Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Myth of Open Wilderness and the Outlines of Big Government
- 2 Managed Expansion in the Early Republic
- 3 Tippecanoe and Treaties, Too: Executive Leadership, Organization, and Effectiveness in the Years of the Factory System
- 4 The Key to Success and the Illusion of Failure
- 5 Big Government Jacksonians
- 6 Tragically Effective: The Administration of Indian Removal
- 7 Public Administration, Politics, and Indian Removal: Perpetuating the Illusion of Failure
- 8 Clearing the Indian Barrier: Indian Affairs at the Center of National Expansion
- 9 Containment and the Weakening of Indian Resistance: The Effectiveness of Reservation Administration
- 10 What's an Administrator To Do? Reservations and Politics
- Conclusion: The Myth of Limited Government
- References
- Index
8 - Clearing the Indian Barrier: Indian Affairs at the Center of National Expansion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Myth of Open Wilderness and the Outlines of Big Government
- 2 Managed Expansion in the Early Republic
- 3 Tippecanoe and Treaties, Too: Executive Leadership, Organization, and Effectiveness in the Years of the Factory System
- 4 The Key to Success and the Illusion of Failure
- 5 Big Government Jacksonians
- 6 Tragically Effective: The Administration of Indian Removal
- 7 Public Administration, Politics, and Indian Removal: Perpetuating the Illusion of Failure
- 8 Clearing the Indian Barrier: Indian Affairs at the Center of National Expansion
- 9 Containment and the Weakening of Indian Resistance: The Effectiveness of Reservation Administration
- 10 What's an Administrator To Do? Reservations and Politics
- Conclusion: The Myth of Limited Government
- References
- Index
Summary
Nathaniel Taylor, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote in his 1868 Annual Report:
A little investigation, and even a superficial knowledge and a little reflection, will convince every candid mind that there is no branch of the public service more intricate and difficult, and involving more varied and larger public and private interests, than our “Indian affairs;” none requiring in their control and direction a larger brain, or a more sensitive and charitable heart.
From the 1840s through the 1880s, Indian affairs continued to be centrally important to the life and development of the United States. Virtually every region and every social, political, and economic interest continued to be affected by Indian affairs in significant ways. The national government continued to be the leading force of authority and administration coordinating and managing expansion and settlement westward. The executive branch continued to lead in the design and implementation of policy, and in creative adaptation to ever-changing circumstances, as federal administrators in a host of contexts worked to conquer the continent before, during, and after the Civil War.
The Ongoing Significance of Indian Affairs
Today, one of our enduring images of the West – the image of “open, unspoiled wilderness” – involves Indians in a telling way. In truth, federal officials created the “uninhabited wilderness” we romanticize by removing Indians from the land. Even the “uninhabited landscapes” of national parks such as Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier are the result of careful, coordinated Indian removals.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010