This book examines the formation of U.S. government policy toward the American Indian tribes during the period 1820-1890. Chapter 1 describes the early 19th century debate between the Gradualists, who believed in the peaceful assimilation of the Indians into white society, and the Removalists, who advocated forced removal of the tribes to the West. Andrew Jackson coalesced the two positions, producing a policy of separation that would ideally give the Indians time to acculturate. By 1840 the tribes of the South had been removed to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Chapter 2 examines how the developments of the 1840s--migratory fever and the overland trails, "manifest destiny" and territorial expansion--led to a policy of concentration whereby the tribes would be confined to particular lands in exchange for an annuity of food and goods from the federal government. Chapter 3 details the effects of the Civil War on federal-Indian relations. Chapters 4 and 5 describe the two phases of the Plains Wars as struggles to realize and enforce the policy of concentration. Chapter 6 discusses government efforts to develop policy on governing the American Indians in the aftermath of the Indian Wars. This book contains a bibliographic essay, four historical maps, and an index. (SV)