The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-09-02
From the National hteltigencer.
PRESENT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION
OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

From the National hlteLlgencer.
PRESENT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION
OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
No. II.
In my first number prepared the way to
inquire aehGt right haze the CheYokees to the
lands achich they noao occupy? This is plain
question and easily answered.
The Cherokees are human beings, en-
dowed by their Creator with the same natur-
al rights as other men. They are in peace
full possession of a territory which they
have always regarded as their own. This
territory was in possession of their ances-
TORS through an unknown series of genera
tons, and has come down to them with title
absolutely unincuntbered IN euery respect. 1t
Is not pretended, that the Cherokees have
ever allenated their country, or that the
whites have ever been in possession of it.
If the Cherokees are Intercepted as to
their title, they can truly say, "God gave
this country to our ancestors. We have
never been in bondage to. any man. Though
we have sold much land to our white
neighbors, we have never bought any from
them. We own the land which we now
occupy, by the right of the original posses
sors; right which is allowed in all coun-
tries to be of incontestable validity. We
claim, therefore, that no human power can
properly compel us to leave our lands"
If the Cherokees are correct in their
statement of facts, who can resist their con-
clusion? We might as well ask the Chinese,
what right they have to the territory which
they occupy. To such a question they
would answer, "God gave this land to our
ancestors. Our nation has always been in
possession of it, so far as history and ira
dition 60 back. The nations of Europe are
comparatively of recent origin; the COM
mencement of ours is lost in remote an
tiquity."
What can be said to such statement as
this! Who can argue SO plain case y
1t has been said, indeed, that the savage
OF the wilderness can acquire no title to the
forests through which he pursues his game.
Without admitting this doctrine, it Is sufh
cient to reply here, that it has no applica-
ton to the claims of the Cherokees. They
are at present neither savages nor hunters.
1t does not appear that they ever were
wanderers, without stationary residence.
At the earliest period at which the whites
became acquainted with their condition,
they had fixed habitations, and were undis-
puted possessors of widely extended
country. They were then in the habit of cul-
they planted Indian corn, and other veg
etables. From about the commencement of
the present century, they have applied them
selves more and more to agriculture, till
they now derive their support from the soil,
as truly and entirely as do the inhabitants
of Pennsylvania or Virginia. For many
years they have had their herds, and their
large cultivated fields. They now have, in
addition, to their schools, a regular civil
government, and places of regular Christian
worship. They earn their bread by the
labor of their own hands, applied to the
tiilage of their own farms and they clothe
themselves with fabrics made at their own
looms, from cotton grown in their own
fields.
The Cherokees did not show themselves
unwilling to sell their lands, so long as an
adequate motive was presented to their
minds. During every administration of
our national government, applications were
made to them for the purpose of obtaining
additional portions of their territory. These
applications were urged, not only, nor
principally, by the consideration of the
money or presents which they were to re-
ceive in exchange, but often, and strongly,
by the consideration they would become
an agricultural people, like the whites-that
it was for their interest to have their limits
circumscribed, so that their young men could
have great extent of country TO hunt in
and that, when they became attached to
the soil, and engaged in its cultivation, the
United States would not ask them to sell
any more land. Yielding to these argu-
ments, and to the opportunities of the
whites, the Cherokees sold, at different
times, between the close of the revolution
aiy war and the year 1920, more than three
quarters of their original inheritance
That the reader may have some definite
idea of the territory in question, he should
pursue the following delineation by the aid
of a good map:
1t would seem that the Cherokees posses
ed land within the following limits, if not
beyond them, viz: From the mouth OF
Duck River, in Tennessee, on the West. 10
the waters of French Broad, in North Caro-.
lima, on the East; and from the head
waters of the Holston, in Virginia, on the
North, to some distance down the Oconee,
in Georgia, on the South comprising what
is now more than half Of the State of Ten
nessee, the Southern part Of Kentucky,
the Southwest corner Of Virginia, n eonsid-
cradle portion of both the Carolinas, large
portion of Georgia, and the Northern part
of Alabama. This tract probably contain
ed more than 35,000,000 acres, Of which a
large proportion is extremely fertile, and
some of it not inferior to any land in North
America, or perhaps in the world. The
country is also generally healthy, and the
climate delightful. OF all this vast and
beautiful tract, watered by numerous rivers
which find their way to the ocean, some O
fhonn riYenif0ualv nv tho Miasssinni mn