Letters sent by the Superintendent of Indian Trade

On the six rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced six bound volumes of handwritten copies of the outgoing correspondence of the Superintendents of Indian Trade from 1807 to 1823. The Office of Indian Trade was formally established in 1806 by an act (2 Stat. 402) that authorized the President to appoint a Superintendent of Indian Trade who would "purchase and take charge of all goods intended for trade with the Indian nations," and, in general, assume responsibility for the execution of the Government's program of conducting trade with the Indian tribes on the frontier by means of Government-owned and operated trading houses or "factories." The factory system itself was established in 1795 as an attempt to attach the tribes more closely to the the trade, and to protect the Indians from being cheated by unscrupulous private traders. The trade with the Indians was not intended to be a profitmaking enterprise. It was hoped, however, that by selling goods to the Indians at cost, plus expenses, the Government would be able to establish more harmonious relations with them and possibly make them even more dependent upon the Government.