Monmouth, Jan. 8th, 1830.
dear Claiborne,
— I regret that we did not meet before your departure for Jackson. I had much
to confer with you about, and could have done so more satisfactorily than in
writing. You ask my opinion npon the constitutional power of the General
Assembly to tax and otherwise legislate for the Indians within our limits. I
take this view, briefly, of the question. By the laws of nature, no portion of
the human race have a right to appropriate to themselves a greater part of the
surface of the earth than is necessary, with the aid of agriculture, for their
comfortable maintenance. This is the fundamental principle of the right,
claimed and exercised by European nations upon the discovery of this continent,
to appropriate portions of it to their own use, and a denial of the right would
invalidate their and our title. The United States claims federal jurisdiction
over the whole territory within its boundaries. The states severally claim
municipal jurisdiction over their respective limits, and over all persons
within the same, without exception or distinction. By what principle, then, are
the Indians exempt from this authority? The Constitution of the United States
is silent upon the subject. It only provides that Congress may regulate
commerce with the Indian tribes. All other powers are reserved to the states.
When not restricted by the federal Constitution, they have absolute powers.
Mississippi could only be admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with
the other states. The power of Massachusetts and New York to tax their Indians
is not questioned. Our state has made no treaty with the Indians, by which she
is trammeled in this respect. Where, then, are the restraints upon our
sovereign right to tax and legislate for all persons within our limits? Because
the United States has treated with the Choctaws for cessions of their soil, are
we to consider them independent nations? The federal government may treat with
an individual or a company within the limits of a state, but that does not
release them from their allegiance to the state, nor from their responsibility
to its jurisdiction, nor their obligation to contribute to its support. Good
faith and Christian charity require that we should exact nothing more from the
Indians than we impose on ourselves. The idea of two municipal authorities in
the same territory is absurd and irrational. The truth is, some of our Northern
friends appear to have taken our Indians and negroes under their special
care, and, if we submit to their assumptions, we shall next find them claiming
to regulate all our domestic legislation, and even the guardianship of our
wives and children.
The governor has probably laid my militia system before your
honorable body. I bestowed much labor upon it. Impress upon the members the
necessity of compromising individual opinions a little. We must have an
efficient militia. Keep the Supreme Court at Natchez a while longer. I presume
you are all absorbed with the elections. I hope you have made Joseph Dunbar
speaker. Your declining the written invitation from the Eastern members in his
favor, so much your senior and your relative, was right. We regard the election
of Robert H. Adams to the U. S. Senate as certain. Are you still resolved to
vote for Poindexter? Adams is certainly the choice of this county. I can not be
mistaken in this. He is a man of very superior talents, and of many noble
qualities. He esteems you highly, and feels mortified that he is not to get
your vote. Your friends are anxious about your course, and it would be unkind
to conceal from you that, should you vote against a constituent who is so
popular and deserving as Adams, for a citizen of another county, who never has been
popular here, and whose physical inability is not doubted, there will be a great
clamor, and your next election will be bitterly opposed. Construe these remarks
as I mean them. They are not intended to dictate to you. Your vote for
Poindexter will not change my feelings, though I am warmly for Adams.
But, as your friend, it is my duty to apprise you of the state of feeling in
Natchez on this subject. In the county you are very strong, and may, probably,
sustain yourself, but the city is devoted to Adams, and expects much from him
in the Senate.
Let me advise you, likewise, not to appear too often on the
floor.
SOURCE: John F. H. Quitman, Life and Correspondence
of John A. Quitman, Volume 1, p. 102-4
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