Treaty Making Quotes
The Constitution was not drafted until 1787 and was ratified later. In the interim the young United States functioned under the Articles of Confederation, in a sense, our first Constitution. This clause established that the Federal Government should have the exclusive power and authority to conduct foreign affairs.
The basic treaty sold some of Ethiopia’s colonial territory (Eritrea and Tigray) to Italy in exchange for arms. Italy had tried to conquer the area but lost 500 men in the Battle of Dogali. However, after this peace treaty, Italy maintained that Article 17 of the treaty gave them the right to declare Ethiopia an Italian Protectorate which they did. However, there were two different versions of the treaty that the Italians had drawn up—one in Italian, the other in Aramaic. Britain, Belgium and Germany supported Italy; France, Turkey and Russia supported Ethiopia. Menelik then, to make matters clear, repudiated the treaty in 1893. Italy send an invasion force that was soundly thrashed by the Ethiopians setting the stage for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in World War II years later. Parties to International treaties thereafter have paid close attention to the different language versions.
From this quotation, {624648} and {615901} it is clear that the framers of the Constitution intended the treaty making powers to be shared by the President and the Senate. In practice, in modern times treaties are usually initially negotiated by diplomats under the supervision of the President and the Senate gets to concur or not in the ratification process. However, there have been a number of treaty failures including the League of Nations where the lack of coordination has resulted in a situation where the Senate had to accept or reject something which the President had negotiated and the Senate rejected the treaty.
Indian treaties had legal problems from the beginning of the nation. An agreement had been made at Fort Harmar with 6 Indian nations. One man signed for the United States and several of the sachems, for the Indians. President Washington reported this to the Senate and there was much confusion as to how to proceed. Typically, agents for nations negotiated a treaty but it would not be binding until each ratified it. To the Indians this was not a familiar practice. In this case, the treaty was approved for ratification by the Senate, but what kind of ratification was to be required of the Indians? The Iroquois Indian tribes had formal, methods of reaching consensus, but other nations did not. Whites sometimes reneged on later treaties on the grounds that they were not ratified by the Indian nations. In others, the Indians themselves made the same claim and challenged the right of the Indian treaty signers to speak for the tribe or nation. The problem has never been resolved.
From this quotation, {624648} and {615902} it is clear that the framers of the Constitution intended the treaty making powers to be shared by the President and the Senate. In practice, in modern times treaties are usually initially negotiated by diplomats under the supervision of the President and the Senate gets to concur or not in the ratification process. However, there have been a number of treaty failures including the League of Nations where the lack of coordination has resulted in a situation where the Senate had to accept or reject something which the President had negotiated and the Senate rejected the treaty.
This problem had not been resolved even by the beginning of the 21st century. With the inclusion of Hawaii as a state, there became 100 senators and the obstruction possibilities were even greater.
The central Indian policy problem for Jefferson’s Administration was the fact that most Indians hunted for subsistence and the amount of land needed to support a hunting society was per capita much greater than an agricultural and especially an industrial one. Jefferson had no personal animosity against the Indians as many in his day did. But he perceived the need to obtain Indian lands for white agricultural use.
