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Subject Area: Political Theory

GALLATIN TO W. L. MARCY, Secretary of War. - Albert Gallatin, The Writings of Albert Gallatin, vol. 2 [1879]

Edition used:

The Writings of Albert Gallatin, ed. Henry Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1879). 3 vols.

Part of: The Writings of Albert Gallatin, 3 vols.

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GALLATIN TO W. L. MARCY, Secretary of War.

New York, 17th March, 1846.

Dear Sir,—

I have the honor to transmit two copies of the first volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society,—one for the War Department, and the other for the office at Washington of the Commissioner or Superintendent of the Indian Department. The modern appellation of “Ethnological” has been substituted for that of “Antiquarian.” Its seat is at New York; that of the American Antiquarian Society is at Worcester, Massachusetts; the object of both is the same.

In the year 1836 I transmitted to the War Department a copy of the second volume of the Antiquarian Society of Massachusetts, the principal article of which, under the name of “A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America,” was supplied by me. Its principal object was a classification, according to their respective languages, of the Indian tribes within the United States, and farther north in the British and Russian possessions. But, from want of materials, the Indians west of the Stony Mountains were, with the exception of a few imperfect notices, necessarily excluded. With respect to the Indians east of the Stony Mountains, and in reference to the classification founded only on vocabularies, I may be permitted to say that it is nearly complete, has become a standard work, and requires only some additions and corrections and the publication of more enlarged vocabularies which cannot be undertaken by any private society. But the analysis of the grammar or structure of those languages is, as might be expected, very imperfect.

I was, in preparing this work, greatly assisted by the War Department, which, at my request, had in the year 1826 transmitted to the principal Indian agents printed copies of the intended vocabulary and of a series of queries, the purpose of which was to elicit the principal features of the structure of the respective languages. It appeared at that time to have been the intention of the War Department to publish the result of my researches; but these having been suspended during several years by avocations of a public nature, and near ten years having elapsed before my work was ready for publication, I made no application to the Department for that purpose; and I accepted the invitation of the Antiquarian Society of Massachusetts to have my essay inserted in its Transactions. The result, however, was a great curtailment of the vocabularies which had been collected, as these, if published at large, would have greatly exceeded the space assigned to me.

A small portion of the volume which I now send to you relates immediately to our own Indians. Yet the essay which I have supplied, under the name of “Notes on the Semi-Civilized Nations of North America,” is but a sequel of the former work, principally in reference to philology and agriculture. The work has been favorably received, principally in Germany and France, and has, we are told, added something to the literary reputation of our country. But that which is naturally expected from us, and which should be the principal object of our next volume, is to collect all the information that can be obtained respecting our own Indians. The annual reports of your agents will probably afford that which relates to the social state and apparent progress of civilization of those people. But the most difficult branch of the subject, and that to which the attention of our society is naturally drawn, is a much more complete knowledge of the grammar or structure of the several languages, or rather families of languages. This differs so much from the grammatical system to which we are used that it cannot be acquired without much time and labor. Where English schools have been established for some length of time, or, in other words, where intelligent Indians have received a good English education, they may become the best interpreters of their own language. As yet, however, our reliance must be on such of our missionaries and teachers of Indian schools as are sufficiently educated and intelligent to perform the required work; that is to say, to prepare concise and yet complete grammars of the principal languages. It is principally for that purpose that, in behalf of our society, I beg leave to request your aid. This would consist in the selection of the proper persons to whom application should be made (amongst whom I can only mention the Rev. Mr. Worcester for the Cherokee, and Mr. Byington for the Choctaw), and a request to them on the part of your Department to comply with our wishes. In case you should feel disposed to favor our object, our society will prepare a circular explaining as clearly as we can the subjects of inquiry.

For all further details permit me to refer you to my friend and collaborator, Mr. Bartlett, who will have the honor to present this letter to you. Our society will in its next and ensuing volumes gradually publish those several grammars, together with such other miscellaneous information as can be obtained. The question whether the War Department may not afford us further aid, by subscribing for a number of copies of our next volumes for the use of its Indian agents, sub-agent, and school-teachers, may be left open for the time when the society will be ready to publish its next volume. We have no funds; the greater part of those necessary for the publication of our first volume has been advanced by Mr. Bartlett and myself; we distribute gratuitously near two hundred copies, and the sale of a work of this kind is very slow. We cannot afford to give away the twenty or thirty copies which we would wish to be distributed amongst the agents, missionaries, &c., to whom our circular should be directed; and yet that distribution would be very useful for our object. All the American languages, as far as they have been investigated, though differing in many respects, have strongly marked common characters; and the analysis of the Mexican and other languages, contained in our first volume, would point out the direction to be pursued in the investigation of the structure of the languages of our own Indians better than any general views that we might suggest. Whether these considerations may be deemed sufficient to induce you to purchase the requisite number of copies, though but a subordinate point, is submitted to your judgment.

I have, &c.