ROYCE. | TREATY OF MARCH 22, 1816. 205 
provisions of the twelfth section of an act of Congress approved March 
30, 1802, for regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes. 
These negotiations not having proved successful, the Secretary of 
War authorized Agent Meigs! to bring a delegation of the Cherokees 
to Washington for this and other purposes of negotiation. 
This delegation arrived early in the spring of 1816, and the Hon. 
George Graham, being specially authorized by the President, concluded 
a treaty on the 22d of March of that year.2. Therein, in consideration 
of the sum of $5,000, to be paid by the State of South Carolina within 
ninety days from the date of its ratification by the President and Sen- 
ate, subject also to ratification by the Cherokee national council and 
by the governor of South Carolina, the Cherokees ceded to that State 
all claim to territory within her boundaries. 
This treaty was transmitted* to the Senate by President Madison,and 
ratified and proclaimed, as set forth in the abstract of its provisions 
hereinbefore given, on the 8th of April, 1816. 
BOUNDARY BETWEEN CHEROKEES, CREEKS, CHOCTAWS, AND CHICKASAWS. 
The lines of demarkation between the respective possessions of the 
Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations had long been a 
subject of dispute between them. People living in a state of bar- 
barism and principally dependent upon the chase for a livelihood, 
necessarily roam over a vast amount of territory within which no per- 
manent habitations have been established by themselves. An accurate 
definition of the boundaries between them and their nearest neighbors 
pursuing a similar mode of life is unnecessary so long as no disturbing 
factor is brought into the case. But contact with an ever-encroaching 
tide of civilization renders essential an accurate definition of limits. 
The United States, in several of its numerous treaties for the acquisi- 
tion of territory from these four tribes, had been met with conflicting 
claims as to its ownership. In order that future disputes and em- 
barrassments of this character should be avoided, the authorities of 
the United States entertained the idea of causing a boundary line 
to be run and marked between the adjoining territory of these tribes. 
The Indian agents were advised by the Secretary of War‘ that the 
subject was under consideration, the plan being to constitute a com- 
mission, consisting of two representatives selected by each tribe and 
of the United States agents for those tribes, who should, after full 
examination of the country and the subject, agree upon and fix their 
respective boundaries. Owing, however, to the compiicated state of 
our foreign relations and the feverish condition of mind manifested by 
the border tribes, soon followed by war with England and with the 

' November 22, 1815. 
>United States Statutes at Large, Vol. VII, p. 138. 
3 March 26, 1816. 
4 May 8, 1811. 
