US and Indian Relations

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1904 - Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Laws Vol I, Charles J. Kappler

An accurate compilation of the treaties, laws, Executive orders, and other matters relating to Indian affairs, from the organization of the Government, had been needed for many years, and its necessity had been repeatedly emphasized by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his annual reports to Congress. This two-volume work was undertaken by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in pursuance of the recommendation of the Commissioner and to meet the pressing need that the committee found for a correct compilation, convenient in form and properly indexed, so that any law, treaty, or order could readily be found. Much difficulty and delay preceded the finding of the text of Indian treaties, orders, laws, and subsequent amendments, in the scattered form in which they had only been obtainable.
1904 - Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Treaties Vol II, Charles J. Kappler

An accurate compilation of the treaties, laws, Executive orders, and other matters relating to Indian affairs, from the organization of the Government, had been needed for many years, and its necessity had been repeatedly emphasized by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs in his annual reports to Congress. This two-volume work was undertaken by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in pursuance of the recommendation of the Commissioner and to meet the pressing need that the committee found for a correct compilation, convenient in form and properly indexed, so that any law, treaty, or order could readily be found. Much difficulty and delay preceded the finding of the text of Indian treaties, orders, laws, and subsequent amendments, in the scattered form in which they had only been obtainable.
1913 - Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Laws; Vol. III; Charles J. Kappler

The first two volumes were published under a resolution of the Senate in 1902, and shortly thereafter a second edition was ordered by a concurrent resolution of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This third volume included all laws relative to Indian affairs passed by Congress after 1902, together with all Executive proclamations, departmental orders, etc., relating to Indian reservations to date, a list of Indian trust funds standing to the credit of various tribes, and also several old Indian treaties which it was not possible to procure when the volume containing the treaties was prepared.
1929 - Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Laws Vol. IV, Charles J. Kappler

Volume IV of the Compilation of Indian Laws and Treaties was prepared in compliance with the resolution adopted by the Sixty-ninth Congress. This volume embraces all laws relating to Indian affairs passed by Congress from December, 1913, to the end of the Sixty-ninth Congress, March 4, 1927. During that period of 14 years a large amount of Indian legislation of considerable importance was enacted; many Executive orders, proclamations, etc., covering Indian lands and reservations had been issued, and a number of unratified treaties with Indians in whose behalf legislation had been enacted or was pending in Congress and which treaties had a bearing on such acts of Congress or pending legislation, were included in this volume, together with the latest statement of trust funds standing to the credit of the several tribes of Indians in the Treasury of the United States.

Also included in this volume is a list of all treaties made with the Indians from 1778 to 1868 which have been before the Supreme Court of the United States for adjudication, and citation to opinions noted. There are further included in Volume IV the famous Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787, on the rights of Indians; a historical Statement of the Fort Laramie Treaty of September 17, 1851, and its Force and Effect; an article entitled "Power of Congress to Abrogate Indian Treaties;" a memorandum on Federal Jurisdiction over Indian Lands, Allotments, Alienation, and the Determination of Heirs of Deceased Indians, and an article entitled ''Doctrine of Indian Right of Occupancy and Possession of Land," supported by authorities, which papers will undoubtedly prove as serviceable and as ready a reference to Senators and Representatives on these important subjects as was the article appearing in Volume III, page 692, entitled "Power of the President to Set Aside by Proclamation or Executive Order Public Lands for Indian Reservations." (See Congressional Record, June 8, 1926, p. 10897.)
1941- Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Laws Vol V, Charles J. Kappler

Volume V contains all Indian laws passed from March 4, 1927, to the end of the Seventy-fifth Congress on June 29, 1938. During this period a large quantity of important Indian legislation was enacted by Congress, including the so-called Wheeler-Howard Act; and many Executive orders and proclamations were issued by the President pertaining to Indian tribes and reservations. Several relevant unratified treaties and agreements with Indian tribes, in whose behalf legislation was enacted or is pending in Congress or whose cases are pending in the Court of Claims, were included in this volume. Also included were a number of leading decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Federal and State courts, the Court of Claims, and the Solicitor of the Interior Department, all of which vitally affect the interests of the Indians, their tribes, and their reservation lands. These decisions cover just compensation for lands taken, which includes interest; the determination of value of lands taken; the ownership of the natural resources located on treaty reservations; jurisdiction over the New York Indian tribes; powers of Indian tribes under the Wheeler-Howard Act;

application to Indians of tariff and customs laws under treaties, and the nature of counterclaims, set-offs, and gratuities allowed by the court to the Government against the Indian tribes. Also included in this volume was the docket of the Court of Claims of December 1938 listing all Indian claims pending before the court. The volume contained a list of all decisions rendered by the Court of Claims in Indian cases contained in Court of Claims Reports from volume 1 to volume 90, both inclusive. The latest statement of trust funds standing to the credit of the several Indian tribes in the Treasury of the United States was made part of this volume.
1971 - Kappler's Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Vol VI

