made what he called a treaty at Long
Swamp, but the agreement was neces-
sarily informal and extra-legal. The fact
that it was not followed up by the proper
authorities caused Clarke to think that
the people had not benefited sufficiently
by his exertions. The injury to his feel-
ings in this connection was probably
responsible in part for his attempted
settlement on Indian lands in 1794.

At the close of the Revolution, the
Cherokees ceded to Georgia their claim
to a district about the sources of the
Oconee, which they held as hunting
ground in joint possession with the
Creeks. In the territory which the Chero-
kees retained, the districts near the
Georgia settlements were less attractive
than the Creek lands to the south. The
upland region in the State was being
rapidly settled, however, and new lands
were in demand. The State made oc-
casional attempts between 1785 and 1800
to obtain further cessions. Frequent con-
ventions were held by commissioners of
the United States and the Cherokee
chieftains, at some of which representa-
tives of Georgia were present. But the
tribe held fast to its Georgia lands. By
the treaty of Hopewell in 1785 the
Cherokee Nation placed itself under the
protection of the United States and
agreed to specified boundaries for its
territory, but it made no cession which
concerned Georgia. The agreement of
Hopewell was confirmed at a convention
on the Holston River in 1791, and again
at Philadelphia in 1793, but the bound-
aries on the southeast remained practi-
cally unchanged. ¹

The treaty of Philadelphia was ren-
dered necessary by hostilities arising
with the tribe in 1793; the Chickamauga
towns, as usual, provoked the unpleas-
antness on the Indian side, while the
settlers on the frontier of North Carolina
and Tennessee were quite as much to
blame on the side of the whites. Con-
siderable excitement prevailed for sev-
eral months, and raids were made by
each party; but the fact that the Creek
country intervened between Georgia
and the chief settlements of the Chero-
kees directed the warlike energies of the
tribe to the north and northeast.

After 1795 no considerable portion of
the Cherokee Nation was at any time
seriously inclined to war. Those of its
members who preferred the life of hunt-
ers moved away to the Far West, while
the bulk of the tribe remaining settled
down to the pursuit of agriculture. The
chief complaint which Georgia could
make of them in later years was that they
kept possession of the soil, while white
men wanted to secure it for themselves.

The invention of the cotton gin in
1793 had the effect after a few years of
increasing the preference of the Geor-
gians for the warm and fertile Creek
lands, over the Cherokee territory which
was ill adapted to cotton with the then
prevailing system of agriculture. For
this reason it was not until all of the
Creek lands had been secured for settle-
ment that the State authorities began to
make strenuous efforts for the expulsion
of the Cherokees. In the intervening
years certain moderate steps were taken,
which must now engage our attention.

As early as 1803 Thomas Jefferson
suggested the advisability of removing
all of the southern. Indians west of the
Mississippi, and in 1809 a delegation of
Cherokees, at the instance of the
United States Indian agent, Return J.
Meigs, made a visit to the Western lands.
At that time a considerable part of the
Cherokee Nation favored removal, but
the matter was postponed. General An-

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