The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17
The Mission of Francis @s1 >: 1~%: Ss%ass 's~ Scott Key to Alabama in 1853 o~
 Rv THOMAS C. McCORVEY Tuscaloosa
By THOMAS C. McCORVEY, Tuscaloosa.

bour; and over them was extended the administration of State laws. The chief executive of Alabama at that time was Governor John Gayle, who, although he had been elected in 1851, as q representative of the anti-nulli- fication sentiment of the State and had been q warm supporter of Gen eral Jackson for the Presidency. held views as to State sovereignty different
 from those of the President. How ever. in justifying the action of Ala
 bama in extending her Jurisdiction
 over the ceded territory, Governor Gayle urged that the general govern ment had invited and encouraged such
 extension. He afterward in states manlike letter to Lewis Cass, Secre- tary of War, dated Tuscaloosa, Octo- Der g 1893, pointed out the inconsist- ency of the administration In admit
 ting the jurisdictional rights of the State, and at the same time, by the en-
 forcement of the treaty provision for the expulsion of the settlers, depriv-
 ing the State of the means of enforc- ing it's jurisdiction. For. along with other settlers. the court officials Of the new counties and other persons necessary to enforce the laws or the State were to be removed, leaving no
 power to punish offences committed
 by the Indians or to subject them In any way to the VA NiO AN"
 Governor Gayle emphasized the me-
 cessity for the action of the general assembly in forming the new counties
 Aside from the fact that without this measure State laws could not be made
 to operate with effect upon large ana
 rapidly increasing white population, was the important consideration that
 the treaty having extinguished the
 Indian title 10 the land. the Indians
 had become citizens of the State and
 nmenable to it's laws by their own con
 sent" Governor Gayle seems to have
 been thoroughly impressed with the
 modern notion that the ownership or a
 definite territorial area by people
 Is essential to the idea of nationality.
 From his point of view. the Indians having ceded their territory, the ln- dian nation had by that act ceased to exist. and the individuals who had pre- yfously formed the nation within the boundary of Alabama had become. in some sense, citizens or the state 10 which they owed allegiance ala rom which they could demand protection.
 Contention of the stnte.
 The fundamental and far-reaching contention of the State administration was that the general government could make no treaty in derogation or the right of the State to Jurisdiction within its territorial boundaries. This contention found voice and explicit statement in one of the series Of reso- | lutions afterward introduced in the general assembly. These resolutions were introduced December. 1883. by Jesse Beene. one of the representa- tives from Dallas County. chairman Of special committee of the Indian troubles. and the fourth one. just re- ferred to, was in the following words: | Resolved, That the power conferred bv the constitution of the United states upon the President and two thirds of the Senate to make treaties | Is limited and restrained by the grants of power therein contained. and that all treaties which encEpach upon the | reserved rights of the State are usur- nations of power. subversive of gov 1 ernment and destructive of civil li- | berty." It was claimed that the