Issue Day at Agency Building, San Carlos AZ
The U.S. government was concerned early on with Indian affairs, and placed responsibility for them under the War Department. In 1824, the current Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, created the Bureau of Indian Affairs and appointed a commissioner. During its life, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was also called the Indian Office, the Indian Service, the Indian Department, and the Office of Indian Affairs. Its official name was adopted in 1947.
In 1849, jurisdiction over Indian affairs was transferred from the War Department to the newly created Department of the Interior (9 Stat. 395, March 3, 1849.) which also administered the General Land Office, the Patent Office, and the Pension Office.
The BIA controlled almost every aspect of Indian life, and operated on the assumption that native cultures were inferior to white culture. The BIA removed Indians to reservations, sent agents to oversee and control affairs on the reservations, provided medical care and distributed supplies, and created “assimilation” policies that were often harsh and cruel. Indian agents gained great power over the years, and it is often one of these men who decided that an Indian was insane.
