Thomas Jefferson: Founding Father of Indian Removal

According to this link and the article I read in the recent NMAI magazine, Thomas Jefferson pursued policies from 1801-1809 that eroded tribal homelands and cultures. These policies paved the way for the vast Indian removal programs of the 1830's. I find this pretty interesting and hypocritical for a man that supposedly admired Native character and considered them to be equal to whites. But, by encouraging the Indians to become farmers and give up traditional hunting, the white settlers were able to trick and pressure them to ceding their tribal lands. The small amount of money the Indians were given was used to buy farming equipment but they eventually went into debt. This debt was repaid by ceding more land. Jefferson's strategy yielded 30 treaties with about a dozen tribes and netted the US government about 200,000 square miles of land. Those tribes that did not make deals, were removed further and further west. This laid the foundation for Andrew Jackson's national policy of removal and the eventual Trail of Tears. Between 1816 and 1850, more than 100,000 Indians would be moved west of the Mississippi.