Part 35

FOOTNOTES:

The Convention also support one district school among the Ottawas and Cherokees, and three among the Senecas.

Two of these teachers are natives.

Statement showing the amount and disposition of the funds provided by treaties for purposes of education.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Tribes. |Date of treaty.| Amount. |Disposition of the funds.| |--------------------------------------------------------------------------| |Miamies, |Oct. 23, 1826 | 2,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Pottawatamies, |Oct. 16, 1826 | 2,000 00| do. | |Do. |Sept. 20, 1828 | 1,000 00| do. | |Do. |Oct. 27, 1832 | 2,000 00| do. | |Winnebagoes, |Sept. 15, 1832 | 3,000 00|School, Prairie du Chien.| |Chippewas, |Sept. 24, 1819 | 1,000 00|Baptist Gen. Convention. | |Chippewas, } |Aug. 11, 1827 | 1,500 00|Protestant Epis. Church. | |Menomonies, &c.} | | | | |Menomonies, |Feb. 8, 1831 | 500 00| do. | |Sacs, Foxes, & others,|July 15, 1830 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Kickapoes, |Oct. 24, 1822 | 500 00|School in the nation. | |Shawanees & Delawa's, |Oct. 26, 1832 | 500 00| do. | |Choctaws, |Sept. 27, 1830 |12,500 00| do. | |Creeks, east, |Mar. 24, 1832 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Cherokees, west, |May 6, 1828 | 2,000 00|School in the nation. | |Floridas, |Sept. 18, 1823 | 1,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | |Creeks, |Feb. 14, 1833 | 1,000 00| do. | |Quapaws, |May 13, 1833 | 1,000 00|Not disposed of. | |Otoes and Missourias, |Sept. 21, 1833 | 500 00| do. | |Pawnees, |Oct. 9, 1833 | 1,000 00| do. | |Chickasaws, |May 24, 1834 | 3,000 00|Choctaw Academy. | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

These tables exhibit the number of teachers and pupils at the schools, of the condition of which reports have been received.

In all of them instruction is imparted in reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. At many of them the boys are initiated in branches of the mechanic arts, and cultivate the soil. At the Tuscarora station, in New York, tuition is imparted on the plan adopted for infant schools, and with marked success. The temperance society contains eighty members, the sabbath school thirty pupils, and fifty are united to the church. The children at the Mohegan school, in Connecticut, are employed on farms cultivated by natives: others of the youth of this band enter on board the ships in the whale fishery: and, as an indication of a spirit of enterprise and industry, the wish of some to cultivate the mulberry-tree, with a view to the establishment of a silk manufactory, may be cited.

The American Board of Foreign Missions propose to print at the Union station, in the Cherokee country west of the Mississippi, books in the languages of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Osages; and the Rev. Mr. M'Coy, under the auspices of the Baptist General Convention, has issued proposals for publishing a semi-monthly periodical at the Shawanee mission, three hundred miles west of St. Louis. Several books have been printed at this press in the languages of the different tribes. The object of Mr. M'Coy and his associates is to furnish historical sketches of past, and notices of present occurrences, including the transactions of the general government and of societies.

The Choctaw academy, in Kentucky, contains one hundred and fifty-six pupils; this number will be increased by fifteen Chickasaws, as the chiefs of that tribe have recently requested their education money might be expended at this institution. The inspectors, in their last report, represent the academy to be in a highly prosperous condition; the buildings erected to be upon a plan convenient and economical; the provision made for the comfort and health of the scholars to be liberal; and the care taken to promote their moral and intellectual advancement kind and parental. The buildings and school apparatus are valued at eight thousand dollars. The cost of winter clothing for each scholar is estimated at forty-six dollars and twenty-two cents, of the summer clothing at thirty-one dollars and eighty-six cents. This academy, conducted judiciously, will, at no distant day, send forth scholars competent to teach others, and thus accomplish the object of Congress, indicated by its legislation at the last session.

Upon the recommendation of two members of Congress, aid has been rendered to Morris B. Pierce, a Seneca, who is now at Thetford academy, Vermont, fitting himself to enter Dartmouth college, in New Hampshire.

