The early nineteenth century in the United States was marked by its steady expansion to the Mississippi River .  However, due to the Gadsden purchase, that lead to U.S. control of the borderlands of southern New Mexico and Arizona in addition to the authority over Oregon country, Texas and California ; America’s expansion did not end there.  Between 1830 and 1860 the United States nearly doubled the amount of territory under its control.  These territorial gains coincided with the arrival of troves of European and Asian immigrants who wished to join the surge of American settlers heading west.  This, partnered with the discovery of gold in 1849, presented attractive opportunities for those willing to make the long journey westward. Consequently, with the military’s protection and the U.S. government’s assistance, many settlers began building their homesteads in the Great Plains and other parts of the Native American inhabited West.

Native American Policy can be defined as the laws and operations developed and adapted in the United States to outline the relationship between Native Americans and the federal government. When the United States first became an independent nation, it adopted the European policies towards these native peoples, but over the course of two centuries the U.S. adapted its own widely varying policies regarding the changing perspectives and necessities of Native American supervision. In 1824, in order to administer the U.S. government’s Native American policies, Congress made a new agency within the War Department called the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which worked closely with the U.S. Army to enforce their policies. At times the federal government recognized the Indians as self-governing, independent political communities with varying cultural identities; however, at other times the government attempted to force the Native Americans to abandon their cultural identity, give up their land and assimilate into the American culture.  The U.S. government’s policies towards Native Americans in the second half of the nineteenth century were influenced by the desire to expand westward into territories occupied by these Indian tribes.

With the steady flow of settlers into Indian controlled land, Eastern newspapers published sensationalized stories of cruel native tribes committing massive massacres of hundreds of white travelers.  Although some settlers lost their lives to American Indian attacks, this was not the norm; in fact, Native Americans often helped settlers cross the Plains.  Not only did the American Indians sell wild game and other supplies to travelers, but they acted as guides and messengers between wagon trains as well. Despite the friendly natures of the American Indians, settlers still feared the possibility of an attack. 

To calm these fears, in 1851 the U.S. government held a conference with several local Indian tribes and established the Treaty of Fort Laramie.  Under this treaty, each Native American tribe accepted a bounded territory, allowed the government to construct roads and forts in this territory and pledged not to attack settlers; in return the federal government agreed to honor the boundaries of each tribe’s territory and make annual payments to the Indians.  The Native Americans responded peacefully to the treaty; in fact the Cheyenne , Sioux, Crow, Arapaho, Assinibione, Mandan , Gros Ventre and Arikara tribes who signed the treaty, even agreed to end the hostilities amongst their tribes in order to accept the terms of the treaty.