Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson Gives Official Notice of the First Laws Passed by Congress to Regulate Relations with Native Americans

We are not aware of any other letter sending this act having reached the market

 

An important moment linking the new US government to the original inhabitants of the New World

 

He gives Declaration of Independence Signer Samuel Huntington, Governor of Connecticut, notification of the enactment of an “Act to Regulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes” and also of an “Act for holding a Treaty or Treaties to Establish Peace with certain Indian Tribes”

 

From a private collection assembled a generation ago

Many Native American tribes allied with the British during the Revolutionary War. However, the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, was silent on the fates of these British allies and then were left to fend for themselves. In April 1789 the new U.S. Constitution was put into effect and the United States government came into existence. The fledgling government found itself required to establish policies to govern relationships between Native Americans and whites, including trade, and the acquiring of Native American lands. The U.S. initially maintained the British policy of doing this by treaty-making with the Native Americans. In general, the treaties were to define the boundaries of Native American lands and to compensate for the taking of lands.

Native American relationships with the U.S. was one of the latter’s highest priorities. One of the early acts passed by the first U.S. Congress was the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790. Passed on July 22, 1790, this was the first law to regulate intercourse between Native Americans and U.S. citizens. In the law, Congress proclaimed its treaty-making policy and mandated that all interactions between Indians and non-Indians were under federal control. During this time, federal officials favored efforts to “civilize” tribal nations.

This Act provided for licensing of trade under government control: “No person shall be permitted to carry on any trade or intercourse with the Indian tribes, without a license for that purpose under the hand and seal of the superintendent of the department, or of such other person as the President of the United States shall appoint for that purpose…And no other person shall be permitted to carry on any trade or intercourse with the Indians without such license as aforesaid…Provided nevertheless, That the President may make such order respecting the tribes surrounded in their settlements by the citizens of the United States, as to secure an intercourse without license, if he may deem it proper…And be it further enacted, That every person who shall attempt to trade with the Indian tribes, or to be found in the Indian country with such merchandise in his possession as are usually vended to the Indians, without a license first had and obtained, as in this act prescribed, and being thereof convicted in any court proper to try the same, shall forfeit all the merchandise so offered for sale to the Indian tribes…”

President Washington, Secretary of War Knox, and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton all agreed Indian land was owned by the Indians and that the policy of the new government should be to purchase land from Tribal Governments. This led to U.S. regulation of the sale of Indian lands. “No sale of lands made by any Indians, or any nation or tribe of Indians the United States, shall be valid to any person or persons, or to any state, whether having the right of pre-emption to such lands or not, unless the same shall be made and duly executed at some public treaty, held under the authority of the United States.”

That same day a second act was passed to fund treaty negotiations, entitled “An Act Providing for Holding a Treaty or Treaties to Establish Peace with Certain Indian Tribes.” It provided that $40,000 “arising from the duties on imports and tonnage, shall be, and the same is hereby appropriated for defraying the expenses of negotiating, and holding a treaty or treaties, and for promoting a friendly intercourse, and preserving peace with the Indian tribes.”

Congress also passed some unrelated laws. Three were “an Act imposing Duties on the tonnage of ships or vessels”, which protected commerce; to protect sailors, “an Act for the Government and Regulation of Seamen in the merchant service”; and to encourage trade and commerce, “an Act to amend the Act for the Establishment and Support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys and Public Piers.”

Back then, copies of federal laws were sent to the governors of the states to put them on official notice. Document signed by Jefferson as Secretary of State, New York, July 27, 1790, to Connecticut Governor (and Declaration of Independence signer) Samuel Huntington. “I have the honor to send you herein enclosed two copies, duly authenticated, of an Act imposing Duties on the tonnage of ships or vessels; also an Act for the Government and Regulation of Seamen in the merchant service; also of an Act to amend the Act for the Establishment and Support of Lighthouses, Beacons, Buoys and Public Piers; also of an Act to Regulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes; also of an Act for holding a Treaty or Treaties to Establish Peace with certain Indian Tribes; and of being with Sentiments of the most perfect respect…Th. Jefferson.”

Thus did Jefferson make official the first two laws passed by Congress relating to Native Americans. It is the only example of this that we can recall seeing.