American Indians during Washington’s Presidency: 1789 to 1797

Following the ratification of the United States Constitution, George Washington was elected as the first president. He and Henry Knox, the country’s first Secretary of War, had to shape the country’s Indian policy. They knew Americans would take the land as the new nation grew. But to take the land by force would be expensive and the new country had no money and only a small army. They hoped it could happen in a more natural process and believed that as Americans moved westward, the Indians would assimilate and become “civilized” and they would be willing to sell their lands. They hoped there could be a peaceful transition. However, if the Indians would not assimilate, leave, or sell their lands, they would be considered as “hostile” and would be “extirpated.”

Note: “Extirpated” was Washington’s term for extermination, which at the time was accepted as part of colonialism. Today, this policy would be considered genocide or ethnic cleansing.

During his presidency, Washington would order his troops to do just that. In November of 1791, when Ohio Indians would not agree with America’s infiltration of their Ohio lands, Washington ordered General Authur St. Clair and the new First American Regiment to attack the Indian Confederacy of Miamis, Shawnee, Delaware, and others. In St. Clair’s encounter with the Ohio Indian Nations, the new American army was decimated and would have to be rebuilt.

With the hard lesson of St. Clair’s defeat, also known as the Battle of the Wabash, and the time needed to rebuild an American army, Washington took a new diplomatic approach.  Over the next five years, he would host delegations of Indian Nations. He recognized the power Indians had over the Indian territories. Westward expansion would remain difficult, and he had to learn how to conduct business in a way that Indians would accept. He needed to build alliances and make deals. He hoped Indian leadership could be convinced to adopt the American way. But during these meetings, he ordered Knox and others who were present “don’t talk about land”.

Despite the diplomatic efforts, battles for the Ohio Country would continue throughout the 1790’s. The Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 would essentially end Indian sovereignty in the Ohio Country. ²

Washington’s American Indian Legacy

George Washington died in December 1799 with over 45,000 acres of land (some accounts reflect 58,000 acres earlier in his life). It had once been Indian land. Though not generally acknowledged, Washington never demonstrated compassion or affection for any Indian, including those that thought him to be their friend. At home in Mount Vernon, he didn’t display Native artifacts or gifts. But he must have felt their presence, deep in his bones, their haunting memories following him all his life. 

Years after Washington’s death, his reputation soared and memories of his harsh treatment of Indians faded as U.S. policies became more ruthless under new politicians on a quest for land and personal wealth. Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the subsequent “Trail of Tears” forced over 100,000 Native Americans off their land. Unjust “removals” would continue for decades, and Washington’s Indian policies would be forgotten. 

Washington wrote in 1796,

I believe scarcely anything short of a Chinese wall, or a line of troops, will restrain Land jobbers, and the encroachment of settlers upon the Indian territory.

As Washington and Knox had envisioned, America would take the land.

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1. File:Henry Knox by Gilbert Stuart 1806.jpeg – Wikimedia Commons. (1806). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Knox_by_Gilbert_Stuart_1806.jpeg ↩︎
2. Hudson, M. (1998, July 20). Battle of Fallen Timbers | Facts, Results, & Significance. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Fallen-Timbers#/media/1/200882/201109 ↩︎

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