Supplementary articles to a Treaty, concluded at New Echota, Georgia, December 29, 1835, between the United States and Cherokee people.

Whereas, the undersigned were authorized at the General Meeting of the Cherokee people, held at New Echota as above stated, to make and assent to such alterations in the preceding Treaty as might be thought necessary; and whereas, the President of the United States has expressed his determination not to allow any pre-emptions or reservations, his desire being that the whole Cherokee people should remove together, and establish themselves in the country provided for them west of the Mississippi river:

Article I. It is therefore agreed that all the pre-emption rights and reservations, provided for in articles 12 and 13, shall be and are hereby relinquished and declared void.

Article 2. Whereas, the Cherokee people have supposed that the sum of five millions of dollars, fixed by the Senate in their resolution of day of March, 1835, as the value of the Cherokee lands and possessions east of the Mississippi river, was not intended to include the amount which may be required to remove them, nor the value of certain claims which many of their people had against citizens of the United States, which suggestion has been confirmed by the opinion expressed to the War Department by some of the Senators who voted upon the question, and, whereas, the President is willing that this subject should be referred to the Senate for their considerations, and if it was not intended by the Senate that the above mentioned sum of five millions of dollars should include the object herein specified, that in that case such further provision should be made therefor as might appear to the Senate to be just;

Article 3. It is therefore agreed that the sum of six hundred thousand dollars shall be and the same is hereby allowed to the Cherokee people to include the expense of their removal, and all claims of every nature and description against the Government of the United States not herein otherwise expressly provided for, and to be in lieu of the said reservations and pre-emptions and of the sum of three hundred thousand dollars for spoliations described in the 1st article of the above mentioned Treaty. This sum of six hundred thousand dollars shall be applied and distributed agreeably to the provisions of the said Treaty, and any surplus which may remain after removal and payment of the claims so ascertained shall be turned over and belong to the education fund.

But it is expressly understood that the subject of this article is merely referred hereby to the consideration of the Senate, and if they shall approve the same then this supplement shall remain part of the Treaty.

Article 4. It is also understood that the provisions in Article 16, for the Agency reservation, is not intended to interfere with the occupant right of any Cherokees, should their improvement fall within the same. It is also understood and agreed that one hundred thousand dollars, appropriated in Article 12 for the poorer class of Cherokees and intended as a set off to the pre-emption rights, shall now be transferred from the funds of the Nation and added to the general national fund of four hundred thousand dollars, so as to make said fund equal to five hundred thousand dollars.

Article 5. The necessary expenses attending the negotiation of the aforesaid treaty and supplement, and also of such persons of the delegation as may sign the same, shall be defrayed by the United States.

In testimony whereof, John F. Schermerhorn, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the undersigned delegation have hereunto set their hands and seals, this first day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

Now therefore, Be it Known, that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty, and also the Supplementary Articles thereto annexed, do, in pursuance of the advice of the Senate, as expressed in their resolution of the eighteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, with the following amendments thereto, as expressed in the aforesaid resolution of the Senate, "Article 17, lines 2 and 3, strike out the words 'by General Wm. Carroll and John F. Schermerhorn,' or in the 4th line of the same Article, after the word 'States,' by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States." "Strike out the 20th Article, which appears as a supplementary article." In testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, having signed the same with my hand.

By the President:

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, and of the Independence of the United States the sixtieth.

John Forsyth,

ANDREW JACKSON.

Secretary of State.

After my repeated avowals for many years past, when in various high official stations, and before the whole people of the United States, that I considered myself amongst the most devoted friends and benefactors of the Cherokee

Indians, and that I would favor no measure or policy which was not designed or calculated to promote their best and permanent interest; and having acted the most efficient part in bringing about and consummating the foregoing treaty, I feel it my duty thus to submit the entire treaty, in connection with my own official acts on the subject, that an impartial posterity may have an opportunity of judging from deeds, as well as my words, in regard to my true spirit towards this deeply interesting people, the Cherokee Indians.

As an official mediator between them and the whites, in various instances of great importance, and deeply excited feelings on both sides, duty has called upon me to decide and act between men of these different castes. I never shrank from responsibility; I always acted promptly. I do not claim infallibility from error. My action on some occasions may have borne oppressively on the one side or the other, but none of my survivors, who may faithfully examine the whole history of the controversy between Georgia and the Cherokee Indians, will deny to me the just claim of having been as much devoted to the true interest and the just and reasonable rights of the Cherokees as to that of my own beloved Georgia, to whom I owe the deepest debt of gratitude for placing me in various positions of usefulness.

As will more fully appear from the correspondence which I intend to submit in connection with the discharge of my official duties as Commissioner under the Treaty of 1835, it is proper to state in this place something explanatory of the nature and causes of the extraordinary labor and responsibility which devolved on me. I had been instrumental in bringing about this Treaty. It had been negotiated and entered into by the most enlightened and best men of the Cherokee people. But it was bitterly opposed by John Ross and all his followers. Ross opposed it because it was negotiated by his rivals and because it did not recognize him as anything more than a Indian. Moreover, he knew the popularity of his course with many of the popular men of the United States, as well as the ignorant and deluded fanatics everywhere. He therefore determined to make the most of his position. He determined to secure for himself and friends more money, and by these means gain the position to re-instate himself after the emigration to the West. And this he has effected by the bold stroke

common

of murdering the Ridges, Boudinot, and many others who were known to be opposed to his promotion.

The President and authorities of the United States determined honestly and faithfully to carry this Treaty into full effect, and so they declared upon all proper occasions; but in doing this, from first to last, the officers and agents of the United States, with the single exception of · General Jackson himself, performed their duty in connection with this subject in a manner and in a spirit to conciliate and purchase the good will of John Ross and his

associates.

They therefore treated Ross and his party with great deference and respect. Their deportment was such as to elevate Ross and his friends at the expense of prostrating the Treaty party. This to me was exceedingly offensive. Ross had been divested of his kingly reign as principal chief by the action of the State Government of Georgia; by the same action the majority of the Cherokees, including the larger portion of their intelligence, had become favorable to emigration, and had formed a very advantageous treaty accordingly. The treaty had been formally and duly ratified-which consequently made John Ross to all intents and purposes a private man. Yet all the officials of the United States, except General Jackson and a few of his personal friends, were Ross men at heart, and as far as their official position would allow they endeavored to elevate and strengthen Ross at the expense of the best interest of the Cherokee people. The military commanders who were sent to preserve the peace of the country, and to aid in the peaceable emigration of the Cherokees, in almost every instance took sides with Ross as far as they dared to go.

At the expiration of General Jackson's Presidency there was an obvious change in the tone of the authorities at Washington in regard to the execution of the treaty. "It is true," they continued to say, "the Treaty must be executed." But John Ross had now become principal chief. He was no longer a dethroned chief. He must be conciliated, not forced. I soon discovered that Mr. Van Buren was too short in his stride "to tread in the footsteps of his illustrious predecesssor." The true state of this case is such as has never occurred before or since. Georgia had forced this state of things, not only upon the Indians but upon the Federal Government, before that Government was quite ready for this rapid ad