d the weakness of its possessor will
admit, I can not too earnestly invite your attention to the propriety of
promoting such an amendment of the Constitution as will render him
ineligible after one term of service.

It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy
of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation
to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is
approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted
the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress,
and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes
also to seek the same obvious advantages.

The consequences of a speedy removal will be important to the United
States, to individual States, and to the Indians themselves. The
pecuniary advantages which it promises to the Government are the least
of its recommendations. It puts an end to all possible danger of
collision between the authorities of the General and State Governments
on account of the Indians. It will place a dense and civilized
population in large tracts of country now occupied by a few savage
hunters. By opening the whole territory between Tennessee on the north
and Louisiana on the south to the settlement of the whites it will
incalculably strengthen the southwestern frontier and render the
adjacent States strong enough to repel future invasions without remote
aid. It will relieve the whole State of Mississippi and the western part
of Alabama of Indian occupancy, and enable those States to advance
rapidly in population, wealth, and power. It will separate the Indians
from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the
power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way
and under their own rude institutions; will retard the progress of
decay, which is lessening their numbers, and perhaps cause them
gradually, under the protection of the Government and through the
influence of good counsels, to cast off their savage habits and become
an interesting, civilized, and Christian community. These consequences,
some of them so certain and the rest so probable, make the complete
execution of the plan sanctioned by Congress at their last session an
object of much solicitude.

Toward the aborigines of the country no one can indulge a more friendly
feeling than myself, or would go further in attempting to reclaim them
from their wandering habits and make