In this episode, John dives into the details of westward expansion after the Revolutionary War and the ways that both the movement of the United States and white Americans west affected Native Americans. John begins with a brief recap of how Native Americans and European-descended white settlers had interacted prior to the Revolution and then explains how the Revolution affected the relationship between Native Americans and whites in some general and specific ways. John talks about the motivations for those on either side of the divide and how the existence of an independent United States, various state governments and white Americans eager for cheap land on the frontier created existential challenges for Native Americans east of the Mississippi River.

John then discusses the new approach of the George Washington Administration and the new Federal government under the U.S. Constitution, beginning in 1789. He explains what Washington and Henry Knox, his closest collaborator in Native American policy early on, were thinking and trying to achieve as they took power. Finally, John discusses why Washington’s policies failed to work out as he’d hoped and how the administration and Congress then chose to approach westward expansion and Native Americans in the 1790s.