Indian traders on the Middle Border

Between 1827 and 1854, William G. and George W. Ewing of Fort Wayne, Indiana, were important merchants, real estate brokers, and speculators, as well as professional Indian traders. Because these men made it their business to deal with the relatively peaceful tribes on the Middle Border (Pottawatomi, Miami, Sac and Fox), they have not received the attention given to their more glamorous and picturesque counterparts of that era, the Rocky Mountain fur traders. Nevertheless, the House of Ewing dominated trade with the Middle Border tribes, and through its influence in mattes of Indian removal, claims cases against the government, and treaty legislation became a potent force in the shaping of American Indian policy. In this chronicle of frontier business and political influence, Robert A. Trennert, Jr., examines the extent of the relationship between businessmen and policy makers and presents an entirely new perspective on the nation's treatment of the native population. By focusing on the activities of a single trading house, this study offers the first systematic investigation of the professional Indian traders and their influence over the Indians and federal Indian policy. Trennert looks at the many aspects of nineteenth-century Indian affairs from an economic point of view and provides a significant understanding of the working so removal contractors, of Indian claims cases, of the questionable motives behind some treaty negotiations, and of the political pressures involved in the formulation of Indian policy, as well as a unique look at entrepreneurship during the Jacksonian period.