The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 37
512 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The First Treaty of the Republic of Texas
April 13, following, shortly before the Battle of San Jacinto,
moreover, he wrote Colonel Bowl that the Indians would get
their lands as "promised in our Treaty."'12 Yet late in 1836, soon
after the permanent government began to function, Houston, as
President of the Republic, submitted the treaty to the Senate,
earnestly recommending its approval. At the time, the executive
stated, there was some reason to believe these Indians had en-
gaged to join the Mexican army in the event of a second invasion
of Texas. For that reason he was particularly anxious to conciliate
these tribes.18
The Senate was slow to take any action. Nearly ten months
elapsed before its Committee on Indian Affairs made a report
on the treaty in question. Broad in scope, it dealt generally with
a score or more of Indian tribes residing within the borders of
Texas. After careful study the Committee had been unable to
ascertain that prior to the Texan Declaration of Independence
any of them had more than the prima facie right of occupancy
to the lands on which they lived. Turning specifically to the tribe
primarily concerned, the report described the Cherokees as a
group of some 2o-farmers, hunters, and stock raisers-who had
settled along the waters of the Angelina, Neches and Sabine
rivers around 1821. Writing and speaking their own language,
they held elevated views of their own importance and tended to
take the lead in forming a union of different tribes in Texas.
With respect to the specific agreement which had been made in
February, 1836, the report stated:
. your committee find upon inspection of said Declaration [of
the Consultation, November 13, 1835] and the treaty formed under
it, that the territory therein mentioned forms part of the soil granted
to David G. Burnet Esq for the purposes of colonization and which
was as favorable "as could have been made at the time under all circumstances."
Gammel, Laws of Texas, I, 20, 54. No doubt reference was made to the treaty of
February 23, 1836; but this writer has seen no positive evidence that the Convention
ever acted upon the committee recommendation. For a near-contemporary state-
ment to the effect that it refused to accept the treaty, see William Kennedy,
Texas: the Rise, Progress and Prospects of the Republic of Texas (2 vols., London,
1841), I, 313.
12Houston to the Bowl, April 13, 1836, in Williams and Barker, Writings of Sam
Houston, I, 4o9-41o.
xaHouston to the Texas Senate, December 2o, 1836, in Winkler, Secret Journals
of the Senate, 35-36.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949, periodical, 1949; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101121/m1/43/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.