OCR Text |
Show tentiaq, etc., smong the southern Indians, especially among the Uppa Creeks and the Lower Cmks (the latter now known as the Seminoles), in which they express the belief that- I In order to preserve the attachment of the several Indian nat iun~b ordering opon the United States . . . some adqoate meana of nu.p.p l.y in-r them with ~- o o d s snd ammuition st moderste prices aho111d immediately be adopted. We respectfully suggest that some aniiorm plan of granting permits to those who may be emplop3 in the Indian oommeroe ahonlei be eatabli~hedb. y the supreme author-ity of the United States. Out of the snggestions made by this commission grew the licensed-trader system, which in a modifted form has continued t> this day. By the act of July 22,1790 (1 Stats., 137), Congress took the second step under the Federal Constitution to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes. This law prohibited all persons from carrying on any "trade or intercourse with the Indian tribes without a license for that purpose nnder the hand and seal of the superintendent of the depart. ment or of such other person as the President of the United States shall appoint for that purpose? The 'Lsuperintendent of the depart-ment "herereferred to wasprobably theofficerauthorized to be appointed by the ordinance of 1786 to superintend Indian affairs, as no law had been passed under the Constitution authorizing the appointment of any such officer. This law was a continuation of the policy adopted by the Congress of theCoufederation and a modification of the ordinance of , 1786. In lieu of the certificate of the supreme executive of the State as to the good character of the applicant for license, which the ordi- I nnnee required, thid law provided that :111~' proper per8onmigbt receive a license upon giving bond in the suru of$l,OUO for the faithful observ-ance of such rules, regulations, and restrictions as should be made by the President for the government of trade and intercourse with In-dians. Except the superintendents and deputies appointed nnder the anthor-ity of the Government of the Confederation, who, like the commissioners appointed under the act of August 10,1789, were sometimes referred to in state correspondence as Iudiau agents, no Indian agents seem to have been authorized by law prior to 1796. Meautime,however, appar-ently upon the authority of the Executive, "temporaq agents," or 'Ldeputy temporary agents," were appointed to certain Indian tribes or nations. For instance, January 31,1792, the Secretary of War wrote to Governor Blonnt, of Tennessee, who was superintendent of Indian affairs for the southern district, that a delegation of Cherokees, then in Philadelphia, at that time the seat of the General Government, had requested "that e person of reputation should be commissioned in behalf of the General Government to reside in the Cherokee Nation, who should at once be their counsellor and protector." Pursuant to this request Mr. Gwuard Shaw, who was described in a letter of Feb-ruary 16,1792, from the Secretary of War to Governor Blount as an |