Indian Trade and Intercourse Act
INDIAN TRADE AND INTERCOURSE ACT
INDIAN TRADE AND INTERCOURSE ACT. The Indian Trade and Intercourse Act was a set of measures enacted between 1790 and 1847 to improve relations with American Indians by granting the United States government sole authority to regulate interactions between Indians and non-Indians. The sale of Indian lands to individuals or states was forbidden. An 1834 renewal of the act also designated all U.S. lands west of the Mississippi River (except Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas Territory) as Indian Territory. Indian Territory gradually shrank and eventually vanished with the creation of Oklahoma in 1906. In spite of this reversal, the Penobscots and Passamaquoddies of Maine referred to the act in their 1972 suit for lands taken from them illegally in 1792. In 1980 they were awarded $81 million, which they used to expand reservation lands.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prucha, Francis Paul. The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
Paul W.Gates/j. h.
See alsoIndian Policy, U.S., 1775–1830 ; Indian Territory ; Passamaquoddy/Penobscot ; andvol. 9:Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 .