commissioners of the United States to make any cessions of lands, being resolved not to dispose of even one foot of ground. Be it therefore known and remembered that we, the undersigned members of the National Committee and Council, after maturely deliberating on the subject, Resolved by the National Committee and members of Council that the Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation will not meet any Commissioners of the United States to hold a Treaty with them on the subject of making cessions of lands, the property of the Cherokee Nation, as we are determined hereafter never to make any cessions of lands, having not more than sufficient for our nation and posterity, but on any other business not relating to the making of a treaty of cession, we will at all times during the session of the National Council at New Town, receive the United States Com- missioners or Agents with friendship and cordiality and will ever keep bright the chain of peace and friendship which links the Cherokee Nation with the Government of the United States.
(Signed by JOHN Ross and fifty-eight others)
No. 8
AGENCY, 1st December, 1822.
I have this day received your letter of the 25th Ultimo, . . by which I find that the Treaty with the Cherokees which has some time been delayed by sundry circumstances is soon expected to take place. • . I wrote Mr. Campbell on the 22nd. last month but could find no conveyance. That letter will now ac- company this. . .
I never knew them willing to sell land, except a small tract
THE CHEROKEE; NEGOTIATIONS OE 1822-1823 205
called Waffords settlement which lies on the frontier of Georgia. But I never knew a treaty fail of its main object. And to suffer them to frustrate the object of the Government by their rash resolution is in my opinion entirely inadmissible. . .
R. J. MEIGS.
The Honorable James Merriwether Duncan G. Campbell
INCLOSURE
CHEROKEE AGENCY, 22nd November, 1822 SIR,
. . . it has become my duty to communicate to the Com- missioners. . . a letter addressed to me by the Cherokee National Council & Committee, by which you will discover that they say they will not meet the Commissioners — if their object is to obtain a cession of land; that they will not sell one foot more of land &c. &c. This they pretend to say is the unanimous voice of their nation — they hope by this rash declaration to pre- vent the holding a treaty.
. . . The benevolence of our Government has saved the very existence of this people from temporal perdition, at an ex- pense of hundreds of thousands of dollars, by greatly ameliorat- ing their condition, & by giving them a taste for the enjoyment of rational life. And shall they refuse a meeting with Commis- sioners of that Government, to confer on measures highly inter- esting to their own & our well being ? There is room enough for us all & we must have a dense population from the interior of our Country to the waters edged on the Florida shore. Will the gov't give up this great object to nurse barbarism? No- It is an object should never be lost sight of. . .
R. J. MEIGS.
The Honorable Duncan G. Campbell, Commissioner.
206 SMITH COLLEGE; STUDIES IN HISTORY
No. 9 To the Head Chiefs of the Cherokees, and all the other Chiefs of
the Cherokee Nation: FRIENDS & BROTHERS :
Your father, the President of the United States, having grant- ed to the State of Georgia permission to hold a Treaty, or Con- vention, with the Cherokees in order to arrange certain matters with them interesting to both parties, & the said State having nominated some of its first Citizens for that purpose, they received their appointment from your father, the President, as Commis- sioners authorizing them to invite the Cherokees to a friendly conference with the Commissioners. The said Commissioners in the commencement of their duties have requested me to invite you to meet them at this Agency on the 15th January next, when they will take you by the hand in the name of your & our, Father, the President of the United States, & communicate to you their authority, & the objects contained in their instructions, where, it is hoped, that by friendly communications with each other, prejudices, (if any exist) may be consigned to oblivion — and that the result of the meeting may be satisfactory to both parties. We must mutually determine not to open our ears to ignorant, or prejudiced, individuals on either side.
