Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts Relative to the Marshpee Tribe - Or, the Pretended Riot Explained by William Apes
page 102 of 185 (55%)
page 102 of 185 (55%)
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plantation.
We see now how unjust we have been to the Georgians in their treatment of the Cherokees, and if we persist in oppressing the Marshpee Indians, let us hasten to _unresolve_ all the glowing resolves we made in favor of the Georgia Indians. If Governor Lincoln is right in his unkind denunciation of the poor Marshpee Indians, then was not Governor Troop of Georgia right, in his messages and measures against the Cherokees? If the Court at Barnstable was right in imprisoning the Indians for attempting to get their rights, as they understood them, and made their ignorance of the law no excuse, were not the Courts of Georgia justifiable in their condemnation of the Cherokees, for violations of laws enforced against the will of the helpless Indians? Oh, it was glorious to be generous, and magnanimous and philanthropic toward the Cherokees, and to weep over the barbarities of Georgia, because that could be turned to account against General Jackson; but when it comes home to our own bosoms, when a little handful of red men in our own State, come and ask us for permission to manage their own property, under reasonable restrictions, and presume to resolve that all men are free and equal, without regard to complexion; Governor Lincoln denounces it as _sedition_, the Legislature are exhorted to turn a deaf ear, and the Indians are left to their choice between submission to tyrannical laws, or having the militia called out to shoot them. How glorious this will read in history! |
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