y be
repeated, that the stipulation is itself an admission of their right to
make or refuse it.

By the seventh article the United States solemnly guaranty to the
Cherokee nation all their lands not hereby ceded.

The eighth article relinquishes to the Cherokees any citizens of the
United States who may settle on their lands; and the ninth forbids any
citizen of the United States to hunt on their lands, or to enter their
country without a passport.

The remaining articles are equal, and contain stipulations which could
be made only with a nation admitted to be capable of governing itself.

This treaty, thus explicitly recognizing the national character of the
Cherokees, and their right of self government; thus guarantying their
lands; assuming the duty of protection, and of course pledging the
faith of the United States for that protection; has been frequently
renewed, and is now in full force.

To the general pledge of protection have been added several specific
pledges, deemed valuable by the Indians. Some of these restrain the
citizens of the United States from encroachments on the Cherokee
country, and provide for the punishment of intruders.

From the commencement of our Government, Congress has passed acts to
regulate trade and intercourse with the Indians, which treat them as
nations, respect their rights, and manifest a firm purpose to afford
that protection which treaties stipulate. All these acts, and
especially that of 1802, which is still in force, manifestly consider
the several Indian nations as distinct political communities, having
territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive, and
having a right to all the lands within those boundaries, which is not
only acknowledged, but guarantied by the United States.

In 1819, Congress passed an act for promoting these humane designs of
civilizing the neighboring Indians, which had long been cherished by the
Executive. It enacts, "that, for the purpose of providing against the
further decline and filial extinction of the Indian tribes adjoining to
the frontier settlements of the United States, and for introducing among
them the habits and arts of civilization, the President of the United
States shall be, and he is hereby, authorized, in every case where he
shall judge improvement in the habits and condition of such Indians
practicable, and that the means of instruction can be introduced, _with
their own consent_, to employ capable persons