The contract for rations is made & everything is ready, & yourself, & Path Killer will find the best accommodations our little village can afford, & to this place in behalf the Commis- sioners I now cordially invite you to come, & let me also take you by the hand. I received a letter from John Ross, signed by Path Killer, Going Snake, Chickasatchee & Major Ridge. Your signature was not there. The principal subject is that your Chiefs will not meet the Commissioners appointed by the Presi- dent, your Father, in a friendly conference-
At this rash resolution, I was much surprised — It must be kept in mind that the invitation has its source in the President of the United States. It comes from him through the Commis- sioners of his appointment, therefore an abrupt rejection of it
THE: CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 207
would be highly indecorous & disrespectful, and after due con- sideration will not be persisted in.
It will not do to commit the government of your highest con- cerns into the hands of your young men, & let them have a pre- dominant influence in your measures. If it was in my power I would come & see you; but is not. I therefore give you such advice as I would to my son or my brother.
I do not know the Commissioners, but I have a good right to consider them as Gentlemen, who have been selected on account of their merit, & that no apprehension of injury to the Cherokees ought to be indulged by your Chiefs, who I know from experience are capable of transacting business with propriety. I am with esteem & respect.
Your Brother,
RETURN J. MEIGS. Cherokee Agency, 5th December, 1822,
Mr. Charles R. Hicks, Head Chief, Ch. Nation.
P. S. I shall send runners with invitations to the Chiefs to meet the Commissioners here on the 15th of next month as be- fore stated. — R. J. M. Mr. Charles Hicks,
Head Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
No. 10 (Circular)
The President of the United States, the political father of both his white & red Children, to whom we both look up to for protection in the enjoyment of our rights, having appointed the Honorable Duncan Campbell and the Honorable James Merri- wether Commissioners to hold a friendly conference with the Chiefs and Headmen of the Cherokee Nation, and I having been previously directed by the honorable the Secretary of War to aid the Commissioners in the prosecution of their duties and now having been requested by them to invite the Cherokee Chiefs to meet them here on the 15th day of January next where the parties may take each other by the hand & enter into a friendly con-
208 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
ference on the subject of their instructions from our father, the President of the United States, & where they will expect to meet you as friends & brothers, with reciprocal confidence in each other, where jealousy & suspicion shall not be permitted to find a resting place. Our ears shall not be opened to any unworthy suggestions of ignorant or unprincipled individuals & I ad- vise you to beware of being misled.
The rash resolutions of the late Council are premature, & ex- tremely disrespectful to your father, the President. . • .
RETURN J. MEIGS. Cherokee Agency, 6th Decemr, 1822.
No. 11
James Blain and Thomas Glasscock to Meigs, January 17, 1823, notifying him that they have organized for business and soliciting his assistance.8
No. 12
Duncan G. Campbell and James Meriwether to Meigs, Janu- ary 17, 1823, outlining their credentials.
No. 13
CHEROKEE AGENCY, 18th January, 1823. Col R- J. Meigs, SIR:
We do ourselves the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your communication of this day relating to the pending nego- tiation with the Cherokees. It is true, as you remark, that we have been presented with difficulties since our arrival at this place, 'but we hope to be able to surmount them, by patience and perse- verance. The prompt and efficient co-operation manifested on your part from the commencement of our correspondence to the present, entitles you to the approbation of the government and to our warmest acknowledgments.
We are at a loss to assign an adequate motive for the delay manifested by the Chiefs in convening. This circumstance, how-
8 Blain and Glasscock were appointed by Georgia to cooperate with the United States Commissioners.
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 209
ever, is far from producing despair. We shall endeavor to ac- commodate ourselves to the exigency, & if we fail in one expe- dient, we must resort to others. Such course is, to be sure, a little humiliating, but warranted by the character of the Nation with whom we are treating.
Your suggestion of the propriety of our addressing the "head Chiefs separately, and of communicating a circular to the whole people," meets our assent. In furtherance of the idea, we pro- pose to have our despaches in preparation by Monday morning. We shall be obliged by your aid in providing messengers, and should regard it as inexpedient, for both Interpreters to be ab- sent at the same time.
If your Office contains information of the number of Chiefs, their names & residence, we shall be thankful if you will com- municate it.
