WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1854
487
Tennessee, and the only outlet then known. I was familiar with them then. They were in a savage state; they had no refinement. I recollect when the first farmer was sent there to teach them agriculture; and even, perhaps, at a later period, the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, and the Creeks had the first germ of civilization planted among them. What are they now? They are a civilized people. They have all the comforts of life. They are agricul- turists, mechanics, they are an educated, a refined, enlightened, and religious people, with their own native ministers of the GosPE;l, educated in the seminaries of the United States. Schools and every evidence of civilization and christianization also are manifested in those nations. The Sabbath is regarded as a holy day. They are imitating all your civil and political institutions; they have their country laid off in judicial districts; and have delegated powers to their principal chief similar to those confided to our President; and in every respect they are forming their institutions on the basis of our own, imitating them to the very letter. This is the condition of these people. Are they to remain separate and distinct? Do you wish to encourage that spirit which has called them from a state of savage existence to a civilized and improved condition? With every disadvantage surrounding them, even the introduction of ardent spirits-sur- rounded by chicanery-with vicious men taking protection among them-with every embarrassment thrown in the path of their progress, they have broken the manacles which surrounded them and have arisen to .be men of intelligence, character, and dis- tinction. Sir, aid them in their progress; sustain them; enable them to advance still further, and you will give that elevation to their race which Heaven, by their formation, intended they should attain. They are not inferior in intellect, sagacity, or moral excellence to any people who are born upon the earth; and though the charge of perfidy has been made against them for ages back, I have lived for many years in connection with them, and, as a strict observer, can bear testimony that I never knew an Indian nation violate a treaty which was made in good faith, and ob- served by the white man. I deny any charge to the contrary; and if you probe it to the bottom, and find where the truth lies, you will see that the Indians are misrepresented; that there was circumvention in the treaty contrary to their understanding, and that it was the maintenance of their rights, and not a violation of good faith on their part, that led to any infraction.
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