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in the late war. Excepting only the unsatisfied claims of such men of the said nations as bore commissions under the United States, for any arrears which may be due to them as officers.

A Treaty with the Seven Nations of Canada.

At a Treaty held at the City of New-York, with the Nations or Tribes of Indians, denominating themselves the Seven Nations of Canada; Abraham Ogden, Commissioner, appointed under the authority of the United States, to hold the Treaty; Ohnawcio, alius Goodstream, Teharagwanegen, alias Thomas Williams, two Chiefs of the Caghnawagas; Atiatoharongwan, alias Colonel Lewis Cook, a Chief of the St. Regis Indians, and William Gray, Deputies, authorized to represent the Seven Nations or Tribes of Indians at the Treaty, and Mr. Gray, serving also as Interpreter; Egbert Benson, Richard Varick and James Watson, Agents for the State of New-York; William Constable and Daniel M-Cormick, Purchasers under Alexander Macomb :

T E agents for the state, having, in the presence, and with the

approbation of the commissioner proposed to the deputies for the Indians, the compensation herein-after mentioned, for the extinguishment of their claims to all lands within the state, and the said deputies being willing to accept the same, it is thereupon granted, agreed and concluded between the said deputies and the said agents, as follows: The said deputies do, for and in the name of the said seven nations or tribes of Indians, cede, release and quit-claim to the people of the state of New-York, forever, all the claim, right, or title of them, the said seven nations or tribes of Indians, to lands within the said state: Provided nevertheless, that the tract equal to six miles square, reserved in the sale made by the commissioners of the land-office of the said state, to Alexander Macomb, to be applied to the use of the Indians of the village of St. Regis, shall still remain so reserved. The said agents do, for and in the name of the people of the state of New-York, grant to the said seven nations or tribes of Indians, that the people of the state of New-York shall pay to them, at the mouth of the river Chazy, on lake Champlain, on the third Monday in August next, the sum of one thousand two hundred and thirty-three pounds, six shillings and eight-pence, and the further sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds six shillings and eight-pence, lawful money of the said state, and on the third Monday in August, yearly, forever thereafter, the like sum of two hundred and thirteen pounds six shillings and eight-pence: Provided nevertheless, that the people of the state of New-York shall not be held to pay the said sums, unless in respect to the two sums to be paid on the third Monday in August next, at least twenty, and in respect to the said yearly sum to be paid thereafter, at least five of the principal men of the said seven nations or tribes of Indians, shall attend as deputies to receive and give receipts for the same: The said deputies havįng suggested, that the Indians of the village of St. Regis have built a

mill on Salmon river, and another on Grass river, and that the meadows on Grass river are necessary to them for hay; in order, therefore, to secure to the Indians of the said village, the use of the said mills and meadows, in case they should hereafter appear not to be included within the above tract so to remain reserved; it is, therefore, also ́agreed and concluded between the said deputies, the said agents, and the said William Constable and Daniel M'Cormick, for themselves and their associates, purchasers under the said Alexander Macomb, of the adjacent lands, that there shall be reserved, to be applied to the use of the Indians of the said village of St. Regis, in like manner as the said tract is to remain reserved, a tract of one mile square, at each of the said mills, and the meadows on both sides of the said Grass river from the said mill thereon, to its confluence with the river St. Lawrence. IN testimony whereof, the said commissioner, the said deputies, the said agents, and the said William Constable and Daniel M'Cormick, have hereunto, and to two other acts of the same tenor and date, one to remain with the United States, another to remain with the state of New-York, and another to remain with the said seven nations or tribes of Indians, set their hands and seals, in the city of New-York, the thirty-first day of May, in the twentieth year of the Independence of the United States, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six.

NOTE. By an act passed May 13, 1800, a sum not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars is ap― propriated out of any monies not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expense of such treaty or treaties as the President shall deem it expedient to hold with the Indians south of the Ohio: Provided that nothing in the act shall be construed to admit an obligation on the part of the United States, to extinguish for the benefit of any state or individual citizen, Indian claims to any lands ying within the limits of the United States; and that the compensation to be allowed to any of The commissioners who may be appointed for negociating such treaty or treaties, shall not exceed, exclusive of travelling expenses, the rate of eight dollars per day, during the time of actual service of such commissioner. See vol. v. p. 196.

And by a further a&, passed May 1, 1802, a sum not exceeding forty thousand dollars (inluding any unexpended balance of the above fifteen thousand dollars) is further appropriated.

Articles of Agreement and Tellion,

*

Entered into on the twenty-fourth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and two, between James Madison, Albert Gallatin, and Levi Lincoln, commissioners appointed on the part of the United States, and James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin and John Millege, commissioners appointed on the part of the state of Georgia.

THE

ARTICLE I.

