190
Opinion of the Court
moval treaties with Indian tribes in 1837 4—the 1837 Treaty with the Chippewa did not contain any provisions authorizing a removal order. The silence in the Treaty, in fact, is consistent with the United States' objectives in negotiating it. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Harris explained the United States' goals for the 1837 Treaty in a letter to Governor Dodge on May 13, 1837. App. 42. In this letter, Harris explained that through this Treaty, the United States wanted to purchase Chippewa land for the pinewoods located on it; the letter contains no reference to removal of the Chippewa. Ibid. Based on the record before us, the proposition that the 1837 Treaty authorized the President's 1850 removal order is unfounded. Because the parties have pointed to no colorable source of authority for the President's removal order, we agree with the Court of Appeals' conclusion that the 1850 removal order was unauthorized.
The State argues that even if the removal portion of the order was invalid, the 1837 Treaty privileges were nevertheless revoked because the invalid removal order was severable from the portion of the order revoking Chippewa
4 See 1837 Treaty with the Saganaw Chippewa, Art. 6, 7 Stat. 530 ("The said tribe agrees to remove from the State of Michigan, as soon as a proper location can be obtained"); 1837 Treaty with the Potawatomie, Art. 1, 7 Stat. 533 ("And the chiefs and head men above named, for themselves and their bands, do hereby cede to the United States all their interest in said lands, and agree to remove to a country that may be provided for them by the President of the United States, southwest of the Missouri river, within two years from the ratification of this treaty"); 1837 Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, Art. 4, 7 Stat. 541 ("The Sacs and Foxes agree to remove from the tract ceded, with the exception of Keokuck's village, possession of which may be retained for two years, within eight months from the ratification of this treaty"); 1837 Treaty with the Winnebago, Art. 3, 7 Stat. 544-545 ("The said Indians agree to remove within eight months from the ratification of this treaty, to that portion of the neutral ground west of the Mississippi, which was conveyed to them in the second article of the treaty of September 21st, 1832, and the United States agree that the said Indians may hunt upon the western part of said neutral ground until they shall procure a permanent settlement").
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