preview

James Calhoun To Washington Case Study

Decent Essays

James Calhoun wrote to President Zachary Taylor on February 27th 1850 and a copy of it is included in the letter from Calhoun to Orlando Brown on March 1st 1850, this letter is respectfully written and is asking above and beyond the Indian office for helping regarding the disorder (murders and robberies) in the territory: “No one in this territory is safe in his person or property”. So despite the previous stated sympathetic view of Calhoun towards the American Indians, he still mentions them as the problem. This could have been because the Government seemed to respond to this information, and that Native Americans were causing disorder, in order to receive more resources. This is supported by the fact that Calhoun states the Indians cannot …show more content…

They had to deal with the longevity of the problems alongside, not just those that occurred while travelling but likewise being able to prevent further confrontations and concerns. They faced dangers from Washington policy makers, in order to give them the correct resources to protect against the Native Americans and the Mexicans that posed a challenge. James Calhoun faced the majority of the issues and did everything within his power to prevent various problems as they arose. They dealt with these dangers through a mix of official of policy in Washington and the on the ground diplomacy from James Calhoun. Throughout the period of James Calhoun’s office there was a change in American-Native relations there was an increase in the treaties with the local Native American tribes and agreement being …show more content…

It has shown the difficulties when dealing with Native Americans and the manoeuvring that was required with each treaty. The challenges of working with the Indian Office. Not only this, the correspondence has shown the influence of the Office of Indian Affairs since its inauguration in 1824. James Calhoun’s correspondence has not been used extensively in order to show the dangers of the travelling during the nineteenth century as well as the challenges of the political environment. My work accepts the theory of borderlands as a cultural barrier as well as geographical one, however the reason the Santa Fe Trail was different to others was due to the cultural outlook. My argument is still that the Santa Fe Trail was only as dangerous as any other trail, James Calhoun faced the same challenges as other in his trade. Challenges faced with Native Americans were similar throughout the country, and James Calhoun did everything possible to help ease the passage of Americans as well as Native Americans through the South west. This argument takes the arguments of borderlands and adds the political component, revealing that the politicians and policies used to protect the traders. They used military escorts, treaties and agreements with Native Americans in order to establish a safe trading state throughout the time period. Prior to the injection of James Calhoun in the

Get Access