Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-376_7l48.pdf
Page Number: 95

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

13 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

tribes from allying themselves with European powers, Con-
gress  forbade  people  from  conveying  messages  to  Indian 
tribes from foreign states.  2 Stat. 6. 

Congress also, of course, regulated trade with the Indian 
tribes.  For example, the Acts continued the colonial prac-
tice of requiring licenses to trade with Indians and threat-
ened penalties on anyone who sold or purchased goods from 
Indians  without  a  license.  See,  e.g.,  1  Stat.  329–330.    To 
facilitate trade, Congress also established a series of trad-
ing houses on the frontiers, appropriating federal funds to
set up the houses and purchase goods from Indians.  See, 
e.g., id., at 443, 453–454; 2 Stat. 173.  And, “to promote civ-
ilization” and secure the tribes’ “friendship,” Congress ap-
propriated funds for the President to furnish gifts to the In-
dians.  See, e.g., §13, 1 Stat. 472.

To be sure, these measures were not entirely successful, 
and the Federal Government’s policy was not always one of 
peace.  American frontiersmen continued to  push into In-
dian lands, and the military garrisons sometimes could not 
stem the tide.  See Prucha 62–63, 112.  The Indians (often
supported by the British) engaged in intermittent raids and
attacks against American settlers, and the Federal Govern-
ment  and  several  confederated  tribes  fought  a  significant 
war in the Northwest Territories.  Id., at 63–67; J. Yoo, Cri-
sis and Command 75–79 (2011); M. Fletcher & W. Singel, 
Indian Children and the Federal-Tribal Trust Relationship,
95  Neb.  L. Rev.  885,  904–905  (2017)  (Fletcher  &  Singel). 
Additionally,  the  Federal  Government  often  played  tribes 
against  each  other  to  obtain  land  concessions  by  treaty,
leading many tribes (again goaded by the British) to take
up arms against the United States in the War of 1812.  See 
Cohen §1.03[3], at 39–41.  In the aftermath of that conflict, 
Presidents Monroe and John Quincy Adams generally pur-
sued a policy of assimilation or removing Indians west with 
their  consent.  Prucha,  American  Indian  Policy  226–233.