Isaac Briggs to Benjamin Hawkins with an allegory, discusses Creek Indian affairs and confirms Georgia's commitment but says its politics corrupt - American History 1493-1945 - Adam Matthew Digital

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Field name	Value
Collection Reference Number	GLC02437.04798
From Archive Folder	The Henry Knox Papers [0097] October-December 1790
Title	Isaac Briggs to Benjamin Hawkins with an allegory, discusses Creek Indian affairs and confirms Georgia's commitment but says its politics corrupt
Date	16 December 1790
Author	Briggs, Isaac (1763-1825)
Recipient	Hawkins, Benjamin
Document Type	Correspondence
Content Description	Briggs opens his letter to Senator and Indian agent Hawkins with an allegory of a drunken servant beaten by master; other servants and lower types told the beaten man to commit suicide to escape his situation, others counseled patience, some wanted to take his goods, others to take his position. He was dosed with wormword and in delirium talks on. Briggs quotes his ravings at length. Briggs then shifts to Creek Treaty reception in Georgia: "But excuse the allegorical flight, and I will descend to a more plain, matter-of-fact stile. If, my dear sir, I were detailing the politics or describing the local circumstances of this state, for the public eye, I should think it my duty as a good citizen to endeavor to raise, not lessen, its respectability, but in a confidential letter, I think it my duty to adhere strictly to the truth." Briggs goes to explain that, "the late treaty has been violated, on the part of the Creek Indians, by several acts of hostility and depredation." He then affirms Georgia's commitment to the Union and believes Georgia should have the protection of the United States government against Indians, as the states expands in population and needs more room. The GA Assembly is completely out of sync with popular opinion and is corrupt and riven by party politics.
Subjects	American Indian History Muscogee (Creeks) Indian Indentured Servant Suicide Drugs Mental Health Health and Medical Diplomacy Treaty Politics Military History Government and Civics Frontiers and Exploration Westward Expansion Corruption and Scandal
People	Briggs, Isaac (1763-1825) Hawkins, Benjamin (1754-1816)
Place written	Augusta, Georgia
Theme	Native Americans; Westward Expansion; Government & Politics; Creating a New Government; Health & Medicine
Sub-collection	The Henry Knox Papers
Copyright	The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Module	Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859
Transcript	Show/hide [draft excerpts] "I found the public mind in a ferment respecting the late treaty; and in the condition of a drunken servant who had been well [struck: chastised] [inserted: cudgelled] by his master, not for disobedience or any omission of duty, but because, from his habits of intemperance, he was likely to become incapable of performing the services his master might require. surrounded on all sides by designing sycophants; some stimulating him treatment, that they might carry off the booty lost by the vanquished; others, that they might succeed him in the employment of his master, advised him to commit suicide, as an alternative preferable to so wretched a state of slavery; - the third class admonished him to patience and fortitude under the weight of absolute power; that, although his constitution was much impaired, it might, by a judicious application of anodynes, acquire its wonted vigor; and that uncoditional submission might restore him to his master's favor, or at any rate, [struck: if] [inserted: when] he should die, he would then be freed form trouble. In fine, the strong dose of wormwood which his master has forced, as an ordeal, down his throat, instead of producing [2] of producing sobriety, has thrown him into a delirium, from which some of his best friends are apprehensive he will never recover."

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