Thomas McKenney

Thomas L. McKenney implemented early govern-mental policies affecting Native Americans as superintendent of Indian trade (1816–22) and founding superintendent of Indian affairs (1824–30). While in office, McKenney commissioned paintings of Native diplomats by portraitist Charles Bird King. This effort eventually led him to compile the three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836–44), which features lithographs of King’s portraits accompanied by biographical sketches by McKenney and his collaborator, James Hall.

Despite his interest in the history of Native Americans, McKenney sought for them to assimi-late into Euro-American culture through Christian education. He also helped secure the passage of the Indian Civilization Fund Act (1819) and, more ominously, the Indian Removal Act (1830), which confiscated Indian lands and forced Indigenous nations to relocate west of the Mississippi. When McKenney blamed President Andrew Jackson for the brutality of the Trail of Tears, Jackson fired him for insubordination.