We have the honor to be, with great respect, Yr Obt hum1 Srvts,
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL, JAS. MERIWETHER,
U. S. Comrs. JAMES BLAIN, THOMAS GLASSCOCK,
State Comrs.
No. 14
Joseph McMinn to Meriwether, April 15, 1823, informing him that he (McMinn) has been appointed Agent for the Chero- kees.
No. 15
Meriwether to McMinn, April 30, 1823, referring to the failure of the January meeting with the Cherokees and arranging for an August meeting.
No. 16
Meriwether to McMinn, May 17, 1823, acknowledging let- ters of April 15th and May 6th.
210 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
No. 17
WASHINGTON 18th May 1823 Joseph McMinn Hsqr. SIR,
I have lately recd your favour, expressing a readiness to co- operate with the Commissioners, upon the subject of a Treaty with the Cherokee Nation of Indians. This proffered aid is the more acceptable, on account of the increasing difficulties which the Commissioners have in prospect. I beg leave to refer you to the proceedings of a late Council held near Fort Ville, a copy of which I have inclosed. From the temper heretofore evinced, and now confirmed, it would seem that we are not to expect a Convention at any place, other than New Town. We have been advised against an acquiescence in such proposal, upon the grounds, that at their Seat of government, far in the interior, the Nation will assume a tone, which will be wholly independent, if not superciliary and dictatorial. The General Government having been so earnestly importuned by the State of Georgia to obtain a further cession, the Commissioners are particularly desirous to bring their negotiations to a successful issue. To this end, they solicit the aid of your experience. You are aware that we have requested a Convention at Talonoy on the 9th August. From the proceedings of the late Council the proposition is rejected in language, determined & positive. Under the circumstances would you consider it advisable that we insist further on a meeting at that place, or that we make a requisition upon our contractors? The time suggested by the Council is inconvenient, and illy suits our other arrangements. We should not strenuously object to the place, except for the concession which it involves.
I have though that a part of the reluctance and obstinacy which have been manifested, arises from a determination, if pos- sible, to prevent an adjustment of the Georgia claims. They affect to regard these but lightly. I conclude however, that they have had a full share in producing the obstacles which have been thrown in our way.
Upon leaving the Agency last winter, we committed to the
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 211
care of Mr. R. J. Meigs the provisions which had been furnished by the Contractors. Will you be pleased to give this matter a view, and adopt the course which will be least expensive to the government. It is not probable that the same provisions will be needed for future use. Your superior means of information will best enable you to determine. That we may report our proceed- ings as far as we have gone to the War department, and adjust our accounts, we shall be obliged, if you will request Mr. Meigs to forward us the duplicate receipts of the Contractors, and also duplicate vouchers for any other disbursement he may have found it necessary to make.
I regret that Maj. Meriwether & myself, from the remoteness of our situations cannot act more in concert. He will no doubt give you his views generally. We shall be employed together in purchasing the reserves within the limits of Georgia, from the 10th to the last of June, & will then make you a further communi- cation. In the mean time, & as soon as may suit your conveni- ence we shall be glad to hear from you. With sentiments of respect & consideration I am Sir
Yr Obt Srvt
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. Joseph McMinn Esq. Cherokee Agency.
Inclosure NEAR FORTVILLE, CHEROKEE NATION,
April 25th 1823 In Council Convened FRIENDS & BROTHERS,
The undersigned Chiefs, in behalf of the Cherokee Nation convened in Council for the purpose of taking into consideration your communication of the 10th of Feby. last, urging the repeal of the Resolutions of October 1822, so that a convention may take place at Talonoy on the 9th day of August next, for the purpose of entering into various topics of negotiation with you as United States Commissioners. We have therefore maturely considered the subject contained in your several communications
4
212 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
to our Head Chief, Mr. Charles R. Hicks, and to the Nation. — Brothers it is with deep regret we have noticed the feelings with which you have expressed your sentiments towards the Resolutions of Octr 1822 and the course which have been pur- sued by the Nation in not meeting you at the Agency in January last, and their strict adherence to those Resolutions. You have thought proper to denounce those Resolutions as being premature disrespectful and of dangerous tendency.