HE state of Georgia cedes to the United States, all the right, title and claim which the said state has to the jurisdiction and soil of the lands situated within the boundaries of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee, and west of a line beginning on the western bank of the Chatahochie river, where the same crosses the boundary line between the United States and Spain; running thence up the said river Chatahochie, and along the western bank thereof to the great

See title "Western Lands," No. 89.

bend thereof, next above the place where a certain creek or river called "Uchee," (being the first considerable stream on the western side, above the Cussetas and Coweta towns) empties into the said Chatahochie river; thence in a direct line to Nickajack, on the Tennessee river; then crossing the said last mentioned river, and thence running up the said Tennessee river, and along the western bank thereof, to the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee; upon the following express conditions, and subject thereto, that is to say:

First-That out of the first nett proceeds of the sales of the lands thus ceded, which nett proceeds shall be estimated by deducting from the gross amount of sales the expenses incurred in surveying, and incident to the sale, the United States shall pay, at their treasury, one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the state of Georgia, as a consideration for the expenses incurred by the said state in relation to the said territory; and that, for the better securing as prompt a payment of the said sum as is practicable, a land-office for the disposition of the vacant lands thus ceded, to which the Indian title has been, or may hereafter be extinguished, shall be opened within a twelvemonth after the assent of the state of Georgia to this agreement, as hereafter stated, shall have been declared.

Secondly That all persons who, on the twenty-seventh day of October, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, were actual settlers within the territory thus ceded, shall be confirmed in all the grants legally and fully executed prior to that day, by the former British government of West Florida, or by the government of Spain, and in the claims which may be derived from any actual survey or settlement made under the act of the state of Georgia, entitled "An act for laying out a district of land situate on the river Missisippi, and within the bounds of this state, into a county, to be called Bourbon," passed the seventh day of February, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. Thirdly-That all the lands ceded by this agreement to the United States, shall, after satisfying the above-mentioned payment of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the state of Georgia, and the grants recognized by the preceding condition be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of the United States, Georgia included, and shall be faithfully disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatever: Provided, however, that the United States, for the period and until the end of one year after the assent of Georgia to the boundary established by this agreement shall have been declared, may, in such manner as not to interfere with the above-mentioned payment to the state of Georgia, nor with the grants herein before recognized, dispose of or appropriate a portion of the said lands, not exceeding five millions of acres, or the proceeds of the said five millions of acres, or of any part thereof, for the purpose of satisfying, quieting, or compensating for any claims other than those hereinbefore recognized, which may be made to the said lands, or to any part thereof. It being fully understood, that if an act of Congress making such disposition or appropriation shall not be passed into a law within the abovementioned period of one year, the United States shall not be at liberty thereafter to cede any part of the said lands on account of claims

which may be laid to the same, other than those recognized by the preceding condition, nor to compensate for the same; and in case of any such cession or compensation, the present cession of Georgia to the right of soil over the lands thus ceded or compensated for, shall be con sidered as null and void, and the lands thus ceded or compensated for, shall revert to the state of Georgia.

Fourthly-That the United States shall,at their own expense,extinguish for the use of Georgia, as early as the same can be peaceably obtained on reasonable terms, the Indian title to the county of Talassee, to the lands left out by the line drawn with the Creeks in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight, which had been previously grant, ed by the state of Georgia, both which tracts had formerly been yielded by the Indians; and to the lands within the forks of Oconee and Oakmulgee rivers; for which several objects the President of the United States has directed that a treaty should be immediately held with the Creeks; and that the United States shall, in the same manner, also extinguish the Indian title to all the other lands within the state of Georgia.

Fifthly That the territory thus ceded shall form a state, and be admitted as such into the Union, as soon as it shall contain sixty thou sand fate inhabitants, or at an earlier period if Congress shall think it expedient, on the same conditions and restrictions, with the same privileges, and in the same manner as is provided in the ordinance of Congress of the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, for the government of the Western Territory of the United States; which ordinance shall, in all its parts, extend to the territory contained in the present act of cession, that article only excepted which forbids slavery.

ARTICLE II.

The United States accept the cession above-mentioned, and on the conditions therein expressed; and they cede to the state of Georgia whatever claim, right, or title they may have to the jurisdiction or soil of any lands lying within the United States, and out of the proper boundaries of any other state, and situated south of the southern boundaries of the states of Tennessee, North-Carolina and South-Carolina, and cast of the boundary line hereinabove described, as the eastern boundary of the territory ceded by Georgia to the United States.

ARTICLE III.

The present act of cession and agreement shall be in full force as soon as the legislature of Georgia shall have given its assent to the boundaries of this cession: Provided that the said assent shall be given within six months after the date of these presents, and provided that Congress shall not, during the same period of six months, repeal so much of any former law as authorizes this agreement, and renders it binding and conclusive on the United States: But if either the essent of Georgia shall not be thus given, or if the law of the United States shall be thus repealed within the said period of six months, then, and in either case, these presents shall become null and void.

Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-fourth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and two,

W

Declaration of Independence,

IN CONGRESS, JULT 4, 1776.

HEN, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires, that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seein most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves, by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evintes a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great-Britain, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a

candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neg lected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of amni

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