{"product_id":"1844-choctaw-indians-the-broken-treaty-of-dancing-rabbit-creek-mississippis-trail-of-tears","title":"1844 CHOCTAW INDIANS. The Broken Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek - Mississippi's Trail of Tears.","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eA scarce government imprint of one of the most substantial primary source records of the United States' failure to implement its treated obligations with the Choctaw of Mississippi and indigenous populations more broadly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, signed September 27, 1830, was the agreement under which the Choctaw agreed to cede approximately 10.4 million acres of their homeland in Mississippi to the United States in exchange for land in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). It marked the first large-scale implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eApproximately 15,000 Choctaws made the journey westward between 1831 and 1833. Between one-quarter and one-third perished from disease, starvation, exposure, and murder, a catastrophe the Choctaw themselves called a trail of tears and death, a name later applied to the forced removals of other southeastern tribes. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNot all Choctaw were interested in leaving their ancestral lands. The most significant content of the report revolves around Article 14 of the treaty, which was meant to protect those Choctaw who chose to remain in Mississippi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eArticle 14 stated that each Choctaw head of family wishing to remain could become a U.S. citizen and could do so by signifying their intention to the Indian Agent within six months of ratification. As compensation, head of family would receive 640 acres of Mississippi land, each child over ten years old living with the family would receive 320 acres, and each child under ten would receive 160 acres. This land exchange lay at the core of the treaty's acceptance by the Choctaw, but was systematically dismantled and evaded by federal agents.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe man centrally response for the betrayal was Colonel William Ward, the U.S. agent assigned to register claims. The Court of Claims later found as a fact that Ward was unfit for his duties; that his conduct was marked by acts calculated to deter the Choctaw from making application; that he was a violent and abusive alcoholic and that he was bribed by speculators who would target vulnerable Choctaw individuals. Many of the Native Choctaw who elected to claim reservations under Article 14 were either swindled or coerced out of their property under his not-so-watchful eye. And the Federal Government simply looked the other way.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe Choctaw did not simply accept the situation, and by 1844, the demand to resolve the issue had reached a fever pitch. Though 14 years after the treaty, thousands of Choctaw claims were still unresolved. In 1842, Congress passed an act providing that Choctaw who had complied with Article 14's stipulations would be issued new patents for their land, and in cases where the government had sold their land out from under them, they would be issued scrip certificates. The present 1844 Senate document was meant to solidify this long overdue legal and moral reckoning. Unusually, it contains the full historical correspondence record related to the Treaty, beginning with President Andrew Jackson. It was printed in its entirety to help Congress understand what had actually happened and why so many claims remained outstanding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eContaining 224 pages, the texts together form a significant assemblage of primary documents relative to Government's failures, containing letters between the War Department, the Commission, and field agents. These are, in effect, the \"receipts.\" It is exceptional in that it is a rare instance of the U.S. government formally documenting its own treaty violations in official correspondence, and the first with regard to its transgressions against an indigenous people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe report became foundational evidence in later litigation, including the Supreme Court case Choctaw Nation v. United States (1886), where a payment of $872,000 was eventually made in satisfaction of amounts awarded to Choctaw claimants under Article 14 of the treaty. It remains a primary source for understanding the machinery of Indian removal, not just the policy, but how agents on the ground carried it out through fraud, intimidation, and deliberate incompetence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eNo copies in the auction record.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[Choctaw Indians; Presidents Andrew Jackson and John Tyler; Trail of Tears] 28th Congress. 1st Session. Message from the President of the United States, Transmitting the Correspondence in Relation to the Proceedings and Conduct of the Choctaw Commission, under the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. 224pp. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA good - copy, textually complete; removed likely form a larger sammelband of separate imprints at another time. The first leaves and the last leaves very tender. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Specs Fine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44196580917284,"sku":null,"price":350.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0093\/3910\/9435\/files\/05-22-2026SpecsFineBooks-6.jpg?v=1779666712","url":"https:\/\/specsfinebooks.com\/products\/1844-choctaw-indians-the-broken-treaty-of-dancing-rabbit-creek-mississippis-trail-of-tears","provider":"Specs Fine Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}