Brothers, surely you could not have read those Resolutions with attention, or otherwise, you could not with due reflection have asserted what has been declared by the Committee & Coun- cil, as emanating from Mature deliberation, to be premature.
Brothers, we declare in behalf of the Nation, and ourselves that those Resolutions were adopted from just arid proper mo- tives, being actuated from an impulse, of preserving and promot- ing the true interest and happiness of the Cherokee People, and that no disrespect or contempt to the General Government, or to her Commissioners, are offered or intended. So far is it from any such intention, that the concluding part of the general Reso- lution observes, "but on any other business not relating to mak- ing a Treaty of cession we will at all times during the Session of the National Council at New Town, receive the U. States Com- missioners or Agents with friendship and cordiality, and will ever keep bright the chain of peace and friendship which links the Cherokee Nation and the Government of the U. States." Such are the sentiments which you so strongly protest against as being premature, disrespectful and of dangerous tendency, and are so desirous that the Chiefs should repeal, so that a convention may take place on the 9th Augst next at Talonoy, and that the diffi- culties & breach which has taken place between the President & his favorite Indian children, may be healed." If these your ex- pressions flow from deliberate reflections, and be your real con- struction of the sentiments which we have quoted from the afore- said resolution, we are really at a loss how you could suppose that we could ever agree with your ideas, how to promote the welfare & happiness of the Cherokees, when your object is to
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OP 1822-1823 213
obtain their lands and to seek compensation for things which have long since been solemnly adjusted by a Treaty & forgotten. Brothers, In adhering to our Resolutions, we neither offer dis- respect, contempt or refuse to receive Ministers or Commissioners of the U. States. During the sitting of the Council which adopted this General Resolution, a communication accompanying a copy of the Resolution was forwarded by the Chiefs in Council, to the Honorable Secretary of War, and a letter was also written to the then, Agent, Col° Meigs, informing him of the course adopted by the Council, and requesting him to communicate the same to the U. States Commissioners in his correspondence with them, so that that they may not be disappointed in coming forward to call a Treaty, and that the U. States may be saved the useless expenses, of making necessary preparations and of procuring supplies for a Treaty &c. All this was done in Octr 1822, a considerable time previous to your fixing the time for a meeting and to enter into a contract for supplies &c. Under these circumstances, you came forward, and the "failure, exposure, expense, and trouble" which you complain of occurred. All these occurrences may be attrib- uted, as we suppose, to the very little confidence and respect you had, for the proceedings of our Council. Brothers, to avoid sim- ilar occurrences, we now declare to you, that the Resolution of Council emanated from due regard to the interests, happiness, and prosperity of the Cherokee People, and that its adoption was founded, upon mature deliberation, and that it will be strictly observed, and cannot be repealed ; and further, that we do hereby solemnly protest before God and man, against the Nation meet- ing you at Talonoy on the 9th August next as you have suggested. We have but one Seat for our General Council which is at New Town, and should you come forward during our next General Council at that place, the committee & Council will take you by the hand as friends & Brothers, and hear what you have to say on the subject of your mission. We know of no instance of Min- isters or Commissioners, to a foreign Court, persisting in selecting a spot remote from the Seat of Government to which their em- bassy was directed for negotiation ; and of taking it entirely upon
214 SMITH COLUCGU STUDIES IN HISTORY
themselves to fix the time for a convention. We make these re- marks because you have intimated, that "a refusal to receive Min- isters or Commissioners, has always been considered one of the highest contempts which can pass between Nations, and has often led to the most serious consequences." Brothers, we have denyed all these charges which you have alledged to our dispositions as emanating from the General Resolution; because the Resolution expressed the most frindly disposition to keep bright the chain of Peace and friendship which links the Cherokee Nation and the government of United States. We are ignorant of any diffi- culties or breach, having taken place between us, and our Father the President. Have you appeared before the General Council of this Nation at our Great Council fire at New Town, as Com- missioners of the U. States? And have you been rejected and treated with contempt? No, Brothers; such circumstances have not taken place, therefore we are entirely innocent of the denunci- ations which you have heaped upon us. Brothers, we have no desire that the U. States should incur any expense of procuring supplies for the Nation on the subject of your mission. Should you think proper to come forward to our next general Council at New Town, the Nation will furnish their own supplies, and as for yourselves you could obtain as good accommodations there as the Nation affords. Brothers, we deem it proper to inform you that our next General Council will be convened on the 1st day of Sep- tember next, being the earliest period which will admit of con- venience for the General Convention of this Nation.
