render it nugatory, and to degrade its office from a body having power to decide, into one possessing only the right to sanction the vote of a plurality of the electors.

They also denied that the will of the people was expressed in favor of general Jackson, and said that in New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, and Louisiana, the electoral votes were procured by political combinations, for the very purpose of defeating the popular candidates in those states, and to carry the election into congress; that in the two former states the friends of Mr. Crawford openly supported the Jackson electors, for the purpose of weakening Mr. Adams, and that in North Carolina the votes of Mr. Adams' friends were given to the Jackson electors, to defeat Mr. Crawford, who had a plurality of the voters; and in Louisiana a similar combination was made between the friends of Adams and Jackson, to defeat Mr. Clay, who was the favorite of the state.

To the assertion that the representatives had disobeyed their constituents, in voting for Mr. Adams, they replied, that of the states where he did not obtain a majority of the electors, but whose representatives voted for him in congress, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri voted for Mr. Clay, and, consequently,

they were left free to choose as between Adams and Jackson. In Maryland and Illinois, though Jackson received the greater number of electoral votes, Adams obtained more of the suffrages at the polls, and that in Louisiana the support of both was nearly equal, and that that support had been obtained by virtue of an arrangement among their friends in the legislature, and afforded no criterion of popular favor.

Such were the arguments offered both by the opponents and supporters of the administration for their several courses, and it became obvious to the most superficial observer, that new parties were forming themselves, and that the old lines of division would soon be obliterated in the approaching contest. It could not, indeed, be expected that the ancient party distinctions would be at once annihilated. Men who have from youth to maturity been arrayed in political opposition, cannot immediately forget their old associations and enmities, and time was required to merge the federal and democratic parties in those of opposition and administration. The war, and the political calm which followed it, had contributed much to the extinction of those parties. The questions which first created them had passed away, and belonged to

the history rather than to the politics of the country; and the war, by presenting a new object of attention, had attracted the people from their party disputes to the public defence, and united them as Americans under the standard of their country.

Other questions, too, had arisen under the administration of Mr. Monroe, and differences of opinion, equally strong with those of former times, had done much to break up the ruling party; and the federal party, by relinquishing the contest in many of the states, had augmented the divisions among their opponents, by removing that strong bond of union which arises from the fear of a powerful antagonist.

Al

Of all the questions which had been agitated during the late administration, none had a greater influence in producing this result, than that relating to the admission of Missouri into the union. though this question only related to the extinction of slavery in Missouri, it was represented as an attempt upon that species of property in the southern states, and was construed into a systematic de

sign, on the part of those who supported it, to deprive the planters of their property, and to disturb the domestic tranquillity of the south.

This feverish state of excitement

among the southern people, which can scarcely be understood, except by those who consider their deep pecuniary interest in the continuance of the present state of things, and the danger to themselves and families in any hasty and ill-judged interference with so delicate a subject, had disposed them to this new organization of parties, and af forded the surest and most consistent support to those who opposed the election of Mr. Adams, and the most ready and natural allies of those who arrayed themselves from the commencement in opposition to his administration. Influenced by this apprehensive feeling, to which we have alluded, they did not stop to consider how far it was justified by the sentiments of Mr. Adams and his friends; but taking it for granted, that as they desired the extinction of slavery, they would not be restrained by constitutional nor prudential considerations from accomplishing that object, the leading politicians of the south early manifested an unfriendly disposition to the new administration, and became, in fact, the nucleus of the opposition.

This feeling affords an explanation of the fact, that the representatives of the southern states at once took ground against the administration; and those who differed

widely as to the constructive powers of congress and the national government, still united in this opposition. Other reasons were assigned, but in the discussion of several questions, having only a remote bearing to this subject, the feeling betrayed itself so strongly, as to create the belief that those reasons were not the real motives for their hostility.

In the controversy which took place between the national government and the executive of Georgia, in relation to the Creek nation, great efforts were made by governor Troup to avail himself of that feeling, but the grounds of accusation assumed by him were so untenable, and his charges so promptly disproved, that this appeal to local prejudices was not attended with success.

This controversy, which attracted much attention during the year, grew out of a compact made between the general government and the state of Georgia in 1802. By that compact the United States agreed, in consideration of Georgia relinquishing her claim to the Mississippi territority, to extinguish, at the national expense, the Indian title to the lands occupied by them in Georgia, "whenever it could be peaceably done, upon reasonable terms." Since making that agreement, the general government had extinguished the Indian title to about

15,000,000 acres, and conveyed the same to the state of Georgia. There still remained in that state 9,537,000 acres in possession of the Indians, of which 5,292,000 belonged to the Cherokees, and the remainder to the Creek nation.

