Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 93

Cite as:  599 U. S. ____ (2023) 

11 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

the Department with authority over “Indian affairs.”  See 
§1, 1 Stat. 50.  War Secretary Henry Knox then called for,
and obtained, “a line of garrisons in the Indian Country, in
order to enforce the treaties and maintain the peace of the 
frontier.”  F. Prucha, American Indian Policy in the Forma-
tive  Years  61  (1962)  (Prucha,  American  Indian  Policy).
Those  garrisons  remained  for  years,  working  to  prevent
American settlers from illegally entering Indian country or
otherwise stirring up conflicts.  Id., at 61–63. 

Meanwhile,  President  Washington  exercised  his  diplo-
matic authority to maintain peace on the frontier.  For ex-
ample, when Pennsylvania settlers killed two members of
the Seneca Nation, Washington appointed a federal agent
to meet with the Seneca and “ ‘give the strongest assurances 
of the friendship of the United States towards that Tribe; 
and to make pecuniary satisfaction.’ ”  Letter to T. Mifflin 
(Sept. 4, 1790), reprinted in 6 Papers of George Washington
396 (D. Twohig ed. 1996).  And, in line with his executive 
authority to “regulate all intercourse with foreign powers,”
see 4 J. Elliot, Debates on the Constitution 126–127 (1863),
Washington  instructed  Pennsylvania’s  Governor  to  refer 
the Seneca “ ‘to the Executive of the United States, as pos-
sessing the only authority of regulating an intercourse with
them,  and  redressing  their  grievances,’ ”  Letter  to  T.  Mif-
flin, in Papers of George Washington 396.

Congress too did its part, enacting a series of acts “to reg-
ulate Trade and Intercourse with the Indian Tribes, and to 
preserve Peace on the Frontiers.”  See, e.g., 1 Stat. 469; 2 
Stat. 139; 1 Stat. 137 (emphasis deleted).  Those “Trade and 
Intercourse  Acts”  underscored  the  Federal  Government’s 
new powers and worked to establish a policy of peace and 
trade with Indian tribes.  For example, the Acts threatened 
criminal penalties on any U. S. citizen who entered Indian 
lands  and  there  committed  crimes  against  Indians.    See, 
e.g.,  id.,  at  137;  see  also  Prucha,  American  Indian  Policy 
188–193.  Though opponents of those provisions contended