We take you by the hands in behalf of the Nation and our- selves as Friends & Brothers.
(Signed by John Ross and twenty-two others.)
No. 18
McMinn to Meriwether, May 27, 1823, reporting that he has reproved the Cherokees for not meeting the commissioners last winter, that they are "clamorous" for the removal of intruders from their lands, and that he has "just paid the annuity for the present year, one third in specie, and the remainder in Southern Paper, which appears to give very general satisfaction."
THE CHEROKEE: NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 215
No. 19
GAINESVILLE, 16th June 1823. Joseph McMinn Esq. SIR,
We have had the honor of receiving yours of the 15th Ap1. & 27th May. In answer to the first, not having an opportunity of an interview, we addressed you, separately. One of these com- munications was made from Washington on the 18th of May, and was accompanied by a copy of the proceedings of a Council which had been held in the Cherokee Nation near Fort Ville. We regret extremely, your not having received these communica- tions before Col. Williams left the Agency. The determination expressed by the Council not to accept the invitation to convene at Talonoy, places us under new embarrassments in which we have need of the aid & advice, which it is probable, you have the means of furnishing. The last proceedings near Fort Ville have all the forms of authority and deliberation. We may well con- clude, therefore, that they will be adhered to with the same tenacity which was displayed at our attempted meeting at the Agency in January. The probability is, that we shall be driven to acquiesce in their own appointment of a meeting at New Town on the 1st September. We must do this, or despair of a Con- vention at all. We have adopted invitation, remonstrance and protest. These have not availed us anything. We have no means of coertion. Our present views then, are, that a requisition upon the Contractors, preparatory to the meeting at Talonoy, will be unnecessary. We are the more convinced of this, from the statement contained in their late proceedings, of ability to furnish their own supplies. To satisfy the Nation however, of our de- termination to persevere, we deem it proper to attend at Tolonoy at the time appointed. If we fail in procuring a meeting, our efforts will then be directed to such means as will be calculated to effect a punctual attendance at New Town on the 1st Sep*. & to such other means as may facilitate a negotiation at that time. It is also questionable, whether it will be necessary to furnish supplies even at New Town, except for ourselves. The
216 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
grounds taken by the Nation are so lofty, that their aim seems to be little short of complete independence. We beg leave to refer much, upon these points, to your discretion. If from any thing which has or may occur, you should be of opinion that a different course is expedient, we shall be obliged if you will sug- gest it, and take measures accordingly. On our arrival at Tal- onoy we shall be happy to meet you. The measures to be con- certed at that time will probably regulate our operations at New Town.
In our letter of the 18th May, we took leave to request your attention to the provisions which were furnished at the Agency in January. Apprehending the possibility of a miscarriage of that letter we now inclose you a copy, also a copy of the proceed- ings of the Council. We placed in the hands of Mr. Meigs the sum of $1850, as we now recollect. This was done to enable him to satisfy the contractors for the requisition which had been made, & to cover the expense of taking care & disposing of the pro- visions. We have written to Mr. Meigs to pay over to your department whatever sum may be in his hands, arising from our deposit, or the sale of the provisions, deducting his disburse- ments and compensation for his trouble and agency. Will you do us the favour to make the settlement, & take such Vouchers as will sustain that part of our account before the War Depart- ment.
