To James Madison from Israel Pickens, 22 February 1815
From Israel Pickens
Capitol Feby 22d 1815.
Sir
Since the letter addressed you by several of the N. Carolina delegation on the subject of a road through a part of the Cherokee country, which our last general Assembly has recommended;1 I have received information from very respectable sources which I consider it my duty to communicate. The object of this application is merely to have the authority of the executive for an agreement with the Indians, as I understand there will be no difficulty in obtaining their consent, many of them being equally anxious for a road. I am also assured that on the consent of the Indians being obtained, our own citizens will without any expense to the United States open the road. A portion of my immediate constituents being most interested, I have felt it a duty to intrude on your time which I know is engrossed with subjects of much more weighty importance.
Should your excellency dispose to appoint Commissioners for obtaining the consent of the Indians, Genl. Thomas Love of Haywo[o]d County N.C. may be depended on as a citizen of integrity intelligence & prudenc⟨e⟩ & well acquainted with that portion of the country, as well as with many of the cheifs.
I am very respectfully your most Obt. servant
Israel Pickens
RC (DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Love”).
1. The letter has not been found. The joint “resolution respecting a road from Waynesville in Haywood county, through the lands of the Cherokee Indians” was adopted by the North Carolina senate and returned to the house of commons on 14 Dec. 1814 (Journal of the Senate. At a General Assembly, Begun and Held at the City of Raleigh, on … the Twenty-First Day of November, in the Year … One Thousand Eight Hundred and Fourteen … [Raleigh, 1815?; 35503], 22).