From its inception following the Revolutionary War, the United States has not envisioned itself as home to the culturally distinct American Indians. President Thomas Jefferson was among those who suggested that American Indian tribes be removed from their homelands in the United States and relocated in lands west of the Mississippi River. The purchase of Louisiana Territory made this idea more realistic and in 1830 the Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress.
In responding to the passage of the Act, President Andrew Jackson said:
“It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation.”
According to the U.S. Constitution Indian tribes were considered to be nations and, therefore, treaties had to be negotiated with them prior to removal.
The Seminoles
In the eighteenth century, the Indian nations of the Southeast were feeling pressure from the European invaders who wanted their agricultural lands. Some people broke off from the tribes of the Creek Confederacy and migrated south into Florida where they became known as the Seminoles (“those who camped out from the regular towns”). In Florida the various Seminole bands developed an economy based on farming, hunting wild game, and gathering wild plants for food and fiber.
Among the Seminoles, there was no traditional overall governmental or political organization. The Seminoles tended to be organized around busk groups, each of which had its own medicine bundle on which the annual busk (Green Corn) ceremony was focused. According to anthropologist William Sturtevant, in his chapter in North American Indians in Historical Perspective:
“Every Seminole ‘belonged to’ one of the medicine bundles, attended its busk (although he could attend others as a visitor), and fell under the jurisdiction of the judicial and political council meeting of that busk.”
Seminole village councils would be held in the village square. While all of the men would attend the council, the only ones who spoke were the leaders and the old men.
The Treaty of Payne’s Landing
In 1832, Seminole leaders Charley Emathla and Foke Luste Hadjo signed the Treaty of Payne’s Landing. This required all Seminoles to leave Florida in exchange for lands in Indian territory (now Oklahoma), plus grants of clothes and money. The Seminoles were told that the American government would no longer continue to feed them and that life in the west would be better. When the Seminoles protested that they did not have adequate clothing for life in the colder Indian Territory, the Americans promised to provide them with a blanket and shirt upon arrival.
Regarding Charley Emathla and Foke Luste Hadjo, in his book The Southeastern Indians, anthropologist Charles Hudson reports:
“These men were not empowered to represent the Seminoles, and the treaty was therefore clearly fraudulent.”
Seminole leader Micanopy did not make his mark on the treaty and yet his name appeared on the treaty document.
In his book The Seminoles of Florida, historian James Covington reports:
“The Seminoles believed that the treaty was binding only if a delegation sent to the West gave its approval and if the group’s decision was accepted by the tribe.”
As one excuse for the treaty, the U.S. government decided that the land reserved for the Seminole in Florida was not worth cultivating, a fact well-known among the Seminole. However, the more important reason involved runaway slaves and the conflicts between slave-owning Americans and the Seminole. From a Seminole perspective, they were facing starvation due to a prolonged drought which provided some incentive for signing the treaty. In an article in the Chronicles of Oklahoma, historian Louise Welsh puts it this way:
“Certainly one factor which facilitated that making of the treaty was that the Seminoles were starving, a condition brought on by drought, a severe freeze in February and consequent crop failures.”
The Treaty also specified that any Seminoles with Black blood were to be considered runaway slaves and were to be returned.
In his 1934 book Florida Place Names of Indian Origin and Seminole Personal Names, William Read reports:
“The Seminoles became bitterly dissatisfied with the idea of leaving Florida and repudiated the term of the treaty.”
According to the Seminole understanding of the treaty, they were to send an exploring party to Oklahoma to approve of the new lands. This exploring party included Jumper, Charley Emathla, and five others. When they arrived in the Cherokee Nation, they were taken on a buffalo hunt and shown the western part of Indian Territory. While the exploring party later reported to the tribe that they found the land satisfactory, they did not want to be placed close to tribes that would steal their horses.
At Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, members of the Seminole exploring party signed a treaty in which the Seminoles were required to settle in the Creek Nation. It was not clear why the Seminole leaders signed this treaty, but they may have been told that if they did not sign, they would not be allowed to return to Florida. Those who signed did not have the authority to sign on behalf of the Seminoles. In her book Slavery in Indian Country: The Changing Face of Captivity in Early America, Christina Snyder reports:
“Seminole chiefs Holata Emathla, Coa Hadjo, and Jumper claimed that they never signed the document, and others said that army officers forced them to do so with threats of violence and imprisonment.”
More American Indian Treaties
Indians 101: The 1830 Choctaw removal treaty
Indians 101: The California treaties of 1851-1852
Indians 101: The 1863 Nez Perce treaty
Indians 201: American Indians and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Indians 101: The 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty
Indians 201: First U.S. treaties with the Navajo
Indians 101: The 1855 Walla Walla treaty council
Indians 101: The 1855 Treaty Council at Wasco, Oregon
Indians 101: Treaty Rock and the Coeur d'Alene Indians