In relation to the business of our appointments generally we ask your observation and aid, and that the same may be com- municated by Express or otherwise whenever in your opinion it may become necessary.
With great respect and consideration We are Sir,
Yr Ob* Servts
DUNCAN G. CAMPBELL. JAS.
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 217
No. 20 CHEROKEE AGENCY 7th July 1823.
James Merriwether and }
Duncan G. Campbell \ esquires
GENTLEMEN,
I received on the 4th Instant a letter by express, from Mr. Charles R. Hicks Head Chief of the Cherokee Nation covering the copy of a letter signed Geo. Sanders, Alexr. Sanders, and John Sanders, in which they have stated to Mr. Hicks, that it never was their wish to have the Treaty held at Tallony, and that they conceive New Town, has a preference over that place in several respects; these statements they have requested Mr. Hicks to communicate to you, but it seems he has prefered send- ing their letter to me, requesting that, I might advise you of the contents, which, I would have done by express, were it not, that the communication originated where it did, of which, I have apprised John Ross P. M., and hope it will have a speedy & safe passage.
I have received instructions of a late date from the Hon1. John C. Calhoun, for removing the Intruders from the Cherokee Land, which renders it rather doubtfull whether, I will be able to attend at Tallony conformably to your request or not, tho if the Troops should march against them as early as, I expect, there will be nothing to prevent my attending at New Town (Sickness excepted) on the 1st September next.
With regard to meeting the Cherokee Council at Tallony on the 9th August next, I beg leave to remark that my impressions have been opposed, not to the right, but the policy of the measure, and this letter from Sanders has confirmed what I have for some time believed would be their language namely "they wish if the Commissioners will hold the Treaty at Tallony that no per- son will attend belonging to our nation" and, I am so inti- mately acquainted with their mode of prosecuting an opposition, that, I feel warranted in stating to you that no chief man will venture to attend the meeting at Tallony in opposition to the wish of Mr. Hicks, and a few others, (rullers) of the nation; and
218 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
were we to attend, and not be met by those in power, it would afford couse [excuse] for them to exult in our disappointment, to a greater extent than they will, by an agreement with their own wishes, and your efforts will acquire additional strength, by being able to state to them that, notwithstanding their absence in the first instance, you have now met them at the place of their choice, &c and however unpleasant it may be to, add concession, to Insult, I hazzard very little in stating, that, to accomplish the object you have in view, it will become necessary to resort to measures of sound policy, as well, as to take a firm, and decided stand.
These Gentlemen are some of my views of the subject under consideration, and in conclusion beg leave to remark, that, I con- cieve it most advisable to dispence with the meeting at Tallony.
Mr. Meigs attended here after receiving your letter, for the purpose of closing his accounts which arrangement, I have not entered into believing, that, it can be effected more to the satis- faction of all parties, when we meet at the conference, where Mr. Meigs observed he had for some time determined to attend. I have the honor to be
your obt. Servant
Jos. McMiNN. No. 21 CHEROKEE AGENCY, 30 July 1823.
Messrs James Merriwether [ and Duncan G. Campbell j
I do myself the honor to enclose you the copy of a letter signed, J. Ross and Charles R. Hicks in behalf of the Council of the Cherokee Nation, and extracts of my reply to said letter.
From the former you will discover the course taken by the Council in suspending the period for meeting in the pending negociation, and in the latter you will see my remarks, addressed to Mr. Hicks which, I transmit without comment.
There must be amongst a part of the Cherokee Rulers, some lattent prejudices, against meeting you in Council, and untill you
THE; CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 219
can effect a convocation it will be impossible to predict the course that will be taken by them, for in fact I believe a great part of their unwillingness arises from doubts they entertain of the integrity of each other. They are all aware of their liability to yield to the old temptations, which have been presented on similar occations, and, I have no doubt their jealousies of each other originates in some instances to save their country, and, I [have] as little hesitation in saying that with others Bribery is the favorite maxim, & Governing Policy.
