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Thomas Jefferson Address to the Cherokee Nation Signed as President. ...
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Description
Jefferson address to the Cherokee Nation signed and dated three days after the Treaty of Washington which ceded all rights to the land between the Tennessee River and Duck River
Thomas Jefferson Address to the Cherokee Nation Signed as
President. Three and a half pages of a bifolium; 7 7/8 x 9 3/4
inches; [Washington]; January 10, 1806. A manuscript copy made
using Jefferson's treasured polygraph entitled, "My Friends &
Children Chiefs of the Cherokee Nation" signed and dated by the
President, "Th. Jefferson." Jefferson reviewed and edited
this copy, crossing out a word and adding "inclosed" on the
fourth line of the second page. A significant Jefferson address to
a delegation of Cherokees who had just concluded the Treaty of
Washington, signed three days earlier on January 7.Jefferson's 1806 address to the Cherokees was part of his broader policy of Native American assimilation and land acquisition. His message encouraged the Cherokees to adopt European-American agricultural practices and settle into a sedentary lifestyle, which he argued would lead to prosperity and stability.
The body of the address is in the hand of Isaac A. Coles, Jefferson's secretary at this time. While Jefferson rarely used a secretary when writing with a polygraph, a machine to which he was devoted, he sometimes used a secretary to execute final versions of important documents, as in this instance. The Cherokee delegation had met with Secretary of War Henry Dearborn, who was authorized by Jefferson to conduct negotiations. This Jefferson signed polygraph was likely given to the War Department, as evidenced by their endorsement on the fourth page.
In full:
My Children, it is unnecessary for me to advise you against spending all your time & labor in warring with & destroying your fellow men, & wasting your own numbers. You already see the folly & the inequity of it. Your young men however are not yet sufficiently sensible of it. Some of them cross the Missisipi [sic] to go & destroy people who never did them an injury. My Children this is wrong, & must not be. If we permit them to cross the Missisipi [sic] to war with the Indians on the other side of that river, we must let those Indians cross the river to take revenge on you. I say again, this must not be. The Missisipi [sic] now belongs to us. it must not be a river of blood. It is now the water path along which all our people of Natchez, St. Louis, Indiana, Ohio, Tennissee [sic], Kentucky, & the western parts of Pennsylvania & Virginia are constantly passing, with their property to & from N. Orleans. Young men going to war are not easily restrained. Finding our people on the river, they will rob them, perhaps kill them. This would bring on a war between us and you. It is better to stop this in time, by forbidding your young people to go across the river to make war. If they go to visit, or to live with the Cherokees on the other side of the river we shall not object to that. That country is ours. We will permit them to live in it.
My Children, this is what I wished to say to you. To go on in learning to cultivate the earth, and to avoid war. If any of your neighbors injure you, our beloved men whom we place with you will endeavor to obtain justice for you & we will support them in it. If any of your bad people injure your neighbors, be ready to acknowledge it & to do them justice. It is more honorable to repair a wrong than to persist in it. tell all your chiefs, young men women & children that I take them by the hand & hold it fast, that I am their father, wish their happiness & well being, & am always ready to promote their good.
My Children, I thank you for your visit, & pray to the Great Spirit who made us all & planted us all in this land to live together like brothers, that he will conduct you safely to your homes, & grant you to find your families & your friends in good health.
Th. Jefferson
Jan.10.1806
According to the staff at the Jefferson Papers at Princeton University manuscript was endorsed by a clerk at the War Department: "President's farewell address to the Cherokees Jan. 10-1806." Jefferson's original draft used by Cole, is at the Library of Congress.
Condition: Minor toning with light offsetting along margins. Flattened folds with separations at the margins, some affecting text. Additional separations along the integral fold with minor chipping. Creasing to top right corner of both leaves. Minor ink stains at bottom margin of last page.
Provenance: Jacob J. Podell; to our consignor by descent.
Auction Info
2025 March 28 Historical Manuscripts Including Texana Signature® Auction #6316 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
March, 2025
28th
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