JOHN C. CALHOUN AND THE CREATION OF THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS: AN ESSAY ON POLITICAL RIVALRY, IDEOLOGY, AND POLICYMAKING IN THE EARLY REPUBLIC From: South Carolina Historical Magazine | Date: July 1, 2004| Author: Belko, William S | Copyright South Carolina Historical Society Jul 2004. Provided by ProQuest LLC.Copyright information

"THE EXPERIENCE OF THE INDIAN FACTORY SYSTEM," reflected Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton, "is an illustration of the unfitness of the federal government to carry on any system of trade, the liability of the benevolent designs of the government to be abused, and the difficulty of detecting and redressing abuses in the management of our Indian affairs."1 In 1822, behind the powerful forces of Senator Benton, a cabal of interested U.S. congressmen, and John Jacob Astor, president of the Amer...