USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 12
USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 12
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On the 13th of the same month Mr. Jefferson wrote to James Monroe that the federalists were trying to force the United States into war in order to get into power. About the same time he wrote to Mr. Livingston that if France considered Louisiana indispensable to her interests, she might still be willing to cede to the United States the Island of Orleans and the Floridas. Or, if not willing to cede the island, she might be induced to grant the right of deposit at New Orleans and the free navigation of the Mississippi, as it had previously been under the Spanish regime, and directed him to open negotiations with that end in view. A few days after writing this letter, thinking the cession could probably be more easily accomplished by sending an emissary direct from the United States for that purpose, he appointed James Monroe, as minister pleni- potentiary, to co-operate with Minister Livingston. The Senate promptly con- firmed Mr. Monroe's appointment and Congress placed at his disposal the sum of $2,000,000 to be used by him and Mr. Livingston to pay for the island.
It may be well to note, in this connection, that the ultimate success of Liv- ingston and Monroe was no doubt furthered by a letter written about this time by Pichon, the French minister to the United States, to Talleyrand, in which he advised the French prime minister that the people of the United States were thoroughly aroused over the suspension of the right of deposit, and that the administration might be forced by public opinion into an alliance with Great Britain. War between England and France had just been renewed and Napoleon, realizing the superior strength of the British navy, saw that it would be a difficult undertaking to hold Louisiana if an alliance should be made between England and the United States. He had a force of troops under General Victor ready to send to New Orleans, but learned that an English fleet was lying in wait for Victor's departure and countermanded the order.
In the meantime Livingston had opened negotiations for the cession of the Island of Orleans and West Florida, believing the Floridas were included in the Treaty of San Ildefonso. On April 11, 1803, Napoleon placed the entire matter
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of the cession in the hands of the Marquis de Marbois, minister of the French treasury, and the same day Talleyrand startled Livingston by asking if the United States would not like to own the entire Province of Louisiana. Livingston gave a negative reply, but Talleyrand insisted that Louisiana would be worth nothing to France without the City and. Island of New Orleans and asked the American minister to make an offer for the whole province. Another conference was held the next morning and that afternoon Mr. Monroe arrived in Paris. That night the two American envoys spent several hours in consultation, the result of which was that Mr. Livingston was selected to conduct the negotiations.
Several days were then spent in discussing the matter, Marbois at first asking I25,000,000 francs ($25,000,000) for the whole province, though it afterward cropped out that Napoleon had directed him to accept 50,000,000 francs, provided a better price could not be obtained. The price finally agreed upon was 80,000,000 francs, three-fourths of that amount to go directly to the French treasury and the remainder to be used in settling claims of American citizens against the French government. The next step was to embody the terms in a formal treaty. As this treaty gave to the United States a territory of nearly nine hundred thou- sand square miles, in which was situated the present State of Iowa, it is here given in full. It is known as the
TREATY OF PARIS 1
"The President of the United States of America and the First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, desiring to remove all sources of misunderstanding relative to objects of discussion mentioned in the second and fifth articles of the convention of the 8th Vendemaire, an 9 (30th September, 1800). relative to the rights claimed by the United States, in virtue of the treaty concluded at Madrid, the 27th of October, 1795, between his Catholic Majesty and the said United States, and willing to strengthen the union and friendship which at the time of said convention was happily reestablished between the two nations, have respectfully named their plenipotentiaries, to wit: The President of the United States of America, by and with the advice of the Senate of the said states, Robert R. Livingston, minister plenipotentiary of the United States, and James Monroe, minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordi- nary of the said states, near the Government of the French Republic ; and the First Consul. in the name of the French people, the French citizen, Barbe Marbois. minister of the public treasury, who, after having exchanged their full powers. have agreed to the following articles :
"Article I. Whereas, by the article the third of the treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, the 9th Vendemaire an 9 (October 1. 1800), between the First Consul of the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, it was agreed as follows: 'His Catholic Majesty promises and engages on his part to retrocede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and stipulations herein relative to his royal highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it ; and such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other states,' and
"Whereas, in pursuance of the treaty, particularly of the third article, the
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French Republic has an incontestible title to the domain and possession of the said territory ; the First Consul of the French Republic, desiring to give to the United States a strong proof of his friendship, doth hereby cede to the United States, in the name of the French Republic, forever, in full sovereignty, the said territory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the saine manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above mentioned treaty, concluded with his Catholic Majesty.
