This site contains various historical records related to the residents of the Florida Territory and the state of Florida. The following Memorial to the United States Congress is transcribed from
The Territorial Papers of the United States.Compiled and edited by Clarence Edwin Carter; Volume XXIV:
The Territory of Florida, 1828-1834; pages 800-802.The Memorial is transcribed as it appears in the above source with punctuation and spellings retained.
Memorial To Congress By Citizens Of The Territory
[NA:HF, 22 Cong., 1 sess.:DS] [Referred January 28, 1833]To the Honorable the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States.
The Petition of the undersigned Citizens of the Territory of Florida respectfully sheweth, that for several years past the legislation of the said Territory has been calculated materially to disturb the peace and happiness and to injure the property of the ceded inhabitants of the late provinces of Spain who are by the Treaty now Citizens of the United States. Your Petitioners are aware that the evils of which they complain have not arisen from any thing inherent in the institutions and Laws of the United States, but have their origin in the illiberal prejudices of a local government totally at variance with the liberal spirit and generous policy of the nation and age in which we live: it will not be necessary for us in appealing to so intelligent a body as the one we address, to say that every nation and people have particular customs and habits which if not at War with the institutions of other countries are universally viewed with great toleration and indulgence. The principle has been carried so far in other countries where there was an established religion that the ceded inhabitants were permitted to retain theirs. There are doubtless some practises in all countries tolerated by National indulgencies that may not be approved by all the people of the United States; but those are diseases of the body politic to be changed by example and public sentiment and not by the nostrums of political quackery which will nauseate and disgust every one whose misfortune it has been to be transfered to the United States.
The laws to which your Memorialists chiefly object as coming under the designation above mentioned are mostly those of the last Session of Council relating to free people of color: it cannot have escaped the observation of your honorable body that in all slave-holding countries some portion of the population and not a very inconsiderable part have without the formalities of Marriage ceremonies, children by colored women. in all Spanish countries they were free and admitted to most of the rights of Spanish subjects especially to the natural and inherent right of legal protection from which they are now excluded: however these practises may be at variance with the national prejudices of a portion of the United States they existed in the recently acquired country and are not to be extinguished at once by intolerance and persecution or any other moral or political fanaticism: These evils are not to be rooted out by legal penalties any more than faith is to be controuled by the terrors of the Inquisition and a resort to one is no more to be justified than to the other. The Legislative Council of Florida however acting upon the idea of bringing every thing to their own standard of moral perfection: as the Tyrant of antiquity did to His bed, have denounced penalties and imposed taxes on this class of population only on account of their color: These unfortunate people are not only requited to pay the usual taxes which other citizens pay but they are required to pay from five to ten dollars each on both sexes over fifteen years of age because of their color, in addition, and to be sold as slaves for life if they should be too poor to pay these odious and unequal taxes; besides being outlawed and excluded from all legal redress for injuries done either to their persons or properties: connected with this also is a law to break up all those paternal obligations and ties of natural affection which have existed for years past by imposing a fine of one thousand dollars with the penalty of disenfranchisement upon every White person who is suspected of having a connexion with a coloured woman and the like penalty for inter-marying with any person suspected to be of colored origin or for performing such ceremony.
The Legislative Acts of Florida are now replete with many cruel and unjust laws but those of mental persecution and proscription for the virtuous and sacred ties of domestic life and parental affection are certainly the most tyrannical and the most repugnant to the free institutions of our republican government and perfect novelties in modern legislation.
Your Memorialists therefore humbly pray that all those cruel, unnecessary and most impolitic laws not authorised by the Constitution of the United States be repealed and annulled and your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray &'[Signatures]
Z. Kingsley
Charles W. Clarke
Geo:-JF:-Clarke
F: Richard
Edward H Sams
D.S. GardinerF J Ross
Sam Kingsley
J.A. Coffee
Rocque Leonardi
Ant' Lazari
Adam Cooper
[Endorsed] Florida-Inhts of Memorial To Congress complaining of certain acts of the Legislative councils-Jany 28. 1833 Refd to the Committee on the Territories, White1 F.42 Terri
Petition for Florida Indian Agent, 1880 Oscar Hart to Carl Shurz, Secretary of the Interior To the Honorable Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior.
The Memorial of Oscar Hart, respectfully shows, That the Seminole Indians now in Florida, are the remnants of those who once possessed the entire country, the four military posts held by the Spaniards on the coast, and on the river St. Johns, and the American settlements on that river, and along the northern border, alone excepted. In after times, to maintain their right to it as they believed, they submitted to a destructive war, lasting from 1835 to 1842, and again from 1855 to 1858. A people whose heroism could inspire them to this, are still worthy of more than ordinary consideration. Too few now to create apprehension from voluntary hostility, they are yet too many to leave without the protecting care of the Government.
Where opportunity exists there will often be abuse. In the estimation of the common mind injustice to the weak and the defenceless merits no reprehension. it may yet be pressed too far to be borne even by the weak. The outbreak that began the war of 1835-42, was caused by a party of armed white men who found a small party of Indians outside of the "Indian limits", when the Indians were caught up and tied to trees and whipped. While this was going on the white men were fired upon by other Indians, coming up.
The war of 1855-58, was caused by repeated acts of aggression by white men, the last act being by the soldiers who cut down and carried away a quantity of tropical fruit, the property of the Indians, when, unable longer to endure these repeated deeds of spoilation the soldiers were fired upon.
