JOHN TYLER.
WASHINGTON, August 27, 1841.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, bearing date this day, with the accompanying papers, in answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 16th ultimo, relative to removals from office, etc.
These statements should have accompanied those from the other Departments on the same subject transmitted in my message to the House on the 7th ultimo,[12] but which have been delayed for reasons stated in the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury above referred to.
JOHN TYLER.
[Footnote 12: Not found. Evidently refers to message of August 6, 1841, on preceding page.]
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 1, 1841.
To the Senate of the United States:
I submit to the Senate, for its consideration and constitutional action, a treaty concluded at Oeyoowasha, on Minneesota (or St. Peters) River, in the Territory of Iowa, on the 31st day of July last, between James Duane Doty, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the Seeseeahto, Wofpato, and Wofpakoota bands of the Dakota (or Sioux) Nation of Indians.
The accompanying communication from the Secretary of War fully sets forth the considerations which have called for the negotiation of this treaty, and which have induced me to recommend its confirmation, with such exceptions and modifications as the Senate may advise.
JOHN TYLER.
DEPARTMENT OF WAR, August 31, 1841.
The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
SIR: I transmit herewith a treaty concluded with certain bands of the Dahcota Nation of Indians, commonly called Sioux, which has been received at this Department from His Excellency James D. Doty, governor of Wisconsin, who was appointed a commissioner on the part of the United States for the purpose of negotiating the treaty; and I desire to submit the following facts and opinions inducing me to request its favorable consideration:
It was known on my entering upon the duties of the Department of War that some provision must speedily be made for the Winnebago Indians in the Northwest. By the treaty with those Indians in 1837 it was provided that they should move temporarily upon a narrow strip of country west of the Mississippi River, called the neutral ground, from the object of its purchase in 1830. That strip of country is only 40 miles in width, 20 miles of it having been purchased from the Sac and Fox Indians and 20 miles from the Sioux, the object of the purchase having been to place a barrier between those tribes, which had been for many years at war and parties of which were continually meeting and destroying each other upon or adjacent to the country purchased.
When the delegation of Winnebago chiefs was in Washington negotiating a sale of all their lands east of the Mississippi River, in 1837, a permanent location for those Indians was not fixed upon, and a temporary expedient was adopted, and acceded to by the Indians, by which they agreed, within eight months from the ratification of the treaty, to move upon and occupy a portion of the neutral ground until they should select a permanent home.