- The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 stated that Native Americans were to be treated with utmost good faith and their lands could not be taken without consent.
- Governor William Henry Harrison threatened, bribed, and intoxicated Indians in the 1810s, leading Tecumseh to start an Indian confederation. Harrison defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.
- The 1819 purchase of Florida meant Indians who had fled there now lost territory, and Andrew Jackson led a raid crushing the Seminoles, who were then moved to a reservation.