George Washington's Argumentative Analysis

The impending crisis with Indian affairs in the territories of the American West began to develop after the 1840s, when national expansion undermined the official policies that called for the Indigenous Natives to reside separate from civilized society.1 Those in sympathy with the plight of the Natives, such as Episcopalian Bishop, Henry Whipple, sought to reform the outdated policies and corrupted government agencies that handled the Native population.2 Reformers agreed that the treatment of Natives should be better and more effective. Many believed that citizenship should be the goal while some argued that the Natives needed to be civilized first; they should be assimilated into farmers and socialized in the practices of the Colonial settlers, before they could be enfranchised.2 Timing for this reform was also disagreed upon, with some taking …show more content…
In 1783, George Washington wrote a letter to American Lawyer, jurist and Revolutionary leader, James Duane, outlining the principles of Indian Policy of the Continental Congress.6 Washington wrote how ‘an enlightened People’ would consider the Native to be deluded and that “as the country is large enough to contain us all; and as we are disposed to be kind to them and to partake in their trade…we will draw a veil over what is past and establish a boundary line between them and us beyond which we will endeavor to restrain our People from Hunting or Settling”.7 To help the United States enforce the separation between the Colonists and Natives, the Federal Government included the development of an agency within the Department of War that would be legally responsible for the protection of Natives from non-Natives.8 Originally called the Federal Office of the Superintendent of Indian Trade, the system was created to monitor and control economic activities between the Native nations and the United States