Memoirs, Official and Personal

📖 The Scoop

"One of the most significant yet least known figures in the history of American Indian policy, Thomas L. McKenney directed the nation's Indian affairs for fourteen years, from 1816 to 1830, and was the principal architect of two pieces of legislation that had a profound impact on Indian policy: the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 and the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Serving first as superintendent of Indian trade and then as head of the newly created Bureau of Indian Affairs, McKenney traveled widely among the eastern tribes and established the forerunner of the Smithsonian Institution's ethnological collection. McKenney's Memoirs were first published in 1846 as two volumes in one. Volume one, which is devoted largely to his visits to the tribes and to a defense of his public career (he had been discharged from office under a cloud of controversy), offers valuable insights into the rationale behind the early Indian programs. A substantial collections of pertinent primary documents are reprinted in the appendix. This edition omits the much briefer and less consequential volume two."--Back cover.

Genre: Biography & Autobiography / General (fancy, right?)