"Article II. In the cession made by the preceding article, are included the adjacent islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks and other edifices which are not private property. The archives, papers and documents relative to the domain and sovereignty of Louisiana and its dependencies, will be left in the possession of the commissioners of the United States, and copies will be afterward given in . due form to the magistrates and municipal officers of such of the said papers and documents as may be necessary to them.
"Article III. The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty. property and the religion which they profess.
"Article IV. There shall be sent by the Governor of France a commissary to Louisiana, to the end that he do every act necessary, as well to receive from the officers of his Catholic Majesty the said country and its dependencies in the name of the French Republic, if it has not already been done, and to transmit it in the name of the French Republic to the commissary or agent of the United States.
"Article V. Immediately after the ratification of the present treaty by the President of the United States, and in case that of the First Consul shall have been previously obtained, the commissary of the French Republic shall remit all the military posts of New Orleans and other posts of the ceded territory, to the commissary or commissaires named by the President of the United States to take possession ; the troops, whether of France or Spain, who may be there, shall cease to occupy any military post from the time of taking possession, and shall be embarked as soon as possible, in the course of three months after the ratification of this treaty.
"Article VI. The United States promises to execute such treaties and articles as may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and nations of Indians. until by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations, other suitable articles shall have been agreed upon.
"Article VII. As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France and the United States to encourage the communication of both nations, for a limited time, in the country ceded by the present treaty. until general arrangements relative to the commerce of both may be agreed upon, it has been agreed between the contracting parties. that the French ships coming directly from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of France or her said colonies, and the ships of Spain coming directly from Spain and her col- onies, loaded only with the produce or manufactures of Spain or her colonies. shall be admitted during the space of twelve years in the ports of New Or-
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leans, and all other ports of entry within the ceded territory, in the same manner as the ships of the United States coming directly from France or Spain, or any of their colonies, without being subject to any other or greater duty on merchan- dise, or other or greater tonnage than those paid by the citizens of the United States.
"During the space of time above mentioned, no other nation shall have a right to the same privileges in the ports of the ceded territory; the twelve years shall commence three months after the exchange or ratifications, if it shall take place in France, or three months after it shall have been notified at Paris to the French Government, if it shall take place in the United States; it is, however, well under- stood, that the object of this article is to favor the manufactures, commerce, freight, and navigation of France and Spain, so far as relates to the importa- tions that the French and Spanish shall make into the ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right they may have to make such regulations.
"Article VIII. In future, and forever after the expiration of the twelve years, the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of the most favored nations in the ports above mentioned.
"Article IX. The particular convention signed this day by the respective ministers, having for its object to provide for the payment of debts due to the citizens of the United States by the French Republic prior to the 30th day of September, 1800 (8th Vendemaire, 9), is approved and to have its execution in the same manner as if it had been inserted in the present treaty, and it shall be ratified in the same form and at the same time, so that the one shall not be ratified distinct from the other.
"Another particular convention signed at the same time as the present treaty, relative to a definite rule between the contracting parties, is in like manner approved and will be ratified in the same form and at the same time, and jointly.
"Article X. The present treaty shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratification shall be exchanged in the space of six months after the date of the signatures of the ministers plenipotentiary, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries having signed these articles in the French and English languages, declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally agreed to in the French language ; and have hereunto set their seals.
"Done at Paris, the tenth day of Floreal, in the eleventh year of the French Republic, and the 30th of April, 1803.
"ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON (L. S.) "JAMES MONROE (L. S.) "BARBE MARBOIS (L. S.)"
The original cost of the entire territory ceded by the Treaty of Paris was about three cents per acre, but McMaster says: "Up to June, 1880, the total cost of Louisiana was $27,267,621." Out of the country acquired by the treaty have been erected the following states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Ne- braska, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, about one-third of Colorado, nearly all of Montana, three-fourths of Wyoming, and Oklahoma. In the purchase of this vast region, Livingston and Monroe exceeded their authority and
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for a time President Jefferson was inclined to the belief that an amendment to the Federal Constitution-an "act of indemnity" he called it-would be necessary to make the transaction legal. But when he saw the general acquiescence of the people he abandoned the idea. In his message to Congress on October 17, 1803, he said :
"The enlightened Government of France saw, with just discernment, the im- portance to both nations of such liberal arrangement as might best and permanently promote the peace, interests and friendship of both; and the property and sovereignty of all Louisiana, which had been restored to them, have, on certain conditions, been transferred to the United States by instruments bearing the date of 30th of April last. When these shall have received the constitutional sanction of the Senate, they will without delay be communicated to the representatives for the exercise of their functions, as to those conditions which are within the powers vested in the Constitution by Congress."
