In July of 1837, George Winter witnessed the council meeting at Lake Kee-wau-nay (today Lake Bruce, Indiana), which was held prior to the forced migration of the Potawatomi and Miami tribes to Kansas. Winter may have used these studies of council members and spectators in development of a finished painting of the meeting.

While westward expansion provided opportunity for pioneers, it was devastating for Native peoples. In the 1830s, the US government forcibly removed American Indians from their homelands to designated territories in the Plains.