US Presidency
1869

How will such officials be likely to serve an Administration which they know does not trust them? For the second requisite to our growth and prosperity time and a firm but humane administration of existing laws ( amended from time to time as they may prove ineffective or prove harsh and unnecessary ) are probably all that are required. The third can not be attained by special legislation, but must be regarded as fixed by the Constitution itself and gradually acquiesced in by force of public opinion. From the foundation of the Government to the present the management of the original inhabitants of this continent the Indians -has been a subject of embarrassment and expense, and has been attended with continuous robberies, murders, and wars. From my own experience upon the frontiers and in Indian countries, I do not hold either legislation or the conduct of the whites who come most in contact with the Indian blameless for these hostilities. The past, however, can not be undone, and the question must be met as we now find it.