The Problem of Authority in the Backcountry: Americans fought Indians and one another over land in the backcountry and over land prices. Much of the land in the west had been sold by the federal government to speculators, who in turn tried to subdivide and sell their land to settlers. Settlers, many finding the sale price too high, simply squatted on land and claimed the rights of possession and improvement. Naturally, the legal owners were annoyed. What unified the government, land owners, and squatters was the unalterable belief that the land was theirs to fight over—few acknowledged a legitimate claim to the land. The Treaty of Paris 1783 did not acknowledge any Indian claims to the land ceded to the new United States. By the time Washington took office, the frontier was in an uproar: undisciplined federal troops, unprincipled state militias, and confederations of Indian tribes contested with one another. To make matters worse, Spain was trying to lure settlers into New Spain and Great Britain still maintained forts on American soil, despite provisions in the Treaty of Paris. Neither Washington nor the federal government could do anything about these problems and the state governments, settlers, and small business owners in the west complained. Washington realized that the nation’s external relations and domestic authority was in jeopardy. He used the territories to demonstrate the power of the federal government.

     Taking the Land: Washington’s Indian Policy: In the first month he was in office President Washington submitted a report on Indian affairs written by Henry Knox, secretary of war. The report called for substantive revisions, Indian policies and argued for the government to recognize a residual Indian right to the soil "that was not affected by any treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain. The right, Knox argued, could only be extinguished in some other manner such as military victory. He argued for the U.S. to do the right thing by buying Indian claims to disputed lands in the Northwest Territory. Congress appropriated money and authorized territorial governors to act on the federal government’s behalf. The modification in attitude did not mark a shift in the nation’s goal: extinguishing title to the Indians’ lands and their removal from the Northwest Territory. Knox’s policy statement argued that the Indians were not just communities within state boundaries but foreign entities, similar to nations, and therefore properly the business of the federal government—not state governments. By 1790, because of continuing conflict, President Washington resorted to a military solution. The efforts were dismal failures. The result was proof that the new government was inept in protecting its citizens. Therefore Washington moved, once again, to bolster the nation’s credibility and the citizens’ confidence in it. By 1795, with a string of military victories over Indians in the Northwest Territory and a signed treaty in hand, Indians ceded over to the federal government two-thirds of the Ohio region and part of Indiana. The land cessions were to be compensated for in the payment of annual annuities to the Indians. In the south, the federal government took advantage of and manipulated existing internal factions within the Cherokee, Creek, and other groups. Using coercive tactics and the military, the tribes of the south were brought under the control of the government, but where Washington may have felt the "Indian problem" solved, young Indian men were biding their time for a new opportunity to regain lost land, prestige, and traditions.

     Western Lands and Eastern Politics: The Whiskey Rebellion: When Washington became president, he presided over a nation of people for whom ignoring their government when it suited them was an old pattern. However, if the new government was to govern effectively it had to demonstrate its ability, its willingness to do so. The incident presented itself in 1791 in western Pennsylvania where opposition to Hamilton’s excise tax on whiskey was intense. A troop of 13,000 soldiers marching through western Pennsylvania soon quelled the protest.

Think About This

1. President Washington and Congress faced several problems where "the west" was concerned. What problems did they face? Were these problems unique to the west? If so, why or why not?
2. President Washington justified taking the Indians’ lands by arguing that:
3. What was the Whiskey Rebellion? How was it resolved? In the end, what did it signal to the American public about the new federal government?

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