Excerpt from Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs: To the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1929 When the War Department was created by Congress under the act of August 7, 1789, the duties assigned to it included those "relative to Indian affairs." A Bureau of Indian Affairs was organized in the War Department on March 11, 1824, with Thomas L. McKenney as its chief, and among the duties to which he was assigned were: The administration of the fund for the civilization of the Indians, under regulations established by the department, the examination of the claims arising out of the laws regulating the intercourse with Indian tribes, and the ordinary correspondence with superintendents, agents, and subagents. He was succeeded September 30, 1830, by Samuel S. Hamilton, whose successor about one year later was Elbert Herring. By the act of July 9, 1832, there was created in the War Department the office of Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who, subject to the Secretary of War and the President, should have "the direction and management of all Indian affairs and all matters arising out of Indian relations." On June 30, 1834, an act was passed "to provide for the organization of the Department of Indian Affairs." Under this enactment certain agencies were established and others abolished, and provision was made for subagents, interpreters, and other employees, the payment of annuities, the purchase and distribution of supplies, etc. This may be regarded as the organic law of the Indian Department. When the Department of the Interior was created by act of March 3, 1849, the Bureau of Indian Affairs was transferred thereto, and hence passed from military to civil control. Section 441 of the Revised Statutes provides that "the Secretary of the Interior is charged with the supervision of public business relating to the Indians." Section 463 of the Revised Statutes reads: "The Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior and agreeable to such regulations as the President may prescribe, have the management of all Indian affairs, and of all matters arising out of Indian relations." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.