Cherokee Phoenix

REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS

Published March, 31, 1830

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REMOVAL OF THE INDIANS

In a short debate that occurred in the House of Representatives a few days since, respecting the disposal of a Report from the committee on Indian Affairs, the feeling that has been excited in the public mind respecting the removal of the Indians was said to be founded on misapprehension.- Mr. Buchanan and others stated that it was commonly believed that the Indians were to be removed from the Southern States, by force. The prevalence of this belief was said to be evident from the Memorials that had been presented.

We must be permitted to doubt the correctness of these remarks of the honorable gentleman. We have read what the newspapers have said on the subject with come care, and have attentively examined the published accounts of the proceedings of 'Indian meetings;' and neither in these nor in the memorials that we have seen, nor yet in our personal intercourse with individuals deeply interested in the matter, have we ever discovered the least trace of the alleged misapprehension. For our own part, we have published official documents disclaiming any such intention, and have more than once stated editorially that no such outrage was intended. Nay, we have published an article from the pen of a Cherokee, shewing (sic) that even the Indians have no such apprehensions of forcible measures, as Mr. Buchanan speaks of. Nothing more is apprehended, we presume, by the memorialists generally, than what they find recommended or sanctioned by official documents. They fear only,

1. That the Indian territory will be occupied by a military force. [See Col. M'Kenney's Report, in Documents accompanying the Report of the Secretary of War, page 165]

2. That attempts will be made to bribe the Chiefs to sell their country. [See instructions from the Secretary of War to Generals Carroll and Coffee, ib. p. 178]

3. That the Indians will be deprived of the right of self-government--[See law of Georgia, of Dec. 20th, 1828. Sec. 8; and the Message of the President of the U. S. of Dec. 8, 1829.]

4. That they will be deprived of all their lands except those which they have already 'improved by their industry.' [See Message as above.]

5. That the Indians will be disfranchised-made subject to the laws of states, in which they will not be admitted to the rights of citizenship.- [See Law of Georgia, as above, section 9, and President's Message, as above.

6. That, therefore, should avowed policy of our National Executive be pursued, the Indians must either remove, or suffer, in the home of their fathers; the most oppressive and intolerable wrong.

7. That all this will be done by a violation, on the part of the United States, of the most sacred obligations [See Indian treaties, passim.-Chancellor Kent, Johnson's Reports, Vol. XX.-U. S. Sup. Court, Cranch's Reports, Vol. VI and Wheaton's Reports, Vol. VIII.]

This is all!!!- except that they generally agree with the Indians in believing that a removal to the West would be their destruction.

Jour. of Hu.