288 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
POLICY OF THE PRESIDENT CRITICISED—SPEECH OF COL, DAVID CROCKETT. 
Among many men of note who denounced in most vigorous terms the 
policy of the Administration toward the Cherokees were Daniel Webster 
and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts; Theodore Frelinghuysen, of 
New Jersey ; Peleg Sprague, of Maine; Henry R. Storrs, of New York ; 
Henry A. Wise, of Virginia; and David Crockett, of Tennessee. The 
latter, in a speech in the House of Representatives, denounced the treat- 
ment to which the Indians had been subjected at the hands of the Goy- 
ernment as unjust, dishonest, cruel, and short-sighted in the extreme. 
He alluded to the fact that he represented a district which bordered on 
the domain of the southern tribes, and that his constituents were per- 
haps as immediately interested in the removal of the Indians as those 
of any other member of the House. His voice would perhaps not be 
seconded by that of a single fellow member living within 500 miles of 
his home. He had been threatened that if he did not support the 
policy of forcible removal his pudlic career would be summarily cut off. 
But while he was perhaps as desirous of pleasing his constituents and 
of coinciding with the wishes of his colleagues as any man in Congress, 
he could not permit himself to do so at the expense of his honor and 
conscience in the support of such a measure. He believed the Ameri- 
can people could be relied on to approve their Representatives for dar- 
ing, in the face of all opposition, to perform their conscientious duty, 
but if not, the approval of his own conscience was dearer to him than 
all else. 
Governor Lumpkin, immediately upon his appointment as commis- 
sioner, had repaired to the Cherokee country, but Governor Carroll, 
owing to some pending negotiations with the Choctaws and subse- 
quently to ill health, was unable to assume the duties assigned him. 
He was succeeded! by John Kennedy. To this commission a third 
member was added in the summer of 1837? in the person of Colonel 
Guild, who was found to be ineligible, however, by reason of being a 
member of the Tennessee legislature. His place was supplied by the 
appointment? of James W. Gwin, of North Carolina. 
On the 22d of December James Liddell was also appointed, vice Gov- 
ernor Lumpkin resigned. * 

1 October 25, 1836. 
2Secretary of War to Andrew Jackson, August 21, 1837. 
®> October 16, 1837. ; 
+The amounts adjudicated and paid by this commission, as shown by the records 
of the Indian Office (see Commissioner of Indian Affairs’ letter of March 7, 1844), 
were as follows: 



1; Forimprovementsies = tase eee eee ec een eee eee ere eee $1, 683, 192 774 
2. Spoliations sexe ecsice ree oe ee a sere Sees Rees Eee eee een 416, 306 824 
3 Nationalidebts due’ to! Cherokees. 222 = -2e ee soe eee eee eee 19, 058 14 
4. National debts due to citizens of the United States ..-......-..-- 51,642 87 
5, ROServablOUs sii occas t erie pe eee See tee eet ae 159, 324 &7 
Totals o< Ja... chadencee Soeane cect eee pee ee eee eee 2, 329,524 86 
(The figures as given here are correctly copied from the commissioner’s letter, but 
there is an obvious error either in the footing or in the items. ) 
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