Three days after the delivery of this message, the treaty was ratified by the Senate. It was ratified by the House of Representatives on October 25, 1803. Mr. Jefferson appointed William C. C. Claiborne, Governor of Mississippi, and Gen. James Wilkinson commissioners, in accordance with Article IV of the treaty, to receive the province from Pierre Laussat, the French commissary. The transfer was formally made and the Stars and Stripes were raised at New Orleans on December 20, 1803. Thus the domain of the United States was extended west- ward to the summit of the Rocky Mountains and Iowa became a part of the territory of the American Republic.
EXPLORING THE NEW PURCHASE
Not long after the cession of Louisiana to the United States, President Jefferson began making plans to send an expedition up the Missouri River to discover its source, and to ascertain whether a water route to the Pacific Coast was practicable. As it was late in the year 1803 before the Treaty of Paris was ratified, the expedition was postponed until the following spring. The President selected as leaders of the expedition Capts. Meriweather Lewis and William Clark of the regular army. Both were natives of Virginia and the latter was a brother of Gen. George Rogers Clark. On May 14, 1804, they left the mouth of the Missouri River and ascended that stream. Their company consisted of fourteen regular soldiers, nine young men from Kentucky, two French voyageurs or boatmen, an Indian interpreter, a hunter and a negro servant belonging to Captain Clark. Their main vessel was a keel-boat fifty-five feet long, with twenty-two oars and drawing three feet of water. It had a cabin, in which were kept the most valuable articles, and a large square sail to be used when the wind was favorable. They also had two pirogues, fitted with six and seven oars respectively. Two horses were led along the bank, to be used in hunting game.
On July 22d the expedition came to "a high and shaded situation" on the east side of the river, where they established a camp, "intending to make the requisite observations, and to send for the neighboring tribes for the purpose of making known to them the recent change in government and the wish of the United States to cultivate their friendship." The best authorities agree in locating this
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camp near the line between Mills and Pottawattamie counties, Iowa. On Septem- ber 8, 1806, they occupied this camp again on their return trip.
Lewis and Clark landed at several places in Iowa, but found only a few Indians on the east side of the river. The names they gave to some of the streams that empty into the Missouri still remain.
On August 9, 1805, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike left St. Louis with a sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, to explore the upper Mississippi River. In the latter part of that month he held a council with the Indians near the present Town of Montrose, in Lee County, Iowa, which was probably the first council ever held on Iowa soil between a representative of the United States and the natives. On that occasion Pike addressed the assembled chiefs as follows: "Your great father, the President of the United States, in his desire to become better acquainted with the conditions and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana, has ordered the general to send a number of warriors in various directions to take our red brothers by the hand and make such inquiries as will give your great father the information required."
No attempt was made to conclude a treaty, but at the close of the council Pike distributed among the Indians knives, tobacco and trinkets of various kinds. Among the Indians who were present at this council were some who had signed the Treaty of St. Louis the preceding November. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American with whom Chief Black Hawk came in close contact. Some years later the old chief gave the following account of the lieutenant's visit to the Sac and Fox village on the Rock River :
"A boat came up the river with a young chief and a small party of soldiers. We heard of them soon after they passed Salt River. Some of our young braves watched them every day, to see what sort of people were on board. The boat at last arrived at Rock River and the young chief came on shore with his interpreter, made a speech and gave us some presents. We in turn gave them meat and such other provisions as we could spare. We were well pleased with the young chief. He gave us good advice and said our American father would treat us well."
The expeditions of Lewis and Clark and Lieutenant Pike touched only the borders of Iowa. The first authentic account of the region now comprising Northwestern Iowa was that contained in the official report of J. N. Nicollet, who was appointed by the secretary of war on April 7. 1838, to make a map of the hydrographic basin of the upper Mississippi River. Associated with Nicollet in this work was John C. Fremont, then a young engineer in the service of the United States, but who afterward won fame as the "Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains," the first candidate of the republican party for the Presidency, and as a general in the Union army in the Civil war.
ACQUISITION OF TIIE INDIAN LANDS
Although the Treaty of September 3, 1783, which ended the Revolutionary war, extended the territory of the United States . westward to the Mississippi : and the Treaty of Paris (April 30, 1803), sold the Province of Louisiana to the United States, thereby extending the western boundary to the Rocky Mountains, neither treaty had the power to extinguish the Indian title tol the lands. That problem was left to the Federal Government for solution.
