Many of the medals which are now included in the U.S. Mint's presidential series were made originally for presentation to American Indian chiefs and warriors. The Spanish, the French, and the British had presented medals to the Indians, and the British especially had produced large and magnificent silver medals, each bearing the likeness of the reigning monarch on one side and his coat of arms on the other. The British medals were solid silver, impressed in clear relief, and were given to the Indian chiefs as marks of friendship and special recognition. They were highly prized by the Indians, who not only delighted in the decorative aspects of the medals but who also esteemed the honor that was signified by possession of a medal bearing the likeness of the Great White Father.

When the United States replaced the British in dealing with the Indians, the new government found that it was necessary to continue the practice of presenting medals if it hoped to have peaceful relations with the tribes and influence with the chiefs. The Federal Government, then, began the production of Indian peace medals, which became a settled and extremely important part of American Indian policy.

As early as 1787, Henry Knox, the Secretary of War under the Articles of Confederation, urged Congress to comply with the request of the Indians for "medals, gorgets, wrist and arm bands with the arms of the United States impressed or engraved thereon." Congress was pressed for funds, but Knox noted that the Indians would turn in their British medals, which could be melted down to produce new ones. Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State, outlined the policy behind the distribution of medals to the Indians; he spoke of it as "an ancient custom from time immemorial." The medals, he said, "are considered as complimentary things, as marks of friendship to those who come to see us, or who do us good offices, conciliatory of their good will toward us, and not designed to produce a contrary disposition towards others. They confer no power, and seem to have taken their origin in the European practice, of giving medals or other marks of friendship to the negotiators of treaties and other diplo matic characters, or visitors of distinction."

Whatever the origin, the practice took firm hold in the United States. Medals were given to Indian chiefs on important occasions, such as the signing of a treaty, a visit of important Indians to the national capital, or a tour of the Indian country by some Federal official. Lewis and Clark on their famous exploratory expedition to the Pacific coast in 1804-06 carried along a large supply of medals, which they handed out with impressive ceremonies

to important chiefs along the way. Indian agents on the frontier distributed the medals to their charges, in recognition of friendship and peace with the United States. These Indian agents or treaty negotiators used their own discretion in making the presentations, but they were guided by fixed norms. In 1829, in fact, Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, and William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis, drew up a series of regulations for the governing of the Indian Department, including rules for the presentation of medals. What these two experienced Indian agents set down in their proposed regulations represented the practice that they had observed on the frontier:

"In the distribution of medals and flags, the following rules will be observed:

"1. They will be given to influential persons only. "2. The largest medals will be given to the principal village chiefs, those of the second size will be given to the principal war chiefs, and those of the third size to the less distinguished chiefs and warriors.

"3. They will be presented with proper formalities, and with an appropriate speech, so as to produce a proper impression upon the Indians.

"4. It is not intended that chiefs should be appointed by an officer of the department, but that they should confer these badges of authority upon such as are selected or recognized by the tribe, and as are worthy of them, in the manner heretofore practised.

"5. Whenever a foreign medal is worn, it will be replaced by an American medal, if the Agent should consider the person entitled to a medal."

The Indians expected to receive medals, and it was impossible to conduct Indian affairs without the use of them. Thomas L. McKenney, head of the Office of Indian Affairs, in 1829 wrote to the Secretary of War about the policy of distributing medals. "So important is its continuance esteemed to be," he said, "that without medals, any plan of operations among the Indians, be it what it may, is essentially enfeebled. This comes of the high value which the Indians set upon these tokens of Friendship. They are, besides this indication of the Government Friendship, badges of power to them, and trophies of renown. They will not consent to part from this ancient right, as they esteem it; and according to the value they set upon medals is the importance to the Government in having them to bestow."

The U.S. Government took great pains to produce medals for the Indians of real artistic merit. This cultural concern is surprising in a young nation trying to establish