The American West (c1835-c1895): The 1868 Peace Policy

President Grant realised that government policy towards Plain’s Indians was not working. There had been lots of conflict between Plains Indians and the US government throughout the 1860’s and Indian’s were struggling to survive on the reservations. In response, President Grant created the Peace Policy of 1868.

The Peace Policy wanted to continue the strategy of placing Plains Indians into reservations to try and encourage them to become members of white American society. To support this, Grant made the army protect Indians in reservations from white attacks more effectively, and gave them the powers to attack any Indians who refused to stay in their reservation.

Grant also replaced any corrupt Indian agents (government officials in charge of running the reservations) with Christian men. He believed that Christian clergymen would be more trustworthy and less likely to take advantage of the Plains Indians.