From James Madison to Congress, 18 January 1816
To Congress
18th January—1816
The accompanying extract from the occurrences at Fort Jackson, in August 1814 during the negociation of a Treaty with the Indians, shews that the friendly Creeks wishing to give to General Jackson, Benjamin Hawkins and others a national mark of their gratitude and regard, conveyed to them respectively a donation of land, with a request that the grant might be duly confirmed by the Government of the United States.1
Taking into consideration, the peculiar circumstances of the case, the expediency of indulging the Indians in wishes which they associated with the Treaty signed by them, and that the case involves an inviting opportunity for bestowing on an officer who has rendered such illustrious services to his Country, a token of its sensibility to them, the inducement to which cannot be diminished by the delicacy and disinterestedness of his proposal to transfer the benefit from himself: I recommend to Congress that provision be made for carrying into effect the wishes and request of the Indians as expresse⟨d⟩ by them.
James Madison
RC and enclosure (DNA: RG 233, President’s Messages, 14A–D1; RC (DNA: RG 46, Legislative Proceedings, President’s Messages, 14A–E2). Each RC in a clerk’s hand, signed by JM. For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. The extract (9 pp.; printed in , Indian Affairs, 1:837–38) recounted a speech by Tustunnuggee Thlucco at an 8 Aug. 1814 assembly of Creek chiefs with Maj. Gen. Andrew Jackson and Benjamin Hawkins, beginning with a request that a particular tract of Creek land west of the Coosa River not be ceded to the United States. Jackson demurred, arguing that “the people in that quarter had been already Sufficiently provided for, and the ground asked for had been the thoroughfare of the murderers.” The speaker replied that the chiefs would sign the treaty nevertheless, and that in order to demonstrate their gratitude for help against the hostile Creek faction and other services, they desired that “three miles square” of the land they were ceding be given to Jackson, the same amount to Hawkins, and “one mile square” each to interpreters George Mayfield and Alexander Cornells. Hawkins accepted and Jackson did so as well but subject to JM’s approval and application of the land’s value “to aid in clothing [the Creeks’] naked women and children.” The chiefs, however, told Hawkins that “they did not give to the General Jackson, the land to day to give it back to them in clothing and other things; they want him to live on it, and when he is gone (dead) his family may have it; and it may always be known what the nation gave it to him for.” They again stated their willingness to sign the treaty despite protesting against Jackson’s insistence on taking from them certain lands that they considered worth “more than the equivalent offered.” The extract concluded with a copy of a document signed by the chiefs the following day to the effect of the above verbal statements, adding that their gift to Hawkins expressed their thanks to him “and to Mrs. Lavinia Hawkins, his wife, for the unwearied pains they have both of them for a long time taken, to introduce the plan of civilization among us, and to be useful to us,” and that the grant should also benefit “their children … born in our land.”