Indian Removal and Response
The incursion of European imperial powers into North America initiated an almost relentless assault on American Indian territorial claims and prompted military conflicts that continued until near the end of the nineteenth century. Most of the American Indian wars began with increased tensions caused by European or American encroachment onto tribal territories; the hostilities usually resulted in disastrous defeats for the tribes and the confiscation of their land.
Revolutionary Era
A widespread pattern of encroachment, unrest, war, and dispossession prevailed throughout the colonial and revolutionary periods. After the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress informed American Indian tribes that the United States had acquired dominion over their people and lands. The westward movement of settlers across the Appalachians and Alleghenies into American Indian country antagonized tribes along the United States' western frontier. In an attempt to foster peace with its American Indian neighbors, the Continental Congress negotiated a series of treaties with various tribes, ceding land to the United States. In 1787 Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance, which provided an orderly process for the organization, survey, and sale of land between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. The legislation promised that the United States would recognize the rights of the American Indian tribes of the region and treat them with "utmost good faith."
During George Washington's presidency, Henry Knox, the secretary of war, implemented a policy in which the United States recognized the sovereignty of the tribes and paid for tribal cessions.
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