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Article IX of the "Articles of Confederation"-the first organic law of the American Republic-gave Congress "the sole and exclusive right and power to regulate the trade with, and manage the affairs of the Indians." Under the authority conferred by this article, Congress issued the order of September 22, 1783, forbidding all persons to settle upon the Indian domain. The Articles of Confederation were superseded by the Constitution, which likewise gave to Congress the exclusive power to regulate Indian affairs. By the Act of March I, 1793, Congress declared : "That no purchase or grant of lands, or any claim or title thereto, from any Indians, or nation or tribe of Indians, within the bounds of the United States, shall be of any validity, in law or equity, unless the same be made by a treaty or convention entered into pursuant to the Constitution."
The first treaties between the United States and the Indian tribes were merely agreements of peace and friendship, but as the white population increased treaties for the acquisition of lands were negotiated by the Government and the continua- tion of this policy gradually crowded the red man farther and farther westward before the advance of civilization.
TREATY OF 1804
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the white man was already looking with longing eyes upon the broad prairies of Illinois, where lived the Sacs and Foxes and some other tribes. When the Louisiana Purchase was made a clamor arose for the removal of the Indians in Illinois to the new domain west of the Mississippi. Gen. William H. Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, negotiated a treaty at St. Louis on November 4, 1804, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States their lands east of the Mississippi, but retained the privilege of dwelling thereon until the lands were actually sold to white settlers, when they were to remove to the west side of the river. At that time it was the custom of the confederated tribes to give instructions to their chiefs, or delegates to a treaty convention as to what course should be pursued, or, in the absence of such instructions, afterward confirm the action of the delegates by a vote in council.
One faction of the Sacs and Foxes claimed that the delegates to St. Louis had no instructions to sell the lands east of the river, and a considerable number, under the leadership of Black Hawk, refused to confirm the sale. The opposition to the St. Louis treaty was largely responsible for the alliance of Black Hawk and his band with the British in the War of 1812. After that war treaties of peace were made with several of the tribes that had fought against the United States. Black Hawk and his followers were the last to enter into such a treaty. On May 13, 1816, at St. Louis, a number of Sac and Fox chiefs and head men were induced to sign a treaty confirming that of 1804. One of the twenty-two chiefs when they "touched the goose quill" was Black Hawk, who, although he never denied signing the treaty. after repudiated the agreement.
It required considerable diplomacy on the part of the United States to induce Black Hawk and his followers to remove to the west side of the Mississippi, but . in 1830 they crossed over into Iowa "under protest." Not satisfied with his new home, he recrossed the river in the spring of 1831, with a number of his braves and their families, and took possession of their former cornfields on the Rock River. General Gaines was sent with a force of troops to expel the Indians and
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Black Hawk was solemnly admonished not to repeat the offense Despite the warning, the old chief, influenced by a bad medicine-man named Wa-bo-bie-shiek, again crossed over into Illinois in 1832. Again troops were sent against him and the conflict which followed is known as Black Hawk's War, which ended in the defeat of the Indians in the Battle of Bad Axe, August 2, 1832. Black Hawk and his two sons were captured and held for some time as prisoners of war.
THE NEUTRAL GROUND
Going back a few years, it is necessary to notice a treaty which, though no lands were ceded by it for white settlement, played a conspicuous part in the subsequent history of Iowa. About 1825 the Sioux on the north and the Sacs and ยท Foxes on the south became involved in a dispute over the limits of their respective hunting grounds and the United States undertook to settle the controversy. Wil- liam Lewis and Lewis Cass were appointed commissioners to hold a council and endeavor to fix a line that would define the boundaries of the different tribes. The council was held at Prairie du Chien, Wis., August 19, 1825, the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, Sioux, Winnebago, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi and some other minor tribes taking part. A boundary line was finally agreed upon as follows :
"Beginning at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on the west bank of the Mississippi and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork ; thence up said fork to its source ; then crossing the fork of the Red Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River : thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet (Big Sioux) River, and down that stream to its junction with the Missouri River."
South of this line was to be the hunting grounds of the Sacs and Foxes, while the country north of it was to be the common property of the other tribes that agreed to the treaty. It soon became apparent that the imaginary line thus estab- lished was not sufficient to keep the contending tribes from trespassing upon each other's domain. Another council was therefore called to meet at Prairie du Chien on July 15, 1830. In the treaty negotiated at this council the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles wide along the northern border of their hunting grounds, extending from the Mississippi to the Des Moines, and immediately north of and adjoining this strip the northern tribes ceded a tract twenty miles wide between the same rivers. The forty-mile strip thus formed was known as the "Neutral Ground," which included a portion of Chickasaw and Howard counties. It remained neutral until 1841, when it was given to the Winnebago Indians for a reservation. A few years later that tribe ceded it to the United States.
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