favor of a hard and uncompromising
attitude toward the savage tribes, both Washington and Jefferson turned
a deaf ear. They assumed a high plane of mercy and forgiveness towards
the red man that must ever redound to their glory. On August 7th, 1789,
in a message to the senate of the United States, Washington said: "While
the measures of government ought to be calculated to protect its
citizens from all injury and violence, a due regard should be extended
to those Indian tribes whose happiness, in the course of events, so
materially depends upon the national justice and humanity of the United
States." These sentiments were reflected in his course of action from
the first day of peace with Great Britain. He, together with General
Philip Schuyler, said, "that with regard to these children of the
forest, a veil should be drawn over the past, and that they should be
taught that their true interest and safety must henceforth depend upon
the cultivation of amicable relations with the United States." He took
the high ground that peace should be at once granted to the several
tribes, and treaties entered into with them, assigning them certain
lands and possessions, within the limits of which they should not be
molested. To avoid national dishonor, he advocated the purchase of all
lands occupied by the various Indian tribes as the advance of the
settlements should seem to require, thus fully recognizing the Indian
right of occupancy. He utterly rejected all ideas of conquest, and as he
commanded a powerful influence over all the better minds of that day,
his counsels prevailed.

To those who have read Jefferson's speeches to the Little Turtle, the
Miamis, Potawatomi and Delawares in the year 1808, near the close of his
second administration, the broad humanitarianism and fatherly
benevolence of the third president is at once apparent. In those
addresses he laments the "destructive use of spirituous liquors," the
wasting away of the tribes as a consequence thereof, and directs the
attention of their chieftains to "temperance, peace and agriculture," as
a means of restoring their former numbers, and establishing them firmly
in the ways of peace. "Tell this, therefore, to your people on your
return home. Assure them that no change will ever take place in our
dispositions toward them. Deliver to them my adieux, and my prayers to
the Great Spirit for their happiness. Tell them that during my
administration I have held their hand fast