Columbus Delano
Secretary of the Interior
Annual Reports for 1872,1873
"In our intercourse with the Indians it must always be borne in mind that we are the most powerful
party...we are assuming, and I think with propriety, that our civilization ought to take the place of their
barbarous habits. We therefore claim the right to control the soil they occupy, and we assume that it is
our duty to coerce them, if necessary, into the adoption and practice of our habits and customs...I would
not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western prairies, in its effect upon
the Indians, regarding it rather as a means of hastening their sense of dependence upon the products
of the soil."
Secretary of the Interior
Annual Reports for 1872,1873
"In our intercourse with the Indians it must always be borne in mind that we are the most powerful
party...we are assuming, and I think with propriety, that our civilization ought to take the place of their
barbarous habits. We therefore claim the right to control the soil they occupy, and we assume that it is
our duty to coerce them, if necessary, into the adoption and practice of our habits and customs...I would
not seriously regret the total disappearance of the buffalo from our western prairies, in its effect upon
the Indians, regarding it rather as a means of hastening their sense of dependence upon the products
of the soil."
Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior