Thomas Jefferson Papers

To Thomas Jefferson from Tobias Lear, 11 December 1792

From Tobias Lear

Decr. 11th. 1792

By the President’s Command T. Lear has the honor to transmit to the Secretary of State the Draft of a Proclamation, which the President requests may be prepared for his Signature. The President likewise wishes the Secretary’s opinion whether this Proclamation should be published in the papers here, or whether it would be proper to send it to Georgia only for publication.

RC (DLC); endorsed by TJ as received 11 Dec. 1792.

The final text of the President’s proclamation, the enclosed draft of which has not been found, called for the apprehension of the Georgia frontiersmen who “did lately invade, burn, and destroy a town belonging to the Cherokee nation, although in amity with the United States, and put to death several Indians of that nation,” and offered a reward of $500 for each leader among the perpetrators brought to justice (Fitzpatrick, Writings description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, Washington, D.C., 1931–44, 39 vols. description ends , xxxii, 260–1). News of these events had recently been transmitted to the Secretary of War by Governor Edward Telfair (ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1832–61, 38 vols. description ends , Indian Affairs, i, 333–4). The proclamation was published in the National Gazette, 15 Dec. 1792. See also Tench Coxe to TJ, 14 Dec. 1792.

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