_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The accompanying extract from the occurrences at Fort Jackson in August,
1814, during the negotiation of a treaty with the Indians shows that the
friendly Creeks, wishing to give to General Jackson, Benjamin Hawkins,
and others a national mark of their gratitude and regard, conveyed to
them, respectively, a donation of land, with a request that the grant
might be duly confirmed by the Government of the United States.
Taking into consideration the peculiar circumstances of the case, the
expediency of indulging the Indians in wishes which they associated with
the treaty signed by them, and that the case involves an inviting
opportunity for bestowing on an officer who has rendered such
illustrious services to his country a token of its sensibility to them,
the inducement to which can not be diminished by the delicacy and
disinterestedness of his proposal to transfer the benefit from himself,
I recommend to Congress that provision be made for carrying into effect
the wishes and request of the Indians as expressed by them.
JAMES MADISON.
FEBRUARY 6, 1816.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
It is represented that the lands in the Michigan Territory designated by
law toward satisfying land bounties promised the soldiers of the late
army are so covered with swamps and lakes, or otherwise unfit for
cultivation, that a very inconsiderable proportion can be applied to the
intended grants.
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