From Thomas Jefferson to the Senate and the House of Representatives, 13 February 1805
To the Senate and
the House of Representatives
To the Senate & House of Representatives
of the United States.
In the message to Congress at the opening of the present Session, I informed them that treaties had been entered into with the Delaware & Piankeshaw Indians for the purchase of their right to certain lands on the Ohio. I have since recieved another entered into with the Sacs & Foxes for a portion of country on both sides of the river Missisipi. these treaties having been advised & consented to by the Senate, have accordingly been ratified. but, as they involve conditions which require legislative provision, they are now submitted to both branches for consideration
Th: Jefferson
Feb. 13. 1805.
RC (DNA: RG 233, PM, 8th Cong., 2d sess.); endorsed by House clerks. PoC (DNA: RG 46, LPPM, 8th Cong., 2d sess.); endorsed by Senate clerks. FC (DLC); in TJ’s hand. Enclosures: see TJ to the Senate, 15 Nov. and 31 Dec. 1804.
TJ delivered his annual message on 8 Nov. 1804.
On this day, Isaac A. Coles delivered the treaties and TJ’s accompanying message to the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate ordered the message and treaties to lie for consideration, while the House referred them to the Committee of Ways and Means. On 2 Mch., the committee reported back an appropriations bill for carrying out treaties with the four tribes. The House passed an amended version the following day, and the Senate concurred that same day. The law allocated $300 annually to the Delawares for five years, another $300 annually to the Delawares for ten years, $200 annually to the Piankashaws for ten years, and $1,000 annually to the Sacs and Foxes “so long as the treaty with them shall continue in force.” The act also set aside $5,000 for the exploration and placement of potential sites for Indian trading posts and up to $100,000 for the establishment of trading houses (, 5:136, 163, 166-7, 169; , 3:451-2, 469; , 2:338).