From the beginning of white settlement in America, Indian relations presented a major dilemma. The fate of American Indians, confronted as they were with the inexorable, dispossessing creep of white settlement, became a source of white concern. With the exception of a small handful of individuals, that concern was manifested not in a sense of basic human equality, but rather as an expression of white elitism and expansionist expediency. This perplexing dilemma was often referred to as the “Indian question,” as it posed an outwardly simple, yet deceptively complex question: What do we do with the Indians?