* * * * *

An Act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That all that part of the United States west of the Mississippi, and not within the States of Missouri and Louisiana, or the Territory of Arkansas, and also that part of the United States east of the Mississippi river, and not within any state to which the Indian title has not been extinguished, for the purposes of this act, be taken and deemed to be the Indian country.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be permitted to trade with any of the Indians (in the Indian country) without a licence therefor from a superintendent of Indian affairs, or Indian agent or sub-agent, which licence shall be issued for a term not exceeding two years for the tribes east of the Mississippi, and not exceeding three years for the tribes west of that river: and the person applying for such licence shall give bond in a penal sum not exceeding five thousand dollars, with one or more sureties, to be approved by the person issuing the same, conditioned that such person will faithfully observe all the laws and regulations made for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and in no respect violate the same. And the superintendent of the district shall have power to revoke and cancel the same, whenever the person licensed shall, in his opinion, have transgressed any of the laws or regulations provided for the government of trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, or that it would be improper to permit him to remain in the Indian country; and no trade with the said tribes shall be carried on within their boundary, except at certain suitable and convenient places, to be designated from time to time by the superintendents, agents, and sub-agents, and to be inserted in the licence; and it shall be the duty of the persons granting or revoking such licences, forthwith to report the same to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for his approval or disapproval.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That any superintendent or agent may refuse an application for a licence to trade, if he is satisfied that the applicant is a person of bad character, or that it would be improper to permit him to reside in the Indian country, or if a licence previously granted to such applicant has been revoked, or a forfeiture of his bond decreed. But an appeal may be had from the agent or the superintendent, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and the President of the United States shall be authorized, whenever in his opinion the public interest may require the same, to prohibit the introduction of goods, or of any particular article, into the country belonging to any Indian tribe, and to direct all licences to trade with such tribe to be revoked, and all applications therefor to be rejected; and no trader to any other tribe shall, so long as such prohibition may continue, trade with any Indians of or for the tribe against which such prohibition is issued.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That any person other than an Indian who shall attempt to reside in the Indian country as a trader, or to introduce goods, or to trade therein without such licence, shall forfeit all merchandize offered for sale to the Indians, or found in his possession, and shall moreover forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That no licence to trade with the Indians shall be granted to any persons except citizens of the United States: Provided, That the President shall be authorized to allow the employment of foreign boatmen and interpreters, under such regulations as he may prescribe.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That if a foreigner shall go into the Indian country without a passport from the War Department, the superintendent, agent, or sub-agent of Indian affairs, or from the officer of the United States commanding the nearest military post on the frontiers, or shall remain intentionally therein after the expiration of such passport, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars; and such passport shall express the object of such person, the time he is allowed to remain, and the route he is to travel.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That if any person other than an Indian shall, within the Indian country, purchase or receive of any Indian, in the way of barter, trade, or pledge, a gun, trap, or other article commonly used in hunting, any instrument of husbandry or cooking utensils of the kind commonly obtained by the Indians in their intercourse with the white people, or any other article of clothing except skins or furs, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars.

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That if any person other than an Indian, shall, within the limits of any tribe with whom the United States shall have existing treaties, hunt, or trap, or take and destroy, any peltries or game, except for subsistence, in the Indian country, such person shall forfeit the sum of five hundred dollars, and forfeit all the traps, guns, and ammunition in his possession, used or procured to be used for that purpose, and peltries so taken.

SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall drive, or otherwise convey, any stock of horses, mules, or cattle, to range and feed on any land belonging to an Indian or Indian tribe without the consent of such tribe, such person shall forfeit the sum of one dollar for each animal of such stock.

SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That the superintendent of Indian affairs, and Indian agents and sub-agents, shall have authority to remove from the Indian country all persons found therein contrary to law; and the President of the United States is authorized to direct the military force to be employed in such removal.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall make a settlement on any lands belonging, secured, or granted by treaty with the United States to any Indian tribe, or shall survey or shall attempt to survey such lands, or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such offender shall forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars. And it shall, moreover, be lawful for the President of the United States to take such measures, and to employ such military force, as he may judge necessary to remove from the lands as aforesaid any such person as aforesaid.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That no purchase, grant, lease, or other conveyance of lands, or of any title or claim thereto, from an Indian nation or tribe of Indians, shall be of any validity in law or equity, unless the same be made by treaty or convention entered into pursuant to the constitution. And if any person, not employed under the authority of the United States, shall attempt to negotiate such treaty or convention, directly or indirectly, to treat with any such nation or tribe of Indians for the title or purchase of any lands by them held or claimed, such person shall forfeit and pay one thousand dollars: Provided, nevertheless, That it shall be lawful for the agent or agents of any state who may be present at any treaty held with Indians under the authority of the United States, in the presence and with the approbation of the commissioner or commissioners of the United States appointed to hold the same, to propose to and adjust with the Indians the compensation to be made for their claim to lands within such state which shall be extinguished by treaty.

SEC. 13. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen, or other person residing within the United States or the territory thereof, shall send any talk, speech, message, or letter to any Indian nation, tribe, chief, or individual, with an intent to produce a contravention or infraction of any treaty or other law of the United States, or to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the United States, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of two thousand dollars.

SEC. 14. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen, or other person, shall carry or deliver any such talk, message, speech, or letter, to or from any Indian nation, tribe, chief, or individual, from or to any person or persons whatsoever residing within the United States, or from or to any subject, citizen, or agent of any foreign power or state, knowing the contents thereof, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of one thousand dollars.

SEC. 15. And be it further enacted, That if any citizen or other person residing or living among the Indians, or elsewhere, within the territory of the United States, shall carry on a correspondence, by letter or otherwise, with any foreign nation or power, with an intent to induce such foreign nation or power to excite any Indian nation, tribe, chief, or individual to war against the United States, or to the violation of any existing treaty; or in case any citizen or other person shall alienate, or attempt to alienate, the confidence of any Indian or Indians from the government of the United States, he shall forfeit the sum of one thousand dollars.

SEC. 16. And be it further enacted, That where, in the commission, by a white person, of any crime, offence, or misdemeanor, within the Indian country, the property of any friendly Indian is taken, injured, or destroyed, and a conviction is had for such crime, offence, or misdemeanor, the person so convicted shall be sentenced to pay to such friendly Indian to whom the property may belong, or whose person may be injured, a sum equal to twice the just value of the property so taken, injured, or destroyed. And if such offender shall be unable to pay a sum at least equal to the just value or amount, whatever such payment shall fall short of the same shall be paid out of the treasury of the United States: Provided, That no such Indian shall be entitled to any payment, out of the treasury of the United States, for any such property, if he, or any of the nation to which he belongs, shall have sought private revenge, or attempted to obtain satisfaction by any force or violence: And provided also, That if such offender cannot be apprehended and brought to trial, the amount of such property shall be paid out of the treasury, as aforesaid.