The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923 Page: 29
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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The Indian Policy of the Republic of Texas
be met only by audited drafts, and orders on agents of land scrip
in the United States, or by special donations and loans from in-
dividuals. But about November 1, 1837, the issue of treasury
notes began, and after that appropriations could be easily met.
The result of the issue of treasury notes was the rapid increase
in prices, and the decrease in the value of the notes."s The total
expenditures from January 1, 1837, to September 30, 1838, were
$1,777,363, of which amount $430,570 were expended for the
army and navy, which includes support of war department, ap-
propriations for Indians, and $64,014 expended by order of the
president.87 The comptroller in 1854 estimated that the total
expenditures on account of the Indians, 1837-1838, was $190,000.88
Houston had honestly believed in, and consistently carried out,
as far as possible, a policy of peace and friendship towards the
Indians, but at the close of his administration his work seemed to
have been in vain. The depredations of the Indians had not been
visibly decreased, and their treaties with the government had been
broken.8" The natural antagonism of race, and the lack of sym-
pathy and understanding caused by the difference in the degree
of civilization, were the two underlying causes that prevented the
success of the policy of peace. The immediate cause was the occu-
pation of land by the Indian, which the settlers wanted to use for
fields and pastures. The Indians considered that the whites were
making encroachments on their hunting grounds, and retaliated
by stealing cattle and killing the settlers. Such acts the Texans
thought deserved the most severe punishment. The Mexican sit-
uation was not acute, the government was well organized, and the
country was becoming stronger each day. If the savages would not
desist from their depredations, it was beginning to be the general
sentiment that a war should be waged against them, which would
teach them the value of peace."9
(Continued.)
8"Miller, A Fnancial History of Temas, 20-21.
'8Ibsd., 20, note 5.
88Ibid., 25, note 1.
8"Report of G. W. Bonnell, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in Senate,
Reports of the United States, 30 Congress, 1 Session, 512, Document 171,
38-46.
9"Ibid., 38-46.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 26, July 1922 - April, 1923, periodical, 1923; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101084/m1/35/?rotate=270: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.