To the Brothers of the Choctaw Nation
December 17, 1803
BROTHERS OF THE CHOCTAW NATION: --
We have long heard of your nation as a numerous, peaceable, and friendly people; but this
is the first visit we have had from its great men at the seat of our government. I welcome
you here; am glad to take you by the hand, and to assure you, for your nation, that we are
their friends. Born in the same land, we ought to live as brothers, doing to each other
all the good we can, and not listening to wicked men, who may endeavor to make us enemies.
By living in peace, we can help and prosper one another; by waging war, we can kill and
destroy many on both sides; but those who survive will not be the happier for that. Then,
brothers, let it forever be peace and good neighborhood between us. Our seventeen States
compose a great and growing nation. Their children are as the leaves of the trees, which
the winds are spreading over the forest. But we are just also. We take from no nation what
belongs to it. Our growing numbers make us always willing to buy lands from our red
brethren, when they are willing to sell. But be assured we never mean to disturb them in
their possessions. On the contrary, the lines established between us by mutual consent,
shall be sacredly preserved, and will protect your lands from all encroachments by our own
people or any others. We will give you a copy of the law, made by our great Council, for
punishing our people, who may encroach on your lands, or injure you otherwise. Carry it
with you to your homes, and preserve it, as the shield which we spread over you, to
protect your land, your property and persons.
It is at the request which you sent me in September, signed by Puckshanublee and
other chiefs, and which you now repeat, that I listen to your proposition to sell us
lands. You say you owe a great debt to your merchants, that you have nothing to pay it
with but lands, and you pray us to take lands, and pay your debt. The sum you have
occasion for, brothers, is a very great one. We have never yet paid as much to any of our
red brethren for the purchase of lands. You propose to us some on the Tombigbee, and some
on the Mississippi. Those on the Mississippi suit us well. We wish to have establishments
on that river, as resting places for our boats, to furnish them provisions, and to receive
our people who fall sick on the way to or from New Orleans, which is now ours. In that
quarter, therefore, we are willing to purchase as much as you will spare. But as to the
manner in which the line shall be run, we are not judges of it here, nor qualified to make
any bargain. But we will appoint persons hereafter to treat with you on the spot, who,
knowing the country and quality of the lands, will be better able to agree with you on a
line which will give us a just equivalent for the sum of money you want paid.
You have spoken, brothers, of the lands which your fathers formerly sold and
marked off to the English, and which they ceded to us with the rest of the country they
held here; and you say that, though you do not know whether your fathers were paid for
them, you have marked the line over again for us, and do not ask repayment. It has always
been the custom, brothers, when lands were bought of the red men, to pay for them
immediately, and none of us have ever seen an example of such a debt remaining unpaid. It
is to satisfy their immediate wants that the red men have usually sold lands; and in such
a case, they would not let the debt be unpaid. The presumption from custom then is strong;
so it is also from the great length of time since your fathers sold these lands. But we
have, moreover, been informed by persons now living, and who assisted the English in
making the purchase, that the price was paid at the time. Were it otherwise, as it was
their contract, it would be their debt, not ours.
I rejoice, brothers, to hear you propose to become cultivators of the earth for
the maintenance of your families. Be assured you will support them better and with less
labor, by raising stock and bread, and by spinning and weaving clothes, than by hunting. A
little land cultivated, and a little labor, will procure more provisions than the most
successful hunt; and a woman will clothe more by spinning and weaving, than a man by
hunting. Compared with you, we are but as of yesterday in this land. Yet see how much more
we have multiplied by industry, and the exercise of that reason which you possess in
common with us. Follow then our example, brethren, and we will aid you with great
pleasure.
The clothes and other necessaries which we sent you the last year, were, as you
supposed, a present from us. We never meant to ask land or any other payment for them; and
the store which we sent on, was at your request also; and to accommodate you with
necessaries at a reasonable price, you wished of course to have it on your land; but the
land would continue yours, not ours.
As to the removal of the store, the interpreter, and the agent, and any other
matters you may wish to speak about, the Secretary at War will enter into explanations
with you, and whatever he says, you may consider as said by myself, and what he promises
you will be faithfully performed.
I am glad, brothers, you are willing to go and visit some other parts of our
country. Carriages shall be ready to convey you, and you shall be taken care of on your
journey; and when you shall have returned here and rested yourselves to your own mind, you
shall be sent home by land. We had provided for your coming by land, and were sorry for
the mistake which carried you to Savannah instead of Augusta, and exposed you to the risks
of a voyage by sea. Had any accident happened to you, though we could not help it, it
would have been a cause of great mourning to us. But we thank the Great Spirit who took
care of you on the ocean, and brought you safe and in good health to the seat of our great
Council; and we hope His care will accompany and protect you, on your journey and return
home; and that He will preserve and prosper your nation in all its just pursuits.
Thomas Jefferson