Birth of the Nation: The First Federal Congress, 1789-1791 | Next Page
Expansion of the Empire
Report of the Secretary of War on Southern Indian Policy
Report of the Secretary of War on Southern Indian Policy, July 7, 1789 (Courtesy of the National Archives)
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Although they shared a northern border with the British Empire and a southern and western one with the Spanish Empire, Americans recognized that war was more likely to occur with various Indian nations who resided within the United States. In 1789 Secretary of War Henry Knox proposed a humane Indian policy, which recognized the Tribes as foreign nations, acknowledged their claims to the lands they occupied, and regretted the extinction of several American Indian tribes.

Text transcript of the report (excerpt).

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