State of the Union History: 1815 James Madison - Treaty of Ghent relating to the Indians

In 1791, Washington declared that the neighboring tribes of Native Americans were sovereign nations and only thus only the federal government could make treaties with the Indians. Our first president outlined two goals. First, the Executive of the United States should seek to balance the immediate needs of the Indian tribes and and the preservation of peace. Second penalties should be imposed for any who violated the rights of the Indians and endanger the peace of the Union.   10 years later, Thomas Jefferson expanded on this, and added the pursuit of efforts to gradually "civilize" the Indians. Through education in "husbandry and the household arts", Jefferson hoped to gradually lead the Indians away from their hunting and fishing life and to one of agriculture. He had hoped to assimilate the Indians into the new "American" way of life in return for their hunting grounds. Jefferson explained that it was "essential to cultivate their love" while sending a strong message that if any tribe was foolish enough "to take up the hatchet" they would b driven across the Mississippi.

Thus, the United States attempted through treaty and through welfare to gain the hunting grounds of the Native American tribes. Many tribes were induced into giving up their lands, some genuinely wanted peace with their new neighbors, others conceded their land after being devastated by wars or disease.   One example was the Kaskaskia Indians. Their population was devastated by wars against Iroquois, Sioux, Fox, Chickasaw, Cherokee and the Osage Nation. In 1803, the Kaskaski ceded their lands for two reservations with a yearly annuity and protection of the United States government. Soon the "cultivation of love" was reacted to with the hatchet as many tribes resented the loss of sacred grounds.   In 1810, Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwataw created an inter-tribal, religious stronghold along the Wabash river of 3000 men strong.   They were outraged by the treaty of Fort Wayne that took nearly 3 million acres of land from the Indians and gave it to white settlers.   A bloody battle between General William Henry Harrison and Tecumseh followed in October of 1811. Tecumseh and his men retreated.

Prior to the War of 1812, there many other skirmishes along in the Northwestern frontier as well as in the territories along the Mississippi River as settlers continued to move westward claiming more and more of the Indian lands.   One of the more radical factions of the Creek Nation was called the "Red Sticks" because they raised the "red stick of war".   This was a nativist group that opposed both land cessions to settlers and assimilation into the Anglo-American culture.   In 1813 during the War of 1812, they stormed Fort Mims in Alabama and massacred all the white settlers.   In response, General Andrew Jackson assembled an army of 2500 Tennessee militia and killed 186 warriors along with many women and children.   It was a bloody lopsided battle.

It was a clash of cultures, and the tensions were very high as America entered into the war with Great Britain. In many battles, the British allied with the Indians especially in the Northwest. Perhaps, the British had promised to return their lands after the war, perhaps it was just to fight a common enemy.   Nonetheless, President James Madison blamed the British for antagonizing the Indian tribes and embracing the "most shocking butcheries of defenseless families".   Madison often referred to the Indians as savages with a fury that was beyond their control and he considered it to be a spectacle for an "enlightened" nation [Britain] to do nothing to restrain it.   Much of the nation was terrified at the prospect of these "merciless savages" fighting alongside the British regulars.   In the summer of 1812, Great Britain was able to capture Detroit with nothing but the threat of Tecumseh's warriors taking up arms against the United States. On August 15, 1812 the British created a spectacle of warriors making loud war cries in the forest coupled with big guns bombarding Fort Detroit from the shore of the Detroit river.   Brigadier-General Hull was in despair fearing for the lives of all in the fort and raised the flag of surrender. It was an embarrassing defeat for America, but it enraged the spirit of the American frontier.   American militia and regulars fought back fearlessly and with revenge. In the fighting that commenced, the great Warrior Tecumseh was killed, Fort Detroit was taken back, and Americans gained control of the Great Lakes. During the War of 1812, the love that Jefferson sought to cultivate was shattered as America had defeated the Indian tribes that had raised the hatchet against them. The Indians were the biggest losers of the war.

In 1814, Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Ghent. Article nine of the teary called for an immediate end to the hostilities between the United States and "all the Tribes or Nations of Indians with whom they may be at war at the time of such Ratification". Furthermore, the article called for the restoration of all possessions, rights and privileges that the Tribes or Nations enjoyed prior to the War of 1812.

ARTICLE THE NINTH.

The United States of America engage to put an end immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty to hostilities with all the Tribes or Nations of Indians with whom they may be at war at the time of such Ratification, and forthwith to restore to such Tribes or Nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven previous to such hostilities. Provided always that such Tribes or Nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States of America, their Citizens, and Subjects upon the Ratification of the present Treaty being notified to such Tribes or Nations, and shall so desist accordingly. And His Britannic Majesty engages on his part to put an end immediately after the Ratification of the present Treaty to hostilities with all the Tribes or Nations of Indians with whom He may be at war at the time of such Ratification, and forthwith to restore to such Tribes or Nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges, which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven previous to such hostilities. Provided always that such Tribes or Nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against His Britannic Majesty and His Subjects upon the Ratification of the present Treaty being notified to such Tribes or Nations, and shall so desist accordingly.

Later that year, in his 1815 State of the Union Address, James Madison outlined his plans of pursuing treaties of peace with the Indians.   Already, in compliance with Treaty of Ghent, the tribes of the Northwest were invited to Detroit to renew former treaties of friendship. Treaties with the tribes along the Mississippi were also renewed. Additional treaties with more distant tribes would be sought as well.   But, regarding the "red sticks", they would be punished. Under General Andrew Jackson the "Red Sticks" were forced to cede more than 21 million acres of land for their role in what was known as the Creek Civil war. The Creek Civil war was a regional war between opposing Creek factions. It was part of a four-century long Indian war that spilled over into the War of 1812 when the "Red Sticks" fought with Tecumseh. In August of 1814, the Treaty of Fort Jackson ceded 21 million acres of land from southern Georgia to central Alabama. The Treaty of Fort Jackson was a result of Battle of Horseshoe Bend Jackson led a troop of over 3000 men including allied Cherokee and Creek warriors up a steep hill near Tehopeka to begin a new attack on a Red Stick fortification.   Madison was not about to give up all of this land. The treaty of Ghent did not apply, for it was their role in a cruel war that "had compelled us to chastise into peace". And so began, the next sad chapter of American-Indian relations. As Jefferson warned in 1803, if any tribe was foolish enough to "take up the hatchet at any time", "seizing the whole country of that tribe, and driving them across the Mississippi" would serve as an example to others.

"In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating to the Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity of our western and northwestern frontiers, measures were taken to establish an immediate peace with the several tribes who had been engaged in hostilities against the United States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit acceded readily to a renewal of the former treaties of friendship. Of the other tribes who were invited to a station on the Mississippi the greater number have also accepted the peace offered to them. The residue, consisting of the more distant tribes or parts of tribes, remain to be brought over by further explanations, or by such other means as may be adapted to the dispositions they may finally disclose.

The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern frontier, whom a cruel war on their part had compelled us to chastise into peace, have latterly shown a restlessness which has called for preparatory measures for repressing it, and for protecting the commissioners engaged in carrying the terms of the peace into execution."

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1815 James Madison - Treaty of Ghent relating to the Indians

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