Existing comment:
Thomas L. McKenney, 1785-1859
Thomas L. McKenney was one of the most important figures in setting and implementing early governmental policy toward American Indians. He was superintendent of Indian trade from 1816 to 1822 and later superintendent of Indian affairs (1824-30), a position created in the War Department. McKenney sought to integrate, or at least reconcile, Indians and American culture thorugh education. He helped secure the passage of the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and, more ominously, the Indian Removal Act (1830), which confiscated Indian lands and forced tribes to relocate west of the Mississippi. McKenney claimed that the brutality of the "Trail of Tears" was due to the callousness of President Andrew Jackson, not his fault or that of the bureau. Jackson fired McKenney for insubordination. While in office, McKenney initiated a major ethnological project, collecting books, manuscripts, artifacts, and paintings to document the history of the North American Indians.
by Charles Loring Elliot, 1856 |