For the government, however, the war against the Lakotas changed little. In his report, Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Q. Smith in 1876 still spoke of Indian policy as a largely administrative problem, one in which Indians would have little say. It was not, he thought, in the best interests of either Indians or the United States to observe the treaties strictly. The United States would give Indians a “secure home” and “just and equitable laws,” but this was a matter for the government, and not Indians, to decide. Public necessity was the supreme law.
