Van Buren, Martin

Autograph letter signed ("M. Van Buren"), 7 pages, bifolium (10 × 8 in.; 254 × 203 mm), Washington, D.C., 11 April 1838, to Major General Winfield Scott, forwarding instructions for the forced removal of Cherokees to Oklahoma; the 2 bifolia tipped to larger sheets, one small separation at fold, some browning and stainging along folds, five short tape repairs to fold tears on second bifolium.  Blue quarter-morocco, spine gilt; covers stained, bound with typed transcript.

Frank T. Siebert (Sotheby's New York, 28 October 1999, lot 639)

Autograph letter signed ("M. Van Buren"), 7 pages, bifolium (10 × 8 in.; 254 × 203 mm), Washington, D.C., 11 April 1838, to Major General Winfield Scott, forwarding instructions for the forced removal of Cherokees to Oklahoma; the 2 bifolia tipped to larger sheets, one small separation at fold, some browning and stainging along folds, five short tape repairs to fold tears on second bifolium. Blue quarter-morocco, spine gilt; covers stained, bound with typed transcript.
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Six months before the Cherokee began their journey on the Trail of Tears, President Van Buren and Congress set aside $300,000 as added incentive to persuade them to remove their entire nation west of the Mississippi.  Scott had scarcely finished restoring tranquility along the Canadian border when Van Buren entrusted him with a commission that would prove to be the most difficult ordeal of pacification. The President instructs Scott: "If on your arrival in the Cherokee Nation, propositions should be made to you by the party opposed to emigration, the acceptances of which you shall have good reason to prevent the shedding of blood, & secure & expedite the voluntary emigration of the whole nation, you are authorized to receive & transmit them to the Department of War for the consideration of the President & Senate:  Provided the said propositions do not, to any degree, impugn the Treaty [of New Echota] with the execution of which you are charged, or materially change any of its provisions, & particularly that which provides for their emigration to the west ... [N]o stipulation shall be entered into that shall effect injuriously & against their will the individual rights of any of the Citizens of the States in which the indians now reside, & which are secured to such Citizens by the laws of such States & founded upon the Treaty.  For these purposes & to meet the contingency referred to, you are here appointed a Commissioner, & authorized to conclude an arrangement of the nature herein described, with the said indians subject to the approbation or rejection of the President & Senate ... "

The Treaty of New Echota (1835) gave up all Cherokee land east of the Mississippi. It had been signed by pro-removal council members of the Cherokee Nation, in direct violation of a Cherokee Nation law drafted by John Ridge and passed in 1829 making it illegal to sign away Cherokee lands. Not a single elected tribal official (Chief Ross among them) signed the document. In spite of protests by the Cherokee National Council and Chief Ross, Congress ratified the treaty on 23 May 1836 by one vote. By the end of 1836, more than 6,000 Cherokees had moved to the West.  About 17,000 remained, and the terms of the treaty gave them two years to leave. General John Wool was ordered to move the Cherokee but as the 1838 deadline approached, Wool refused and resigned his command in protest. Van Buren appointed General Winfield Scott to head the forcible removal.  Scott would arrive at New Echota 17 May 1838 with 7,000 soldiers.

Van Buren continues spelling out his instructions to Scott: "In such proceedings, the known Chiefs & their Adherents, of the party heretofore opposed to emigration may, if you find it necessary, be put upon a footing of equality with the other part of the nation, taking care not to sign any stipulation which may injuriously affect the true interests or just pride of the latter.  To the ends contemplated by these instructions any reasonable sum of money, not exceeding 300,000 dollars, to be paid by the United States after the execution of the stipulation or stipulations by the said indians, may be agreed upon; but the discretionary authority hereby conferred upon you is made subject to the following absolute restriction, viz; that no proposals are to be received from the indians until the great body of the Chiefs, Head Men & People of the remaining Cherokees have been distinctly informed, that the said proposals are based upon their certain & speedy removal to their new Homes, that the only object in view is to make that removal more satisfactory to them, & that no delay, in the execution of the Treaty, not really indispensable, is to [be] occasioned by any of the proceedings authorized by these instructions."

The extra money procured by the United States government was apparently not used by General Scott to achieve the goal of removing the Cherokee nation.  Beginning on 17 May 1838 over the course of three weeks, some 15,000 Cherokee were rounded up by U.S. soldiers and summarily herded into what effectively were concentration camps. Most made their way to Indian Territory on foot, since wagons were provided only for small children, the old, and the infirm. The drought of that summer, harshnesss of winter, and scant supplies brought about death from disease and starvation.  The exact death toll has been variously estimated. The official government count at the time was 424 deaths; an American doctor who traveled with one party estimated 2,000 deaths in the camps and 2,000 on the trail; his total of 4,000 deaths remains the most cited figure. A 1973 study estimated 2,000 total deaths and another in 1984 concluded that 8,000 people had died ("Facts about the United States: The Trail of Tears," www.sheppardsoftware.com/usaweb/factfile/Unique-facts-USA9.htm).