ROYCE, | TREATY: OF JULY 8, 1817. 215 
President Jefferson (as has been previously stated) had, as early as 
1803,' suggested the propriety of an exchange of lands by those tribes 
east of the Mississippi for an equal or greater area of territory within 
the newly acquired Louisiana purchase, and in 1809 had authorized a 
delegation of Cherokees to proceed to that country with a view to select- 
ing a suitable tract to which they might remove, and to which many of 
them did remove in the course of the years immediately succeeding.” 
The matter of a general exchange of lands, however, became the 
subject of Congressional consideration, and the Committee on Public 
Lands of the United States Senate reported * a resolution for an appro- 
priation to enable the President to negotiate treaties with the Indian 
tribes which should have for their object an exchange of territory owned 
by any tribe residing east of the Mississippi for other land west of that 
river. 
The committee expressed the opinion that the proposition contained 
in the foregoing resolution would be better calculated to remedy the in- 
convenience and remove the evils arising out of the existing condition of 
the frontier settlements than any other within the power of the Govern- 
ment. It was admitted, however, that this object could not be attained 
except by the voluntary consent of the several tribes interested, made 
manifest through duly negotiated treaties with them. 
The Senate was favorable to this proposition, but the House of Rep- 
resentatives interposed a negative upon the action taken by the former 
body.4 , 
Removal of Cherokees encouraged.—The subject had long been under 
consideration by the Cherokees, and no opportunity had been lost on 
the part of the executive authorities of the United States to encour- 
age a sentiment among them favorable to the removal scheme. Many 
individuals of the tribe had already emigrated, and on the 18th of Oeto- 
ber, 1816, General Andrew Jackson, in addressing the Secretary of War 
upon the subject of the recent Cherokee and Chickasaw treaties, 
suggested his belief that the Cherokees would shortly make a tender of 
their whole territory to the United States in exchange for lands on the 
Arkansas River. He further remarked that a council would soon be 
held by them at Willstown to select a proper delegation who should 
visit the country west of the Mississippi and examine and report upon 
its character and adaptability for their needs. In case this report 
should prove favorable, a Cherokee delegation would thereupon wait 
upon the President, with authority to agree upon satisfactory terms of 
exchange. To this the Secretary of War replied that whenever the 

' Confidential message of President Jefferson to Congress, January 18, 1803. 
? The letter of President Jefferson authorizing a delegation of Cherokees to visit the 
Arkansas and White River country was dated January 9, 1809, and will be found in 
the American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. II, p. 125, as well as among the records 
of the Indian Office. 
® January 9, 1817. 
‘Letter of Secretary of War to General Jackson, May 14, 1817. 
