United States v. New York

• Decision Date: 20 March 1899
• Docket Number: No. 697,697
• Citation: 19 S.Ct. 487,173 U.S. 464,43 L.Ed. 769
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. NEW YORK
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

173 U.S. 464

19 S.Ct. 487

43 L.Ed. 769

UNITED STATES

v NEW YORK

No. 697.

March 20, 1899.

This case arose from a motion by the Indians to dismiss the appeal of the United States for want of jurisdiction, or, in the alternative, to affirm the judgment of the court of claims upon the ground that the question involved is so frivolous as not to need further argument, and also from a counter motion by the United States for an order upon the court of claims to make a further finding of facts.

By an act of congress passed January 28, 1893 (27 Stat. 426), the court of claims was authorized to hear and determine, and to enter up judgment upon, the claims of the Indians 'who were parties to the treaty of Buffalo Creek, New York,' of January 15, 1838, to enforce an alleged liability of the United States for the value of certain lands in Kansas set apart for these Indians, and subsequently sold by the United States, as well as for certain amounts of money agreed to be paid upon their removal.

In its findings of fact the court of claims decided that the Indians described in the jurisdictional act above referred to as 'the New York Indians, being those Indians who were parties to the treaty of Buffalo Creek, New York, on the 15th of January, 1838, were the following: Senecas, Onondagas, Onondagas residing on the Seneca reservation, Onondagas at Onondaga, Cayugas, Cayugas residing on the Seneca reservation, Cayuga Indians residing in the state of New York, Tuscaroras, Tuscaroras residing in the state of New York, Oneidas residing in New York, at Green Bay (Wisconsin), and in the Seneca reservation, Oneidas, St. Regis, St. Regis in New York (the American party of the St. Regis resided in the state of New York), Stockbridges, Munsees, Brothertowns.'

Upon the whole case, however, the court of claims found, as a conclusion of law from the facts, that the Indians had abandoned their claim, and accordingly dismissed their petition. On appeal to this court, under the act of congress above mentioned, the judgment of the court of claims was reversed (170 U. S. 1, 18 Sup. Ct. 531), this court being of opinion:

(1) That the title acquired by the Indians under the treaty was a grant in praesenti of a legal title to a defined tract, described by metes and bounds, containing 1,824,000 acres, in the now state of Kansas.

(2) That there was no uncertainty as to the land granted, or as to the identity of the grantees.

(3) That the tribes for whom the Kansas lands were intended as a future home were the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regis, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Broth- ertowns, residing in the state of New York, as found in the first finding of fact by the court of claims.

(4) That the grant to the Indians was of the entire tract, as specified in article 2 of the treaty, and not an allotment to them of 320 acres for each emigrant.

(5) That the government had received the full consideration stipulated by the treaty, so far as such consideration was a valuable one for the Kansas lands, and had neglected to render any account of the same.

(6) That the Indians had neither forfeited nor abandoned their interest in the Kansas lands, and that they were entitled to a judgment.

Thereupon the case was remanded to the court of claims, with instructions 'to enter a new judgment for the net amount actually received by the government for the Kansas lands, without interest, less any increase in value attributable to the fact that certain of these lands were donated for public purposes, as well as the net amount which the court below may find could have been obtained for the lands otherwise disposed of, if they had all been sold as public lands, less the amount of land upon the basis of which settlement was made with the Tonawandas, and less 10,240 acres allotted to the thirty-two New York Indians, as set forth in finding 12, together with such deductions as may seem to the court below to the just, and for such other proceedings as may be necessary and in conformity with this opinion.'

In obedience to this mandate the court of claims on November 14, 1898, made certain further findings of fact, set forth in the margin,¹ and as a conclusion of law decreed that the claimants recover from the United States the sum of $1,967,056, whereupon the United States took this appeal, and now move the court that the court of claims be ordered to further find and certify to this court:

'First. What constituted the Onondagas at Onondaga, Oneidas at Green Bay, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns, parties to the treaty of Buffalo Creek, as proclaimed April 4, 1840?

'Second. Whether or not the Oneidas at Green Bay, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns resided in the state of New York when the treaty of Buffalo Creek was proclaimed, or when they became parties thereto.'

Sol. Gen. Richards, Asst. Atty. Gen. Pradt, and C. C. Binney, for the United States.

Guion Miller and J. H. McGowan, for appellees.

Mr. Justice BROWN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.

As a disposition of either one of these motions will practically dispose of the other, both may properly be considered together.

The preamble to the treaty of Buffalo Creek of January 28, 1838 (7 Stat. 550), recites that 'the following articles of a treaty are entered into between the United States of America and the several tribes of the New York Indians, the names of whose chiefs, headmen, and warriors are hereto subscribed, and those who may hereafter assent to this treaty, in writing, within such time as the president shall appoint.' The second article of the treaty also recites that 'it is understood and agreed that the above described country [the land ceded] is intended a a future home for the following tribes, to wit, the Senecas, onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regis, Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns residing in the state of New York, and the same is to be divided equally among them according to their respective numbers, as mentioned in the schedule hereunto annexed.' The treaty purports to be signed by the headmen of the Senecas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas residing in the state of New York as well as at Green Bay, St. Regis, Onondagas residing on the Seneca reservation, the principal Onondaga warriors, Cayugas, and the principal Cayuga warriors; but the schedule, immediately following the signatures, contains also the names of the Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns. The commissioner on behalf of the United States certifies that this schedule was made before the execu- tion of the treaty. Following this there are certain certificates by the commissioner to the effect that the treaty was assented to by the Senecas, Tuscaroras, St. Regis, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Onondagas. On January 22, 1839, the president sent the treaty to the senate, with the following message:

'To the Senate of the United States: I transmit a treaty negotiated with the New York Indians which was submitted to your body in June last, and amended.

'The amendments have, in pursuance of the requirement of the senate, been submitted to each of the tribes assembled in council, for their free and voluntary assent or dissent thereto. In respect to all the tribes, except the Senecas, the result of this application has been entirely satisfactory. It will be seen by the accompanying papers that of this tribe, the most important of those concerned, the assent of forty-two out of eighty-one chiefs has been obtained. I deem it advisable, under the circumstances, to submit the treaty in its modified form to the senate for its advice in regard of the sufficiency of the assent of the Senecas to the amendment proposed.

'[Signed] M. Van Buren.

'Washington, 21st January, 1839.'

The assent of the Senecas having been procured, the treaty was afterwards ratified.

The question was thus presented to the court of claims whether the Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns, who did not actually sign the treaty, gave their assent; and the court of claims found as a fact that they were actually parties to it. There was certainly some evidence in support of this finding, which also accorded with the opinion of this court in Fellows v. Blacksmith, 19 How. 366, in which an objection was taken on the argument to the validity of the treaty, on the ground that the Tonawanda band of the Seneca Indians was not represented by the chief and headmen of the band in the negotiations and execution of it. 'But,' said the court, 'the answer to this is that the treaty, after executed and ratified by the proper authorities of the government, becomes the supreme law of the land, and the courts can no more go behind it for the purpose of annulling its effect and operation than they can behind an act of congress.'

But we are now asked to direct the court of claims to find:

First. What constituted the Onondagas at Onondaga, Oneidas at Green Bay. Stockbridges, Munsees, and Brothertowns parties to the treaty of Buffalo Creek, as proclaimed April 4, 1840?

Second. Whether or...