64 UNITED STATES - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY INT GENERAL 



by US, are still reserved to the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to 

 remove themselves from such settlements. 



(3) The right to purchase Indian lands is vested solely in the govern- 

 ment : * * * "We do, with the advice of our Privy Council, strictly enjoin 

 and require that no private person do presume to make any purchase 

 from the said Indians of any lands reserved to the said Indians * * * jf 

 at any time any of the said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the 

 said lands, the same shall be purchased only for us, in our name. 



(4) The right to regulate trade and license traders : * * * " Hvery 

 person who may incline to trade with the said Indians, do take out a li- 

 cense for carrying on such trade, from the Governor or Commander-in- 

 chief of any of our colonies respectively * * * and also give security to 

 observe such regulations as we shall at any time think fit * * * to direct 

 and appoint for the benefit of the said trade ". 



The civiHzed nations of Europe which had acquired territory 

 on this continent, asserted in themselves and recognized in others the 

 exclusive right of the discoverer to appropriate the lands occupied by 

 the Indians. By the Treat}'' of 1783, the United States acquired all the 

 rights to the soil which had previously been in Great Britain ; by the 

 Treaty of 1803, with France (the L,ouisiana purchase) it agreed to exe- 

 cute and respect all treaties made or agreed upon between Spain and the 

 several tribes of Indians residing within the territory ceded. The Su- 

 preme Court of the United States, in an early decision, held that the Gov- 

 ernment had a clear title to aU the lands within the areas referred to 

 above, subject only to the Indian right of occupancy ; that the Indians 

 had the unquestioned right to the lands they occupied until that right 

 was voluntarily transferred by them to the Government ; that they occu- 

 pied lands to which the United States held title, independent of their will 

 which must take effect in respect to possession when their right of occu- 

 pancy ceased ; and that the claim of the Governement extends to the 

 complete ultimate title, charged with the Indian right of occupancy and 

 possession, and to the exclusive power to acquire that right. 

 r' During the colonial period, charters and grants were made by the 

 Government, of land for the occupancy of Indians, known as their hunt- 

 ing grounds. Their rights to its exclusive enjo^^ment in their own way 

 and for their own purposes were always recognized by the colonists until 

 abandoned or ceded by them, their right of occupancy being respected by 

 the political power of the colony and upheld by the courts until extin- 

 guished. 



Article 3, of the Act of July 13, 1787, entitled " An ordinance for the 

 governement of the territory of the United States northwest of the river 

 Ohio ", provides, in part, as follows : 



" The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians ; 

 their land and property shall never be taken from them without their 

 consent ; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be 

 invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Con- 

 gress ; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall from time to time 



