Indian Territory

• 1. Origins And Early Reservations

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  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.

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• 2. The Removal Policy Era

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  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.

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• 3. Civil War And Reconstruction Treaties

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  Brigadier General Stand Watie became the last Confederate general to surrender near Doaksville on the 23rd of June 1865. The Southern Treaty Commission rewrote treaties with tribes that sided with the Confederacy after the Civil War. These replacement treaties reduced the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes and provided land to resettle Plains Native Americans. General components included the abolition of slavery and amnesty for siding with Confederate States of America. The tribes granted right of way for railroads authorized by Congress. A land patent or first-title deed to alternate sections of land adjacent to rail roads would be granted upon completion of each 20 mile section of track. Provision for each man, woman, and child to receive 160 acres of land as an allotment appeared in these agreements. The Medicine Lodge Treaty was signed the 21st of October 1867 with Kiowa and Comanche tribes in Kansas. The second treaty with Plains Apache was signed the same day while the third with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho came on October 28.

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• 4. Territorial Reduction And Land Runs

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  The Oklahoma Organic Act of 1890 created an organized Oklahoma Territory from the western part of Indian Territory. Secretary of State William H. Seward championed opening the area to white settlement during his campaign for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. Choctaw Nation Chief Kiliahote suggested giving Indian Territory the name Oklahoma in 1866 during treaty negotiations. The word Oklahoma derives from the Choctaw phrase meaning people and red. The Homestead Act of 1862 gave applicants freehold title to 160 acres of undeveloped federal land. Remaining lands were sold on a first-come basis typically by land run with settlers receiving a land patent type deed. The United States General Land Office distributed sales funds to various tribal entities according to previously negotiated terms. The Panhandle remained No Man's Land that was never ruled by any of the Five Tribes which governed territory before the War.

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• 5. Statehood And The End Of Sovereignty

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  Citizens of Indian Territory tried to gain admission as the State of Sequoyah in 1905 but were rebuffed by Congress. Theodore Roosevelt proposed joining Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to form a single state after the rejection. President Roosevelt signed the Oklahoma Enabling Act the 16th of June 1906 empowering residents to elect delegates to a state constitutional convention. Oklahoma statehood arrived in November 1907 effectively extinguishing Indian Territory. In 2020 the United States Supreme Court prompted a review of tribal lands through its decision in McGirt v. Oklahoma. Almost the entire eastern half of Oklahoma was found to have remained Indian country following this legal challenge. The term Indian country today signifies lands under control of Native nations including trust lands on Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area.

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• 6. Tribal Nations And Cultural Regions

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  The Cherokee Nation established its capital in Tahlequah while Chickasaw Nation chose Tishomingo later moving to Ada. Choctaw Nation built their capitol at Tuskahoma in 1884 before moving to Durant. Creek Nation set up headquarters in Okmulgee and Seminole Nation in Wewoka. These tribes founded towns such as Tulsa Ardmore and Muskogee which became some of larger towns in the state. The Wichita people lived in semi-sedentary villages throughout western part of Indian Territory from 800 to 1500 AD. They farmed maize and hunted buffalo as Southern Plains villagers. The Caddo Confederacy lived in eastern part of Indian Territory and ancestors of Caddo Nation speak Caddoan language. Tribal headquarters for Caddo are now in Binger, Oklahoma. The Osage Nation originated in present-day Kentucky and became dominant power in region by early 18th century. Osage purchased land in Cherokee Outlet current Osage County, Oklahoma with 1870 Drum Creek Treaty.

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