The Platte Purchase and Native American removal

The Platte Purchase region was not part of Missouri until its annexation in 1837. Originally this area was a portion of the lands west of the Mississippi River reserved for Native American relocation. Once acquired, land-hungry pioneers eagerly sought the region; however, prior to pioneer settlement the resident Native Americans had to be removed. The Platte Purchase provides an interesting case study of Native American removal because not only were the original inhabitants of the area displaced, but groups from the East were also being relocated to the Platte Purchase region, only to be expelled within a matter of months. The Native American transient occupation of the Platte region was indicative of the lack of organization that plagued removal policy during the 1830s. Federal officials should not have acquired the Platte region as a relocation destination for Native Americans. Its adjacency to the Missouri River should have convinced policy makers that the region would in time be overrun by settlers and attached to the state of Missouri.