— Ch. 1 · Origins And Early Reservations —
Indian Territory.
~4 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 set aside land for Native American tribes in British North America. This territory remained active until the Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War. European American settlers ignored the reserve after the British defeat and expanded westward. The United States purchased France's claim to French Louisiana for $15 million in 1803. President Thomas Jefferson viewed much of the land west of the Mississippi River as a place to resettle Native Americans. White settlers were free to live in lands east of the river while tribes moved west. The Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 established general borders for this new territory. Arkansas Territory was created out of Missouri Territory in 1819. Andrew Jackson ceded more of Arkansas Territory to the Choctaw than he realized during negotiations in 1820.
The Removal Policy Era
President Andrew Jackson formulated the policy of Indian removal with the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Trail of Tears began during Choctaw removals starting in 1831. The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek resulted in the Choctaw Trail of Tears by ceding land in future Mississippi for land in future Oklahoma. The Cherokee Trail of Tears followed the ratification of the Treaty of New Echota in April 1834. The Seminole People signed the Treaty of Payne's Landing in 1832 forcing them to move to Indian Territory. A delegation arrived in Indian Territory in October 1832 and conferred with the Creek Nation tribe. An agreement was signed at Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River just east of Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1833. The Chickasaw negotiated a $3 million payment for their native lands which was not fully funded by the U.S. for 30 years. In 1836 the Chickasaw agreed to purchase land from previously removed Choctaws for $530,000.