American Institutions And Their Influence

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] he is obliged to submit to a wearisome, obscure, and degraded
state, and to gain the bread which nourishes him by hard and
ignoble labor; such are in his eyes the only results of which
civilisation can boast: and even this much he is not sure to
obtain.

When the Indians undertake to imitate their European neighbors,
and to till the earth like the settlers, they are immediately
exposed to a very formidable competition. The white man is
skilled in the craft of agriculture; the Indian is a rough
beginner in an art with which he is unacquainted. The former
reaps abundant crops without difficulty, the latter meets with a
thousand obstacles in raising the fruits of the earth.

The European is placed among a population whose wants he knows
and partakes. The savage is isolated in the midst of a hostile
people, with whose manners, language and laws, he is imperfectly
acquainted, but without whose assistance he cannot live. He can
only procure the materials of comfort by bartering his
commodities against the goods of the European, for the assistance
of his countrymen is wholly insufficient to supply his wants.
When the Indian wishes to sell the produce of his labor, he
cannot always meet with a purchaser, while the European readily
finds a market; and the former can only produce at a considerable
cost, that which the latter vends at a very low rate. Thus the
Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which barbarous
nations are exposed, than he is subjected to the still greater
miseries of civilized communities; and he finds it scarcely
less difficult to live in the midst of our abundance, than in the
depth of his own wilderness.

He has not yet lost the habits of his erratic life; the
traditions of his fathers and his passion for the chase are still
alive within him. The wild enjoyments which formerly animated
him in the woods painfully excite his troubled imagination; and
his former privations appear to be less keen, his former perils
less appalling. He contrasts the independence which he possessed
among his equals with the servile position which he occupies in
civilized society. On the other hand, the solitudes which were
so long his free home are still at hand; a few hours' march will
bring him back to them once more. The whites offer him a sum,
which seems to him to be considerable, for the ground which he
has begun to clear. This money of the Europeans may possibly
furnish him with the means of a happy and peaceful subsistence in
remote regions; and he quits the plough, resumes his native arms,
and returns to the wilderness for ever.[Footnote:

The destructive influence of highly civilized nations upon others
which are less so, has been exemplified by the Europeans
themselves. About a century ago the French founded the town of
Vincennes upon the Wabash, in the middle of the desert; and they
lived there in great plenty, until the arrival of the American
settlers, who first ruined the previous inhabitants by their
competition, and afterward purchased their lands at a very low
rate. At the time when M. de Volney, from whom I borrow these
details, passed through Vincennes, the number of the French was
reduced to a hundred individuals, most of whom were about to pass
over to Louisiana or to Canada. These French settlers were
worthy people, but idle and uninstructed: they had contracted
many of the habits of the savages. The Americans, who were
perhaps their inferiors in a moral point of view, were
immeasurably superior to them in intelligence: they were
industrious, well-informed, rich, and accustomed to govern their
own community.

I myself saw in Canada, where the intellectual difference between
the two races is less striking, that the English are the masters
of commerce and manufacture in the Canadian country, that they
spread on all sides, and confine the French within limits which
scarcely suffice to contain them. In like manner, in Louisiana,
almost all activity in commerce and manufacture centres in the
hands of the Anglo-Americans.

But the case of Texas is still more striking: the state of Texas
is a part of Mexico, and lies upon the frontier between that
country and the United States. In the course of the last few
years the Anglo-Americans have penetrated into this province,
which is still thinly peopled; they purchase land, they produce
the commodities of the country, and supplant the original
population. It may easily be foreseen that if Mexico takes no
steps to check this change, the province of Texas will very
shortly cease to belong to that government.

If the different degrees, comparatively so light, which exist in
European civilisation, produce results of such magnitude, the
consequences which must ensue from the collision of the most
perfect European civilisation with Indian savages may readily be
conceived.

] The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I have
already alluded, sufficiently corroborates the truth of this
deplorable picture.

