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in their original condition, unencumbered of treaties, capable of fighting & perishing on their lands or of making treaties with those alone who had the power, the United States. If the Indians were naturally or constitutionally incapable of making treaties, or contracts, as some would have it, why was the incompetency not mentioned before & their treaties resisted & rejected. If any time could be proper, the proper time would have been in their savage state to have experienced the misfortune than now, after tantalizing them, with the hypocritical language of friendship & offers of Civilization & Religion to crush their rights & liberties in the cold embrace of Iron Power. If we consult the history of the different states, their laws for the most part were attained by peaceable purchase, unless obtained afterwards by --