noYcE.] TREATY OF MAY 6, 1828. 241 
FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR FURTHER CESSION OF LANDS. 
On the 2d of March, 1827,! Congress passed an act authorizing the 
President to open negotiations with the Cherokees forthe extinguishment 
of their title to such lands as were claimed by them within the limits of 
the State of North Carolina, and also for such quantity of land as should 
be necessary in the building of a canal to connect the Hiwassee and 
Canasauga Rivers. 
Ten thousand dollars were appropriated to defray the expenses of 
such negotiations, and Generals John Cocke, G. L. Davidson, and Alex- 
ander Grey were? appointed commissioners to conduct the same. Their 
negotiations were barren of results, as were also those of Maj. F. W. 
Armstrong, who in the following year’ was dispatched on a similar 
mission. 
THE CHEROKEE NATION ADOPTS A CONSTITUTION. 
At a general convention of delegates, ‘duly authorized for that pur- 
pose,” held at New Echota, in the Cherokee Nation, July 26, 1827, a 
constitution was adopted for the nation, predicated upon their assumed 
sovereignty and independence as one of the distinct nations of the 
earth. Such aninstrument could not fail of exciting to the highest pitch 
the feelings and animosity of the authorities and people of Georgia. 
Georgia's opinion of the Indian title—Governor Forsyth inclosed* a 
copy of the “‘presumptuous” document to the President, at the same 
time desiring to know what the United States proposed to do about the 
‘erection of a separate government within the limits of a sovereign 
State.” 
He also inclosed the report of a committee and the resolutions of the 
legislature of Georgia predicated thereon as exhibiting the sentiments 
of that body on the subject. This committee, in reporting to the legis- 
lature the results of their investigations, assert that anterior to the Rey- 
olutionary war the Cherokee lands in Georgia belonged to Great Brit- 
ain, and that the right as to both domain and empire was complete and 
perfect in that nation. The possession by the Indians was permissive. 
They were under the protection of Great Britain. Their title was tem- 
porary, being mere tenants at will, and such tenancy might have been de- 
termined at any moment either by force or by negotiation, at the pleasure 
of that power. Upon the close of the Revolution, Georgia assumed all 
the rights and powers in relation to the lands and Indians in question 
previously belonging to Great Britain, and had not since divested her- 
self of any right or power in relation to such lands, further than she had 
in respect of all the balance of her territory. She was now at full lib- 
erty and had the power and the right to possess herself, by any means she 
might choose, of the lands in dispute, and to extend over them her au- 

‘United States Statutes at Large, Vol. IV. 217. 3 June 4, 1828. 
2 March 13, 1227. ‘January 26, 1828. 
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