The Indians, in the little which they have done, have
unquestionably displayed as much natural genius as the peoples of
Europe in their most important designs; but nations as well as
men require time to learn, whatever may be their intelligence and
their zeal. While the savages were engaged in the work of
civilisation, the Europeans continued to surround them on every
side, and to confine them within narrower limits; the two races
gradually met, and they are now in immediate juxtaposition to
each other. The Indian is already superior to his barbarous
parent, but he is still very far below his white neighbor. With
their resources and acquired knowledge, the Europeans soon
appropriated to themselves most of the advantages which the
natives might have derived from the possession of the soil: they
have settled in the country, they have purchased land at a very
low rate or have occupied it by force, and the Indians have been
ruined by a competition which they had not the means of
resisting. They were isolated in their own country, and their
race only constituted a colony of troublesome aliens in the midst
of a numerous and domineering people.[Footnote:

See in the legislative documents (21st congress, No. 89),
instances of excesses of every kind committed by the whites upon
the territory of the Indians, either in taking possession of a
part of their lands, until compelled to retire by the troops of
congress, or carrying off their cattle, burning their houses,
cutting down their corn, and doing violence to their persons.

It appears, nevertheless, from all these documents, that the
claims of the natives are constantly protected by the government
from the abuse of force. The Union has a representative agent
continually employed to reside among the Indians; and the report
of the Cherokee agent, which is among the documents I have
referred to, is almost always favorable to the Indians. "The
intrusion of whites," he says, "upon the lands of the Cherokees
would cause ruin to the poor, helpless, and inoffensive
inhabitants." And he farther remarks upon the attempt of the
state of Georgia to establish a division line for the purpose of
limiting the boundaries of the Cherokees, that the line drawn
having been made by the whites, and entirely upon _exparte_
evidence of their several rights, was of no validity whatever.

]

Washington said in one of his messages to congress, "We are more
enlightened and powerful than the Indian nations, we are
therefore bound in honor to treat them with kindness and even
with generosity." But this virtuous and high-minded policy has
not been followed. The rapacity of the settlers is usually
backed by the tyranny of the government. Although the Cherokees
and the Creeks are established upon the territory which they
inhabited before the settlement of the Europeans, and although
the Americans have frequently treated with them as with foreign
nations, the surrounding states have not consented to acknowledge
them as an independent people, and attempts have been made to
subject these children of the woods to Anglo-American
magistrates, laws, and customs.[Footnote:

In 1829 the state of Alabama divided the Creek territory into
counties, and subjected the Indian population to the power of
European magistrates.

In 1830 the state of Mississippi assimilated the Choctaws and
Chickasaws to the white population, and declared that any of them
that should take the title of chief would be punished by a fine
of 1,000 dollars and 3 year's imprisonment. When these laws were
enforced upon the Choctaws who inhabited that district, the
tribes assembled, their chief communicated to them the intentions
of the whites, and read to them some of the laws to which it was
intended that they should submit; and they unanimously declared
that it was better at once to retreat again into the wilds.

] Destitution had driven these unfortunate Indians to
civilisation, and oppression now drives them back to their former
condition; many of them abandon the soil which they had begun to
clear, and return to their savage course of life.

If we consider the tyrannical measures which have been adopted by
the legislatures of the southern states, the conduct of their
governors, and the decrees of their courts of justice, we shall
be convinced that the entire expulsion of the Indians is the
final result to which the efforts of their policy are directed.
The Americans of that part of the Union look with jealousy upon
the aborigines,[Footnote:

The Georgians, who are so much annoyed by the proximity of the
Indians, inhabit a territory which does not at present contain
more than seven inhabitants to the square mile. In France there
are one hundred and sixty-two inhabitants to the same extent of
country.

