176 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
from the committee of the House of Representatives to which the 
matter was referred, submitted a report,! accompanied by a resolution 
making an appropriation for the relief of such citizens of the State of 
Tennessee as had aright to lands within that State, by virtue of the 
cession out of the State of North Carolina, provided they had made 
actual settlement thereon and had been deprived of the possession 
thereof by the operation of the act of May 19, 1796, for regulating in- 
tercourse with the Indian tribes. The sum to be appropriated, it was 
declared, should be subject to the order of the President of the United 
States, to be expended under his direction, either in extinguishing the 
Indian claim to the lands in question, by holding a treaty for that pur- 
pose, or to be disposed of in such other manner as he should deem best 
calculated to afford the persons described a temporary relief. 
New treaty.—The House of Representatives, on considering the sub- 
ject, passed a resolution directing the Secretary of War tolay beforethem 
such information as he possessed relative to the running of a line of ex- 
periment from Clinch River to Chilhowie Mountain by order of Governor 
Blount, to which the Secretary responded on the 5th of January, 1798. 
Following this, on the 8th of the same month, President Adams com- 
municated a message to the Senate, setting forth that the situation of 
affairs between some of the citizens of the United States and the Chero- 
kees had evinced the propriety of holding a treaty with that nation, 
to extinguish by purchase their right to certain parcels of land and to 
adjust and settle other points relative to the safety and convenience of 
the citizens of the United States. With this view he nominated Fisher 
Ames, of Massachusetts, Bushrod Washington, of Virginia, and Alfred 
Moore, of North Carolina, to be commissioners, having authority to hold 
conferences and conclude a treaty with the Cherokees for the purpeses 
indicated.? 
The Senate concurred in the advisability of the proposed treaty, but 
Fisher Ames and Bushrod Washington having declined, George Walton 
aud John Steele were associated with Mr. Moore, and detailed instrue- 
tions were given for their guidance. 
By these instructions they were vested jointly and severally with full 
powers to negotiate and conclude a treaty with the Cherokees, limited 
only by the scope of the instructions themselves. The Cherokee agent 
had already been directed to notify the Indians and the commandant 
of United States troops in Tennessee to furnish an escort sufficient for 
the protection of the negotiations. 
Further purchase of Cherokee lands proposed.—The commissioners were 
directed as a primary consideration to secure, if possible, the consent 
December 20, 1797. 
’ American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 629. 
* American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, p. 631. 
4These instructions were dated March 2, 1793. See American State Papers, Indian 
Affairs, Vol. I, p. 639 
