Indian Affairs And The Administrative State In The Nineteenth Century

Indian Affairs and the Administrative State in the Nineteenth Century The framers of the Constitution and the generations that followed built a powerful and intrusive national administrative state in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The romantic myth of an individualized, pioneering expansion across an open West obscures nationally coordinated administrative and regulatory activity in Indian affairs, land policy, trade policy, infrastructure development, and a host of other issue areas related to expansion. Stephen J. Rockwell offers a careful look at the administration of Indian affairs and its relation to other national policies managing and shaping national expansion westward. Throughout the nineteenth century, Indian affairs were at the center of concerns about national politics, the national economy, and national social issues. Rockwell describes how a vibrant and complicated national administrative state operated from the earliest days of the republic, long before the Progressive era and the New Deal. Stephen J. Rockwell is an Associate Professor of Political Science at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, New York. He taught in the Political Science and Public Administration programs at the University of Michigan–Flint and worked as a Senior Research Analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. He is the coauthor (with Peter Woll) of American Government: Competition and Compromise (2001) and coeditor (with Peter Woll) of an anthology entitled American Political Ideals and Realities (2000). Indian Affairs and the Administrative State in the Nineteenth Century STEPHEN J. ROCKWELL St. Joseph’s College, New York cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao ˜ Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521193634 © Stephen J. Rockwell 2010 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2010 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Rockwell, Stephen J., 1966– Indian affairs and the administrative state in the nineteenth century / Stephen J. Rockwell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-521-19363-4 (hbk.) 1. Indians of North America – Government relations – History – 19th century. 2. Indians of North America – legal status, law, etc. – History – 19th century. 3. Federal government – United States – History – 19th century. 4. Administrative agencies – United States – History –