Memoirs

Also contained in the same book is a second volume by McKenney, entitled On the Origin, History, Character and the Wrongs and Rights of the Indians, with a Plan for the Preservation and Happiness of the Remnants of that Persecuted Race. Volume 2 begins after page 340 of Volume 1. Thomas Loraine McKenney (1785-1859) was a Quaker who was appointed in 1816 by President Madison in 1816 as the “Superintendent of the United States Indian Trade with the Indian Tribes”. The account in Volume 1 opens with that appointment. He later served as the “Superintendent of Indian Affairs”, but was dismissed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830. McKenney was a strong advocate for educating Indians, and openly critical of the way they had been treated by the government.