Shortly before the termination of Mr. Monroe's administration, the state government became very urgent for the entire removal of the Indians from the state; and at the solicitation of the governor, the late president appointed two commissioners, selected by the governor of Georgia, to make a treaty with the Creeks for the purchase of their claim.

It should be borne in mind, that the United States, in pursuance of a policy adopted at the commencement of the government, and of a treaty concluded with the Creeks previous to the compact with Georgia, had endeavored to civilize the Indians, and to allure them from the wandering habits which present such powerful obstacles to their improvement. The effect of this policy was now evinced by the reluctance of the Creeks to dispose of any more of their territory. They had felt the superior comfort and security of their new mode of life, and were unwilling again to encounter the hardships and privations of the hunter state. To prevent the possibility of any further alienation of territory, a law

was enacted, making it a capital offence to sell any more land. To the solicitations of the commissioners for a part of their territory, they accordingly replied, that they had no more land than they wanted, and no presents nor persuasions could induce the council of the nation to give a different answer. A portion of the Creeks was, however, of a different opinion, and when the council was broken up, by the departure of the great majority of the chiefs, a few were induced to remain, and to conclude a treaty, by which all the lands of the Creek tribes in Georgia and Alabama were ceded to the United States. This treaty was made the 12th of February, 1825, and was transmitted to the senate, and sanctioned by that body, on the 3d of March, the last day of the session. The time when this treaty was sent into the senate, prevented a proper examination of the subject, and, at the close of the session, it could not have received that consideration to which it was entitled. When the news of the ratification of the treaty arrived among the Creeks, it produced great excitement. A secret council of the nation was called, and a resolution adopted not to accept the treaty, and the death of M❜lntosh, the leader and chief of the party that assented to it, was also deter

mined on, as an offender against the law prohibiting the further cession of land. This determination was carried into effect by a party of Indians, who surrounded his house on the 30th of April, and shot him and another chief, who had also signed the treaty. This course on the part of the Creeks presented a new question, and a controversy soon grew out of it between the general government and governor Troup. The governor contended, that upon the ratification of the treaty, the fee simple of the lands became vested in Georgia, and subject to her authority. As he undertook to act upon these assumptions, and called the legislature together for the purpose of surveying these lands, and distributing them among the citi zens of the state by lottery, great reason existed to apprehend that a war would be provoked with the Creek nation by these steps on the part of the state government. The remonstrances of the Creek chiefs against the treaty, the very general suspicion that it was obtained by unfair means, and the complaints of governor Troup against the Indian agent, induced the president. to appoint a special agent to investigate the business, and, at the same time, general Gaines was ordered to repair to the Creek country, with a competent number of

troops, to restore tranquillity among the Creeks, and to prevent any disturbances between them and the frontier settlers. After a full examination of the Creek chieftains, the special agent reported the facts to the war department, and the bad faith and corruption were so strongly supported by the statements of the witnesses, and so great a majority of the tribes (about) appeared to be hostile to the treaty, that the president decided not to suffer any interference with them, until the meeting of congress. This decision gave great offence to governor Troup, and he threatened to take the execution of the treaty into his own hands; but the firm and decided tone which the president at last was compelled to adopt, induced him to leave the affair to the constitutional authorities.

Although the president had thus resolved to postpone the execution of the treaty from motives of humanity to the Creek tribes, he was still anxious to satisfy the claims of Georgia, and the efforts of the war department were directed to the accomplishment of that object, provided it could be done without violating the rights of the Indians. While on the one side a number of chiefs belonging to the M'Intosh party, presented themselves at Washington, to urge the government to espouse their quarrel with

their countrymen; on the other, a deputation was appointed in council, on the part of the nation, to repel their complaints, and to negotiate with the secretary of war concerning their boundaries. This deputation was instructed not to admit, in any shape, the validity of the late treaty, nor the illegality of M'Intosh's execution; but to fix upon some course by which the tribes might not be entirely removed from their country, and, at the same time, to enable the United States to perform its contract with Georgia.

After a long negotiation, a treaty was concluded between the se cretary of war and this deputation, by which the old treaty was annulled, and the Creek nation ceded to the United States all the land east of the Chatahoochy river, and a tract west of the river, beginning 47 miles below the intersection of the boundary line between the Creeks and Cherokees and the Chatahoochy, and thence 30 miles west of Buzzard's roost, thence to Buzzard's roost, and thence to the place of beginning. This was afterwards extended to certain points, so as to comprehend all the Creek lands within the estimated limits of Georgia, for the sum of $30,000. The consideration of the new treaty was $217,000 paid to the Creek nation, and a perpetual annuity of $20,000. To the M'Intosh party.