Substitute bill on the Oregon question offered by Jefferson Davis in the House of Representatives, April 22, 1846.

The bill having now been gone through with,

Mr. JEFFERSON DAVIS proposed the following as a substitute therefor:

That from and after the fourth day of July next, the territory of the United States, lying west of the Stony Mountains, shall, for the purposes of temporary government, constitute a separate territory, by the name of Oregon.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be established, within the said territory, a government in all respects similar to that provided by the ordinance of Congress, passed on the thirteenth day of July, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and by an act passed on the seventh day of August, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, entitled “An act to provide for the government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio;” and the inhabitants thereof shall be entitled to, and enjoy all and singular the rights, privileges, and advantages granted and secured to the people of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio by the said ordinance: Provided, That a legislative assembly shall not be organized in said territory of Oregon, until the same shall be authorized by an act of Congress.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the officers for said territory, who, by virtue of this act, shall be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall respectively exercise the same powers, perform the same duties, and receive for their services the same compensation, as by the laws of the United States have been provided and established for similar officers in Iowa Territory; and the duties and emoluments of Superintendent of Indian Affairs shall be united with those of Governor: Provided, That the qualifications for office shall be the same as in Iowa Territory.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Governor and judges of said territory shall, by proclamation, define the limits of the settlements of American citizens in said territory to which the Indian title has been or may be extinguished; and the seat of government of said territory shall be located at such point within the limits of said settlements as the Governor and judges, or a majority of them, shall select.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That provision shall hereafter be made by law to secure and grant to every white person, male or female, over the age of eighteen years, three hundred and twenty acres of land; and to every white person, male or female, under the age of eighteen years, one hundred and sixty acres of land, who shall have resided in the said territory described in the first section of this act for five consecutive years, to commence within three years from the passage of this act.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to deprive the subjects of Great Britain of any of the rights and privileges secured to them by existing treaty stipulations during the continuance thereof.

Which substitute amendment was rejected.

SOURCE: Dunbar Rowland, Editor, Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers and Speeches, Volume 1, p. 44-5

Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman to Senator John Sherman, April 26, 1868

ST. LOUIS, April 26, 1868.

Dear Brother: I notice the Indians are getting restless.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

This is natural, for the department has been unable to fulfil any of the promises we held out to them of ploughs, seed, cattle, etc., to begin their new life of peace.

I feel reluctant to go further in these naked promises, as I fear our Government is becoming so complicated, that it is very venturesome to make promises in advance. I have the written guarantee of the Secretary of the Interior and of the committees on Indian affairs, and will try and impress on the Indians that our work is preliminary and not final or conclusive. . . .

Affectionately,

W. T. SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 317-8

Senator John Sherman to Lieutenant-General William T. Sherman, November 1, 1867

MANSFIELD, OHIO, Nov. 1, 1867.

Dear Brother:

I see no real occasion for trouble with Johnson. The great error of his life was in not acquiescing in and supporting the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in the Thirty-ninth Congress. This he could easily have carried. It referred the suffrage question to each State, and if adopted long ago the whole controversy would have culminated; or if further opposed by the extreme Radicals, they would have been easily beaten. Now I see nothing short of universal suffrage and universal amnesty as the basis. When you come on, I suggest that you give out that you go on to make your annual report and settle Indian affairs. Give us notice when you will be on, and come directly to my house, where we will make you one of the family.

Grant, I think, is inevitably a candidate. He allows himself to drift into a position where he can't decline if he would, and I feel sure he don't want to decline. My judgment is that Chase is better for the country and for Grant himself, but I will not quarrel with what I cannot control.

JOHN SHERMAN.

SOURCE: Rachel Sherman Thorndike, Editor, The Sherman Letters: Correspondence Between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891, p. 299

Diary of Gideon Welles: Friday, August 18, 1865

Senators Doolittle and Foster and Mr. Ford, who have been on a mission to the Plains, visiting New Mexico, Colorado, etc., had an interview with the President and Cabinet of an hour and a half. Their statement in relation to the Indians and Indian affairs exhibits the folly and wickedness of the expedition which has been gotten up by somebody without authority or the knowledge of the government.

Their strong protestations against an Indian war, and their statement of the means which they had taken to prevent it came in very opportunely. Stanton said General Grant had already written to restrict operations; he had also sent to General Meigs. I have no doubt a check has been put on a very extraordinary and unaccountable proceeding, but I doubt if an entire stop is yet put to war expenses.

Stanton is still full of apprehension and stories of plots and conspiracies. I am inclined to believe he has fears, and he evidently wishes the President to be alarmed. He had quite a story to-day, and read quite a long affidavit from some one whom I do not recall, stating he had been in communication with C. C. Clay and others in Canada, that they wanted him to be one of a party to assassinate President Lincoln and his whole Cabinet. Dennison and McCulloch and I thought the President seemed inclined to give this rigmarole some credence. I think the story, though plausibly got up, was chiefly humbug. Likely Stanton believes me stupid because I give so little heed to his sensational communications; but really a large portion of them seem to me ludicrous and puerile. He still keeps up a guard around his house, and never ventures out without a stout man to accompany him who is ordinarily about ten feet behind him. This body-guard is, I have no doubt, paid for by the public. He urged a similar guard for me and others.

SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 362-3

Congressman Rutherford B. Hayes to Colonel Russell Hastings, February 1, 1866

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 1, 1866.

DEAR COLONEL:— Mr. Sherman called with me on Secretary Harlan of the Department of the Interior this morning. Senator Sherman will use his influence heartily, and I have no doubt successfully, in your affair. There is a possibility of three things which I submit to you:— An Indian agency in the Indian Territory, Fort Smith, being, I think, headquarters; (2) Superintendency of Indian affairs in New Mexico; and (3) Surveyor-generalship of Dakota Territory. All of these places I regard as preferable to any clerkship or the like here. Can you muster physical strength enough for such a place as either of the three? Keep all this to yourself strictly. Neither of the places are vacant and it would be embarrassing to have them publicly spoken of.

Sincerely,

R. B. HAYES.

[COLONEL RUSSELL HASTINGS (?)] Private.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 3, p. 15