] they are aware that these tribes have not yet lost the
traditions of savage life, and before civilisation has
permanently fixed them to the soil, it is intended to force them
to recede by reducing them to despair. The Creeks and Cherokees,
oppressed by the several states, have appealed to the central
government, which is by no means insensible to their misfortunes,
and is sincerely desirous of saving the remnant of the natives,
and of maintaining them in the free possession of that territory
which the Union is pledged to respect.[Footnote:

In 1818 congress appointed commissioners to visit the Arkansas
territory accompanied by a deputation of Creeks, Choctaws, and
Chickasaws. This expedition was commanded by Messrs. Kennerly,
M'Coy, Wash Hood, and John Bell. See the different reports of
the commissioners, and their journal, in the documents of
congress, No. 87 house of representatives.

] But the several states oppose so formidable a resistance to
the execution of this design, that the government is obliged to
consent to the extirpation of a few barbarous tribes in order not
to endanger the safety of the American Union.

But the federal government, which is not able to protect the
Indians, would fain mitigate the hardships of their lot; and,
with this intention, proposals have been made to transport them
into more remote regions at the public cost.

Between the 33d and 37th degrees of north latitude, a vast tract
of country lies, which has taken the name of Arkansas, from the
principal river that waters its extent. It is bounded on the one
side by the confines of Mexico, on the other by the Mississippi.
Numberless streams cross it in every direction; the climate is
mild, and the soil productive, but it is only inhabited by a few
wandering hordes of savages. The government of the Union wishes
to transport the broken remnants of the indigenous population of
the south, to the portion of this country which is nearest to
Mexico, and at a great distance from the American settlements.

We were assured, toward the end of the year 1831, that 10,000
Indians had already gone to the shores of the Arkansas; and fresh
detachments were constantly following them; but congress has been
unable to excite a unanimous determination in those whom it is
disposed to protect. Some, indeed, are willing to quit the seat
of oppression, but the most enlightened members of the community
refuse to abandon their recent dwellings and the springing crops;
they are of opinion that the work of civilisation, once
interrupted, will never be resumed; they fear that those domestic
habits which have been so recently contracted, may be
irrecoverably lost in the midst of a country which is still
barbarous, and where nothing is prepared for the subsistence of
an agricultural people; they know that their entrance into those
wilds will be opposed by inimical hordes, and that they have lost
the energy of barbarians, without acquiring the resources of
civilisation to resist their attacks. Moreover the Indians
readily discover that the settlement which is proposed to them is
merely a temporary expedient. Who can assure them that they will
at length be allowed to dwell in peace in their new retreat? The
United States pledge themselves to the observance of the
obligation; but the territory which they at present occupy was
formerly secured to them by the most solemn oaths of
Anglo-American faith.[Footnote:

The fifth article of the treaty made with the Creeks in August,
1790, is in the following words: "The United States solemnly
guaranty to the Creek nation all their land within the limits of
the United States."

The seventh article of the treaty concluded in 1791 with the
Cherokees says: "The United States solemnly guaranty to the
Cherokee nation all their lands not hereby ceded." The following
article declared that if any citizen of the United States or
other settler not of the Indian race, should establish himself
upon the territory of the Cherokees, the United States would
withdraw their protection from that individual, and give him up
to be punished as the Cherokee nation should think fit.

] The American government does not indeed rob them of their
lands, but it allows perpetual incursions to be made on them. In
a few years the same white population which now flocks around
them, will track them to the solitudes of the Arkansas, they will
then be exposed to the same evils without the same remedies; and
as the limits of the earth will at last fail them, their only
refuge is the grave.

The Union treats the Indians with less cupidity and rigor than
the policy of the several states, but the two governments are
alike destitute of good faith. The states extend what they are
pleased to term the benefits of their laws to the Indians, with a
belief that the tribes will recede rather than submit; and the
central government, which promises a permanent refuge to these
unhappy beings, is well aware of its inability to secure it to
them.[Footnote:

This does not prevent them from promising in the most solemn
manner to do so. See the letter of the president addressed to
the Creek Indians, 23d March, 1829. ("Proceedings of the Indian
Board, in the City of New York," p. 5.) "Beyond the great river
Mississippi, where a part of your nation has gone, your father
has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he
advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not
trouble you; they will have no claim to the land, and you can
live upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass
grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. _It will be
yours for ever_."

