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Page Number: 96.0

14 

HAALAND v. BRACKEEN 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

That policy then gave  way  to a more forceful policy of re-
moving  Indians  west,  particularly  during  the  administra-
tion of President Andrew Jackson.  Id., at 233–249; Cohen 
§1.03[4], at 41–51; Prucha 193–195, 239–240.

But, at least until the War of 1812 (and, in large part, in
the years after it), Founding-era Presidents’ primary goals 
in this area were to achieve peace with the Indians, sustain 
trade with them, and obtain Indian lands through treaties.  
See id., at 32–33, 59, 61, 93.  By establishing a peaceful and
trade-oriented relationship with the Indians, the new coun-
try further hoped to exclude British Canada and other Eu-
ropean  powers  that  might  seek  alliances  with  the  Indian
tribes.  See Cohen §1.03[3], at 37–38, n. 102; 2 Stat. 6.  Dur-
ing that time, the Federal Government’s relationship with
the Indians thus remained (as it did for nearly the first hun-
dred years of our Nation) “ ‘more an aspect of military and 
foreign  policy’ ”  than  simple  domestic  law.  See  United 
States v. Lara, 541 U. S. 193, 201 (2004). 

C 
Notably, neither President Washington nor the first Con-
gresses were particularly “concerned with the remnants of 
tribes that had been absorbed by the states and had come
under  their  direction  and  control.”  Prucha  92.  The  first 
Trade and Intercourse Acts specifically provided that “noth-
ing  in  this  act  shall  be  construed  to  prevent  any  trade  or
intercourse with Indians living on lands surrounded by set-
tlements  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  being 
within the jurisdiction of any of the individual states.”  §13,
1 Stat. 331; §19, id., at 474.  And the Constitution’s Appor-
tionment  Clause  provided  that  representatives  would  be
apportioned by the population of each State, “excluding In-
dians  not  taxed”—implying  that  there  were  Indians  who
paid taxes and were incorporated into the bodies politic of 
the States.  Art. I, §2, cl. 3.