The Indian in Florida is now at the mercy of the evil disposed of the white race, and liable at any time to outrage. One act too many may cause an outburst, the end of which nobody can foretell. He is not devoid of rights because he is an Indian. If he has no one to speak for him, no one to whom he can look for redress, if wring is practiced upon him, he must submit or resist by force. Life to this alternative he justly feels the first, to be outrage; the last to be revenge-ever most dear to the unenlightened mind-and bloodshed, in which, suffering to the innocent, and unknown injury to the country must be the consequence. If left to himself, uncared for and unprotected, he must, in time, like the wild beasts of the forest, give place, and where then will he go? Who shall say then, when he will or will not share their fate? He is not a wild beast but a noble and intellectual human being. Their Chiefs, are men of superior sagacity and eloquence; the common man, quick to understand and to learn; and the women, distinguished for the possession of every feminine excellence, though they have no culture but that learned in the woods. They lack only the proper cultivation to reflect credit upon the Government that shall foster and care for them, as well as honor upon themselves, in pursuits in which they have never had a chance to engage.
We want immigration to our state: they are already settlers. We deplore the presence of ferocious wild beasts in it: it is they who keep them under. We want intelligence to point out the unknown recesses of the vast region still unexplored by white men: they alone are capable of doing it. That same vast region, wants occupants: they are fitted for it, and are already there. Here is their home-the remains of their country, to which they have been driven, and to which they will now cling through life.
The attempts hitherto made to drive them from it cost the Government millions of money, and then did not wholly succeed. Any further collision between them and the white race is to be deprecated by every good citizen. It would again raise a clamor for their removal, which could be accomplished only by their virtual extirpation, in unknown time, and at the cost of, no one knows from many millions more. One tenth of the enormous sum expended in the Two wars mentioned would have cleared up the entire region inhabited by them, into one extended field, and settled every family upon a section of land each, as a homestead, and furnished them educational, agricultural and mechanical schools and advantages, which long since, would have made them civilized, enlightened, and valued citizens.
To this end, your Memorialist with the appointment of this Department, proffers to act as Resident Agent for the Indians in Florida. A native, and life long resident of the country, well acquainted with the Indian character, with the country, and with the white people, he knows well the delicate and important duties he would have to discharge. How, by cultivating among the white men, who are even found upon a frontier, sentiments of honor and nobility of conduct in their communication and dealing with the Indians; and among the Indians, respect and regard for the white people, and for the Government that sends an Agent to take care that they shall suffer no detriment, he would hope to establish and maintain an amicable feeling and amicable relations between the two. He well knows that timely precaution may prevent disaster, and should endeavor from the beginning, to promote harmonious intercourse, and by precept and example, to inculcate that the most upright conduct and considerate deportment will ever lead to the happiest end.
He would be obliged to abandon the places of civilization and live in the region of swamps and morasses; but he likewise knows that in no other way could he render so much public benefit, nor achieve so much good to those of his kind whose condition calls for every generous sympathy, and the aid of everyone who can render aid, in his capacity. He would devote himself to imparting to those amongst whom he should be sent, a respect for law and order, as well as a love of learning; and with means sufficient, he would educate and improve, so far as should be possible, those who have attained adult age, as well as those of younger years-the older men and women, as well as the youth of the nation. He would also, establish the most useful trading; those most required in the region, and bring the people to become producing, to the extent of their ability; and superior productions he would stimulate the producers to ship to the best markets, bringing back such things as were required. To accomplish this, he would awaken and arouse into activity the native and now dormant talent and activity of the people, and impart such training as shall be required-confident of their capacity, under proper instruction, to astonish those who do not know them, and now believe them incapable. he would find for every one employment, in the pursuit most congenial; would help; assist; save from discouragement the untrained mind, in its efforts in unaccustomed exertions, in unpracticed vocations; encourage, by just commendation, the achievements of all, in the good work; and lead them in the way to business success, in callings they had never before known, and in ways they had never before been taught to follow.
With the aid of the General and State governments, the next generation would see the Indians in Florida no longer subjects of uneasy apprehension, but civilized, advanced, and intelligent citizens, self supporting, prosperous, and a happy people.
And your Memorialist will ever be.
(Signed) Oscar Hart[NOTE: Oscar Hart was born in what was then Spanish East Florida in 1819. He was 61 years of age at the time he wrote the above petition. He was the oldest son of Isaiah David Hart and Nancy Nelson. A sketchy biography culled from primary records and secondary sources indicate an unfortunate experience for Oscar Hart. He studied law and is listed in census records for Duval County as a lawyer although there is no evidence he was an affluent one. Hart married Virginia Crews on July 28, 1850. She was twelve years of age and he was 31 years old. The marriage did not endure and there were no children. When Isaiah Hart's Last Will and Testament was read after his death in 1861, Oscar was criticized for writing what his father called "abusive letters." In his will, the father ordered the letters returned to Oscar and left his oldest son a single piece of property, one of the least valuable possessions in his estate. Isaiah Hart was one of the wealthier men of the town of Jacksonville, and has been credited for founding the city. In the early 1870s, Oscar was appointed clerk of the circuit court by his brother Ossian, then Governor of Florida. During his appointment, Oscar was arrested and charged with raping a child under ten years. In a public statement, he insisted the charge had no merit. Ossian Hart, Florida's acting Governor, defended his older brother and the charge resulted in an acquittal by hung jury. After his clerk appointment expired, Oscar returned to the private practice of law. It was during this period that he sought the position of Florida Indian agent. His willingness to abandon "the places of civilization and live in the region of swamps and morasses," may speak to his awkward standing in the community which had indicted him for raping a child some years before. Nonetheless, Hart's intelligent and caring depiction of the Florida Indians is in contrast to sentiments of many of his peers, who wanted the natives removed from the state by any means. In 1886, he moved to Levy County on the west coast of Florida and went into the lumber business. Oscar Hart died on 22 April 1896 near Otter Creek at the age of 77. He was buried in Jacksonville. I have not been able to determine whether Hart was appointed Indian agent but it does not appear so. TAWhite.
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