After negotiations with the Potawatomi to build the Michigan Road through Indiana by James B. Ray and Lewis Cass on behalf of President John Quincy Adams, Cass negotiated a pair of treaties to purchase lands in Indiana and Michigan, collectively called the Treaty of Mississinewa.
The federal government agreed to buy out some of the estates granted by the previous Treaty of St. Mary's.
White treaty makers did not necessarily understand the complexities and fluidity of Indian tribal societies, and often overestimated the nature of the authority vested in a particular chief by the band, the permanence of tribal membership and intertribal alliances, and the permanence of Indian settlements, which often shifted according to the season.
Younger males were more likely than their elders to prefer the use of force against white settlers to negotiations.
Mixed-race native and Canadien tribal members were more likely to support the treaty and its implementation, as they benefited more from land grants and subsidies than other tribespeople.