The Peace Policy sought to end the pattern of violent military conflict with Native nations that had characterized much of the preceding decades, replacing it with a system of reservation-based administration run with greater attention to honesty and efficiency.

Grant and his allies argued that the rampant corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs — the system of political patronage that placed unqualified and frequently dishonest agents in charge of reservation affairs — was a major cause of the violence and suffering that marked federal Indian policy.

The Peace Policy aimed to replace patronage appointments with more principled management, often working through religious organizations — particularly Quakers, who had a reputation for honesty and had advocated for better treatment of Native peoples — as the supervisory authority for reservation administration.

Parker was central to implementing this vision.