Indian policy in Georgia

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Type

Printed Document

Description

Letter to the Governor of Georgia; spends much of the letter discussing Indian policy. Hamilton reassures the Governor - who has been complaining of "Indian depredations" - that "the obligation upon the United States to afford adequate protection to the inhabitants of the frontiers, is no doubt of the highest and most sacred kind." Hamilton then scolds some of the violent frontiersmen, adding that "there is a duty no less strong upon those inhabitants to avoid giving occasion to hostilities." Hamilton states that there has certainly been a "spirit of animosity and revenge" among the Indians, but that a "candid and impartial survey" of historical events clearly show that "there is much to blame in the conduct of the frontier inhabitants." Praises the Governor for sending in General Elijah Clarke in order to remove the settlers from Indian lands. Calls the illegal white settlement "unjustifiable," "dangerous in its principle," and "essentially hostile to our Republican systems of Government."

Date

09/25/1794

Sent from

War Department

Document number

1794092500100

Note

LC, RG 107, War Office Letter Book, 1791-1794, National Archives; copy RG 233, Messages from the President, Third Congress, National Archives.

Notable persons

George Mathews
Alexander Hamilton
Henry Knox
officer
doctor
Henry Gaither
Indians
William Blount
John Ish
Elijah Clarke
John Habersham
militia
Cherokees
Creeks

Notable locations

War Department
Treasury
Southwest Territory
South Carolina
Georgia

Notable items

boundary
horse
frontier