THOMAS] IXDIAX POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES 641 



verbiage that fliaracterized a treaty with a leading European power, as, 

 for example, the following:' 



Whereas a treaty between tlie United States of Ameri<a anil tlio mingoes, ehiefs, 

 captains and warriors, of tbo Choctaw nation, was entered into at Dancing Rabbit 

 creek, on the twenty-seventh day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 

 eight hundred and thirty, and of the independencl^ of the United States the fifty- 

 fifth, by John H. Eaton and .lohn Cott'cc, commissioners on the part of the United 

 States, and the chiefs, captains, and head-men of the Choctaw nation, on the part of 

 said nation; which treaty, together with the supplemental article thereto, is in the 

 words following, to wit: 



Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States 

 of America, having seen and considered said treaty, do, in pursuance of the advice 

 and consent of the Senate, as expressed by their resolution of the twenty-first day of 

 Febrnary, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one, accept, ratify, and confirm 

 the same, and every clause and article thereof, with the exception of the preamble. 



In testimony whereof, I havc^ caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto 

 affixed, having signed the same with my hand. 



Done at the City of Washington, this twenty-fourth day of February, in the year 

 of our Lord one thoasand eight hundred and thirty-one, and of the independence of 

 the United States the fifty-fifth. 



[L. s.] Anduew Jackson. 



By the President : 



M. Van Buren, Secretari/ of State. 



By the act of March 3, 1871, the legal fiction of recognizing the 

 tribes as independent nations with which the ITnited States could 

 enter into solemn treaty was, after it had continued nearly a hundred 

 years, finally done away with. The eftect of this act was to bring 

 under the immediate control of the Congress the transactions with 

 Mie Indians and reduce to simple agreements what had before been 

 accomplished by .solemn treaties. 



From the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs above referred 

 to, we learn that the Indian title to all the public domain had then 

 been extinguished, except in Alaska and in the postiims included in 

 one hundred and sixty-two Indian reservations and those acquired by 

 the Indians through purchase. 



Of these one hundred and sixty tv/o reservations there were established — 



By Executive order 56 



By Executive order under authority of act of Congress 6 



By act of Congress 28 



By treaty, with boundaries defined or enlarged by Executive order 15 



B}' treaty or agreement and act of Congress 5 



By unratified treaty 1 



By treaty or agreement 51 



It appears from tliis list that the method of establishing reserva- 

 tions has not been uniform, some being by treaty, some by Executive 

 order, and others by act of Congress. Those established by Execu- 

 tive order, independent of the act of Congress, were not held to be 

 permanent before the "general allotment act" of 1887, under which 



' Laws, etc., Eelating to Public Lands, vol. n (1836) pp. 104, 117. 