You may calculate upon my bringing one of my Interpreters from this place, tho tis possible, that sound policy might dictate the propriety of your engaging one out of some of the strongest clans, who would act as a check upon each other.
I would be gratified on hearing what arrangements you have made to procure the necessary stores, or whether you will rely upon being furnished by the Cherokee House Keepers. For my- self I am doubtful they will not furnish anything but Beef, and Bread, (perhaps coffee). Bacon & Butter, I expect will form no part of the ration. Should you prefer making a requisition on this place, I will execute your instructions with pleasure. Flour & spirits can be had here with convenience, Bacon is scarce tho, I expect some might be procured, and, I hold it in relation to food, as the best guarantee for good health where the Traveller has to change water and climate. I have the honor to be
your ob* Svt
Jos. McMiNN No. 22
GAINSVILLE, 9th August 1823. Joseph McMinn Esq. SIR,
. . . We have had an interview lately, at which, we came to the conclusion to conform to your suggestion and decline an attempt to effect a meeting at Talony. We shall be at that place, on our way to New Town, about the 27th. . . . Being dis- appointed in the expected meeting at Talony it becomes the more desirable that a punctual attendance should take place at New-
220 SMITH COLLEGE STUDIES IN HISTORY
town. The time illy suits our other engagements. Perhaps the movements of our Red Brethren might be accelerated a little, by a circular addressed from yourself. . . .
D. G. CAMPBELL No. 23
Johnson Wellborn and James Blain, Georgia Commissioners, to McMinn, October 6, 1823, submitting their credentials.9
No. 24
NEWTOWN 21th October 1823. MY FRIEND
I am going to inform you a few lines as a friend. I want you to give me your opinion about the treaty whether the chiefs will be willing or not. If the chiefs feel disposed to let the United States have the land part of it, I want you to let me know. I will make the United States commissioners give you two thousand dollars A McCoy the same and Charles Hicks $3000 for present, and nobody shall know it, and if you think the land wouldent sold, I will be satisfied. If the land should be sold, I will get you the amount before the treaty sign, and if you got any friend you want him to Receive it, they shall reed the same; nothing more to inform you at present. I remain your affectionate
Friend
WM. MdNTOSH.
John Ross10
an answer return
NB. the whole amount is $12000. you can divide among your friends, exclusive $7000.
9 A note almost identically the same, was sent by Campbell and Meriwether to McMinn, [Amer. State Papers, Indian Affairs, vol. II, p. 465.]
10 The endorsement by Ross on the back of this letter is as important
as the letter itself. It runs as follows : "rec'd on the 23rd Octr, 1823
read and exposed in open Council in the presence of Wm. Mclntosh Octr 24th, 1823. J. Ross."
THE CHEROKEE NEGOTIATIONS OF 1822-1823 221
No. 25
NEW TOWN 27th Octr 1823 DEAR GOVERNOR —
But little has occured since you left us of any moment ex- cept what is contained in our last talk, a copy of which is in- closed. The answer of the Council has just been received.11 We will inclose a copy. A rupture of some seriousness took place a few days ago between the Council & Genl. Mclntosh. The Genl. had made himself very offensive and professed to be very anxious for our success. He had some experience in making treaties, and knew the means which were some times resorted to. Presuming upon his capacity and upon our willingness to support him, he made an approach to the Presdt of the Committee by note which was loftily repelled & exposed. The matter excited considerable [ ?] , but was not visited upon us except by Mclntosh when he was arraigned. The authorities here evinced great determination to the last, and even became louder. They are entitled at least to the merit of consistency. The President will have to learn his children better manners before we visit them again.
We are in confusion preparatory to an early start in the morning.
As often as your leisure will admit I shall be glad of a line officially or individually.
Accept my best wishes for your health & happiness.
I am Dr Sir
Yours
Very truly
D. G. CAMPBELL Joseph McMinn Esqr.
11 Amer. State papers, Indian Affairs, II : 471-473.