The Indian Question by Francis Amasa Walker examines United States policy toward Native American peoples in the years following the Civil War. Walker, an economist and statistician who served as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, writes from direct administrative experience of the federal government’s dealings with the tribes.
The book analyses the condition of Native Americans, the workings of the reservation system, and the problems Walker saw in existing policy, proposing measures he believed would address them. Reflecting the assumptions and paternalism of his era, his arguments treat the so-called Indian question as a matter of management and assimilation. As a primary source, the work offers insight into nineteenth-century American attitudes and policy debates regarding Native peoples, illuminating a troubled and consequential chapter of United States history.