Treaty of Payne's Landing
The Treaty of Payne's Landing (Treaty with the Seminole, 1832) was an agreement signed on 9 May 1832 between the government of the
Background
By the Treaty of Moultrie Creek in 1823, the Seminoles had relinquished all claims to land in the Florida Territory in return for a reservation in the center of the Florida peninsula and certain payments, supplies and services to be provided by the U.S. government, guaranteed for twenty years. After the election of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States in 1828, the movement to transfer all Indians in the United States to west of the Mississippi River grew, and in 1830 the United States Congress passed the Indian Removal Act.[1]
Determined to move the Seminoles west, the
The U.S. government wanted the Seminoles to move to the Creek Reservation in what was then part of the
Treaty contents
The treaty negotiated at Payne's Landing called for the Seminoles to move west if the land were found to be suitable. The delegation of seven chiefs who were to inspect the new reservation did not leave Florida until October 1832. After touring the area for several months and conferring with the Creeks who had already been settled there, the seven chiefs signed on March 28, 1833 at Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory a statement that the new land was acceptable. Upon their return to Florida, however, most of the chiefs renounced the statement, claiming that they had not signed it, or that they had been forced to sign it, and in any case, that they did not have the power to decide for all the tribes and bands that resided on the reservation.[4] Even some U.S. Army officers observed that the chiefs "had been wheedled and bullied into signing." Furthermore, "there is evidence of trickery by the whites in the way the treaty is phrased."[5]
Several villages had been allowed to stay in the area of the Apalachicola River after 1823 when the rest of the Seminoles had been forced into the new reservation. Gadsden was able to persuade the chiefs of these villages to move, however, and they went west in 1834.[6] The United States Senate finally ratified the Treaty of Payne's Landing in April 1834.[7]
Refusal to move
The treaty had given the Seminoles three years to move west of the
Five of the most important of the Seminole chiefs, including Micanopy of the Alachua Seminoles, had not agreed to the move. In retaliation, Thompson declared that those chiefs were removed from their positions. As relations with the Seminoles deteriorated, Thompson forbid the sale of guns and ammunition to the Seminoles. Osceola, a young warrior beginning to be noticed by the whites, was particularly upset by the ban, feeling that it equated Seminoles with slaves and said, "The white man shall not make me black. I will make the white man red with blood; and then blacken him in the sun and rain ... and the buzzard live upon his flesh." In spite of this, Thompson considered Osceola to be a friend, and gave him a rifle. Later, though, when Osceola was causing trouble, Thompson had him locked up at Fort King for a night. The next day, in order to secure his release, Osceola agreed to abide by the Treaty of Payne's Landing and to bring his followers in.[8]
The situation grew worse. In August 1835 Private Kinsley Dalton (for whom Dalton, Georgia is named) was killed by Seminoles as he was carrying the mail from Fort Brooke to Fort King. In November Chief Charley Emathla, wanting no part of a war, led his people towards Fort Brooke where they were to board ships to go west. This was considered a betrayal by other Seminoles. Osceola met Emathla on the trail and killed him.[9] The Second Seminole War was beginning.
Signatories
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Witnesses:
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Notes and references
- ^ Missall. pp. 63–64, 79–80.
- ^ a b Missall. p. 83.
- ISBN 978-0813012049pp. 110–127.
- ^ Missall. pp. 83-85.
- ^ Milton Meltzer. "Hunted Like A Wolf". p. 76.
- ^ Missall. p. 84.
- ^ a b Missall. pp. 86–90.
- ^ Missall. pp. 90–91.
- ^ Missall. pp. 91–92.
- ^ Treaty With The Seminole, May 9, 1832. | 7 Stat., 368. | Proclamation, April 12, 1834.Indian Affairs: Laws And Treaties Vol. II, Treaties, compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1904.
References
- Missal, John and Mary Lou Missal. 2004. Seminole Wars: America's Longest Indian Conflict. Gainesville, Florida: University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-2715-2
Further reading
- Knetsch, Joe. 2003. Florida's Seminole Wars 1817–1858. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-2424-7
- Mahon, John K. 1992 (Second paperback edition) [1967]. History of the Second Seminole War 1835–1842. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press. ISBN 0-8130-1097-7
External links
- Treaty of Payne's Landing original text from johnhorse.com
- Treaty of Payne's Landing original text from the Oklahoma State UniversityLibrary