The five previously published volumes of Kappler's Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties, contained treaties and statutes relating to Indian affairs enacted through the Seventy-fifth Congress in 1938. Congress, by Title VII of the Act of April 11, 1968, 25 U.S.C. § 1341, authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to revise and extend Kappler's compilation to include all treaties, laws, executive orders and regulations relating to Indian affairs in force on September 1, 1967. This volume extended the work through the Ninety-first Congress, 1970.
1971 - Kappler's Indian Affairs - Laws and Treaties, Vol VII

In addition to the new material published found in Volume VI published in 1970 that included all treaties, laws, executive orders and regulations relating to Indian affairs in force on September 1, 1967, the five earlier volumes (1904-1941) were reprinted in Volume VII, as they were difficult to find, in their entirety except that in Volume IV, a 1928 edition of Title 25 of the United States Code was omitted, as were duplicate indexes to Volumes I, II and III.
1855 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1854

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1857 - History of Indian Tribes of the United States, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

A 900-plus page report prepared in 1857 by by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Interior Department, provided a detailed narrative of aboriginal modern history beginning with the arrival of white men in Florida, Louisiana and New Mexico. The report contains United States census of Indians as of 1957, tables of Indian bands and tribes, along with numerous statistical charts and chronologies regarding financial renumeration to Indians and related expenses, fur trade, religious and organizations established during various eras, as well as a chronological table of events in the history of the North American Indians.
1857 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1856

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1860 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1859

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1862, March 8 - Report of the Confederate States of America, War Department, Office of Indian Affairs

S. S. Scott, Acting Commissioner, Office of Indian Affairs, War Department, Confederate States of America, reported on March 8, 1862, the five-month efforts of General Albert Pike to make the nations and tribes west of Arkansas and south of Kansas the Confederate States' "firm and enduring friends, to contribute to their well being and prosperity, and to defend their country fro encroachments of the Northern people... ." Pike signed treaties with the Cherokees, Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws and Chickasaws, Senecas and Senacas and Shawnees, Quapaws, Great Osages, Wichitas and other lands of Reserve Indians, as well as four bands of Neum (wild Comaches of the prairies and staked plains). The report details the conditions of various tribes and commitments made by the Confederate States, inasmuch as the newly formed government was faced with addressing previous agreements between the tribes and the United States. Thirteen documents, letters and extracts from letters are appended to this report.
1863, February 18 - Communication from S. S. Scott, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Confederates States of America

An 1863 letter from S. S. Scott, Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Confederate States, to James A. Seddon, Secretary of War, in which he addressed previous agreements made by the United States with the North Carolina Cherokees, including financial renumeration made by the United States for those removed west of the Mississippi and as to those who remained in North Carolina. Scott wrote concerning when the North Carolina Cherokees had last received payment and how much would be owed by the Confederates on an annual basis.
1863 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1862

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1864 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1863

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1865 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1864

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1865 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1865

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1866 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1866

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1868, November 10 - Effort and Failure to Civilize the Aborigines, Edward D. Neill

In his 1868 letter to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Edward D. Neill, former Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote that "past generations of white men have not been indifferent to the welfare of the red man of America." He pointed to the benign efforts of early settlers to "bring the infidels and savages ... to human civility and settled and quiet government." He noted that numerous efforts had been made by the English "to bring those infidel people from the worship of devils to the service of God." Neill discussed the efforts of various communities and organized religion to educate and civilize the Indians, generally to no avail. He pointed to numerous examples of Indians discarding the white man's dress, slipping back into the customs of their fathers and joining their savage relatives against whites. Neill went on to identify what he perceived as the causes of the failure to civilize the Indians.
1868 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1867

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1868 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1868

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1870 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1869

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1870 - Report of the Commission of Indian Affairs for 1870

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1872 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1871

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.
1872 - Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1872

Detailed report on the efforts by the US government to civilize, educate and provide moral training to the original inhabitants. This largely involved placing the Indians on reservations, teaching them agricultural and homebuilding skills, training them in proper dress and customs of the white man and providing opportunities for education.