Indian agent

"[2] As a practical matter, especially in early days, Indian agents also "served as spies, on the lookout for tribal interaction with representatives of foreign governments.

The board "never more deeply felt, that Indian agents should be appointed solely for merit and fitness for their work ... and should be retained in the service when they prove themselves to be efficient and helpful by their character and moral influence.

"[1]: 251  This civilian run board was charged "with responsibility for supervising the disbursement of Indian appropriations" from state and federal governments.

[6] Despite its deeply felt convictions that its Indian agents were appointed and removed on merit, the civilian Board of Commissioners was frequently deemed corrupt, portrayed derogatorily in print and propaganda, and inadvertently assumed the scapegoat for the perceived inefficiency of Indian-White affairs: the Indian agent.

[5]: 409 When Theodore Roosevelt reached the presidency at the turn of the 20th century (1901–1909), the Indian agents that remained on the government payroll were all replaced by school superintendents.