The secretary of war, in a letter written to the Cherokees, April
18th, 1829 (see the same work, page 6), declares to them that
they cannot expect to retain possession of the land, at the time
occupied by them, but gives them the most positive assurance of
uninterrupted peace if they would remove beyond the Mississippi:
as if the power which could not grant them protection then, would
be able to afford it them hereafter!

]

Thus the tyranny of the states obliges the savages to retire, the
Union, by its promises and resources facilitates their retreat;
and these measures tend to precisely the same end.[Footnote:

To obtain a correct idea of the policy pursued by the several
states and the Union with respect to the Indians, it is necessary
to consult, 1st, "The laws of the colonial and state governments
relating to the Indian inhabitants." (See the legislative
documents, 21st congress, No. 319.) 2d, "The laws of the Union
on the same subject, and especially that of March 20th, 1802."
(See Story's Laws of the United States.) 3d, "The report of
Mr. Cass, secretary of war, relative to Indian affairs, November
29th, 1823."

] "By the will of our Father in heaven, the governor of the
whole world," said the Cherokees in their petition to
congress,[Footnote:

December 18th, 1829.

] "the red man of America has become small, and the white man
great and renowned. When the ancestors of the people of these
United States first came to the shores of America, they found the
red man strong: though he was ignorant and savage, yet he
received them kindly, and gave them dry land to rest their weary
feet. They met in peace, and shook hands in token of friendship.
Whatever the white man wanted and asked of the Indian, the latter
willingly gave. At that time the Indian was the lord, and the
white man the suppliant. But now the scene has changed. The
strength of the red man has become weakness. As his neighbors
increased in numbers, his power became less and less, and now, of
the many and powerful tribes who once covered the United States,
only a few are to be seen--a few whom a sweeping pestilence had
left. The northern tribes, who were once so numerous and
powerful, are now nearly extinct. Thus it has happened to the
red man of America. Shall we, who are remnants, share the same
fate?

"The land on which we stand we have received as an inheritance
from our fathers who possessed it from time immemorial, as a gift
from our common Father in heaven. They bequeathed it to us as
their children, and we have sacredly kept it, as containing their
remains. This right of inheritance we have never ceded, nor ever
forfeited. Permit us to ask what better right can the people
have to a country than the right of inheritance and immemorial
peaceable possession? We know it is said of late by the state of
Georgia and by the executive of the United States, that we have
forfeited this right; but we think it is said gratuitously. At
what time have we made the forfeit? What great crime have we
committed, whereby we must for ever be divested of our country
and rights? Was it when we were hostile to the United States,
and took part with the king of Great Britain, during the struggle
for independence? If so, why was not this forfeiture declared in
the first treaty which followed that war? Why was not such an
article as the following inserted in the treaty: 'The United
States give peace to the Cherokees, but for the part they took in
the last war, declare them to be but tenants at will, to be
removed when the convenience of the states, within whose
chartered limits they live, shall require it?' That was the
proper time to assume such a possession. But it was not thought
of, nor would our forefathers have agreed to any treaty, whose
tendency was to deprive them of their rights and their country."

Such is the language of the Indians: their assertions are true,
their forebodings inevitable. From whichever side we consider
the destinies of the aborigines of North America, their
calamities appear to be irremediable: if they continue barbarous,
they are forced to retire: if they attempt to civilize their
manners, the contact of a more civilized community subjects them
to oppression and destitution. They perish if they continue to
wander from waste to waste, and if they attempt to settle, they
still must perish; the assistance of Europeans is necessary to
instruct them, but the approach of Europeans corrupts and repels
them into savage life; they refuse to change their habits as long
as their solitudes are their own, and it is too late to change
them when they are constrained to submit.

