Wisconsin Senator James Doolittle authored Senate Joint Resolution 89 creating a Joint Special Committee (nicknamed the Doolittle Commission) to analyze the “Indian problem” and investigate corruption among Indian agents and the mistreatment of Native Americans by the military.
The Joint Special Committee issued this report on January 26, 1867. It found that the Indian population was rapidly decreasing because of White aggression, destruction of game, and loss of land.
Text adapted from “Evaluating Perspectives on Westward Expansion: Weighing the Evidence” in the special “Teaching Difficult Topics with Primary Sources” November/December 2011 issue of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
