US Presidency
1830

To the Senate of the United States. The accompanying propositions, in the form of a treaty, have been recently sent to me by special messenger from the Choctaw Nation of Indians, and since it was received a protest against it has been forwarded. Both evince a desire to cede to the United States all their country east of the Mississippi, and both are here submitted. These measures are the voluntary acts of the Indians themselves. The Government was not represented in the councils which adopted them, nor had it any previous intimation that such steps were in contemplation. The Indians convened of their own accord, settled and executed the propositions contained in the treaty presented to me, and agreed to be bound by them if within three months they should receive the approbation of the President and Senate. The other measure is equally their own.