The Spaniards pursued the Indians with blood-hounds, like wild
beasts; and they sacked the New World with no more temper or
compassion than a city taken by storm: but destruction must
cease, and phrensy be stayed; the remnant of the Indian
population, which had escaped the massacre, mixed with its
conquerors and adopted their religion and manners.[Footnote:

The honor of this result is, however, by no means due to the
Spaniards. If the Indian tribes had not been tillers of the
ground at the time of the arrival of the Europeans, they would
unquestionably have been destroyed in South as well as in North
America.

] The conduct of the Americans of the United States towards the
aborigines is characterized, on the other hand, by a singular
attachment to the formalities of law. Provided that the Indians
retain their barbarous condition, the Americans take no part in
their affairs: they treat them as independent nations, and do not
possess themselves of their hunting grounds without a treaty of
purchase; and if an Indian nation happens to be so encroached
upon as to be unable to subsist upon its territory, they afford
it brotherly assistance in transporting it to a grave
sufficiently remote from the land of its fathers.

The Spaniards were unable to exterminate the Indian race by those
unparalleled atrocities which brand them with indelible shame,
nor did they even succeed in wholly depriving it of its rights;
but the Americans of the United States have accomplished this
twofold purpose with singular felicity; tranquilly, legally,
philanthropically, without shedding blood, and without violating
a single great principle of morality in the eyes of the
world.[Footnote:

See among other documents, the report made by Mr. Bell in the
name of the committee on Indian affairs, Feb. 24th, 1830, in
which it is most logically established and most learnedly proved,
that "the fundamental principle, that the Indians had no right by
virtue of their ancient possession either of will or sovereignty,
has never been abandoned either expressly or by implication."

In perusing this report, which is evidently drawn up by an able
hand, one is astonished at the facility with which the author
gets rid of all arguments founded upon reason and natural right,
which he designates as abstract and theoretical principles. The
more I contemplate the difference between civilized and
uncivilized man with regard to the principles of justice, the
more I observe that the former contests the justice of those
rights, which the latter simply violates.

] It is impossible to destroy men with more respect for the laws
of humanity.

* * * * *

SITUATION OF THE BLACK POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES,
AND DANGERS WITH WHICH ITS PRESENCE THREATENS THE
WHITES.

Why it is more difficult to abolish Slavery, and to efface all
Vestiges of it among the Moderns, than it was among the
Ancients.--In the United States the prejudices of the Whites
against the Blacks seem to increase in Proportion as Slavery is
abolished.--Situation of the Negroes in the Northern and
Southern States.--Why the Americans abolish
Slavery.--Servitude, which debases the Slave, impoverishes the
Master.--Contrast between the left and the right Bank of the
Ohio.--To what attributable.--The black Race, as well as
Slavery, recedes toward the South.--Explanation of this
fact.--Difficulties attendant upon the Abolition of Slavery in
the South.--Dangers to come.--General Anxiety.--Foundation of a
black Colony in Africa.--Why the Americans of the South
increase the Hardships of Slavery, while they are distressed at
its Continuance.

The Indians will perish in the same isolated condition in which
they have lived; but the destiny of the negroes is in some
measure interwoven with that of the Europeans. These two races
are attached to each other without intermingling; and they are
alike unable entirely to separate or to combine. The most
formidable of all the ills which threaten the future existence of
the United States, arises from the presence of a black population
upon its territory; and in contemplating the causes of the
present embarrassments or of the future dangers of the United
States, the observer is invariably led to consider this as a
primary fact.

The permanent evils to which mankind is subjected are usually
produced by the vehement or the increasing efforts of men; but
there is one calamity which penetrated furtively into the world,
and which was at first scarcely distinguishable amid the ordinary
abuses of power: it originated with an individual whose name
history has not preserved; it was wafted like some accursed germ
upon a portion of the soil, but it afterward nurtured itself,
grew without effort, and spreads naturally with the society to
which it belongs. I need scarcely add that this calamity is
slavery. Christianity suppressed slavery, but the Christians of
the sixteenth century re-established it--as an exception, indeed,
to their social system, and restricted to one of the races of
mankind; but the wound thus inflicted upon humanity, though less
extensive, was at the same time rendered far more difficult of
cure.