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114-498: " Indian removal " was a nineteenth-century policy of the US Government to relocate aboriginal natives living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river. The Indian Removal Act , a specific implementation of the Removal Policy, was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The Act transformed most of the current state of Oklahoma into an Indian Territory , where southern aboriginal natives ( Cherokee , Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek and Seminole , also called

228-494: A Land patent as title to the land. Tribal governments were basically relegated to settling disputes between tribal members based on tribal custom, and being a conduit for federally sponsored community support. Some tribes distributed royalty income to members from oil and gas leases on tribal grounds. Indian removal The Indian removal was the United States government 's policy of ethnic cleansing through

342-846: A State of Sequoyah be admitted to the Union. Charles N. Haskell was selected to represent the Creek Nation at the convention, and later became the first Governor of the State of Oklahoma. William H. Murray , represented the Chickasaw and later became the first Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives after statehood, and was elected the ninth Governor of Oklahoma. The proposal failed to gain acceptance in Washington. The Five Civilized Tribes Act of April 26, 1906 can be seen as

456-673: A citizen of the United States: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be so construed as to give jurisdiction to the courts established in said Territory in controversies arising between Indians of the same tribe, while sustaining their tribal relations" The Oklahoma Organic Act provided for a mechanism for Indian tribes to allocate their communally held land to individual tribal members, and to distribute unallocated property to non-Indians. A Land patent , or "first-title deed" would be granted to both tribal members, who received allotments, and to homesteaders who, after

570-739: A commonly held view at the time by the colonists in the United States. In a draft "Proposed Articles of Confederation" presented to the Continental Congress on May 10, 1775, Benjamin Franklin called for a "perpetual Alliance" with the Indians in the nation about to be born, particularly with the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: Article XI. A perpetual alliance offensive and defensive

684-542: A date (March 4, 1906) for the breakup of tribal governments and communal lands in the territory. Until 1903, the Five Civilized Tribes and other tribes in Indian Territory had generally opposed all local and national efforts for statehood, whether they were single or joint with Oklahoma Territory. That changed as the termination deadline approached. "It must be borne constantly in mind that there

798-628: A far-reaching Indian policy with two primary goals. He wanted to assure that the Native nations (not foreign nations) were tightly bound to the new United States, as he considered the security of the nation to be paramount. He also wanted to "civilize" them into adopting an agricultural, rather than a hunter-gatherer , lifestyle. These goals would be achieved through treaties and the development of trade. Jefferson initially promoted an American policy which encouraged Native Americans to become assimilated , or " civilized ". He made sustained efforts to win

912-458: A formal treaty-making process, providing that "[n]o Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation ...". From the 1870s through the early 1900s, the Committee on Territories heard arguments from the Five Civilized Tribes that the lands within their territory should not be included within the State of Oklahoma and that

1026-548: A lot of public controversy before his enactment, but virtually none among historians and biographers of the 19th and early 20th century. However, his recent reputation has been negatively affected by his treatment of the Indians. Historians who admire Jackson's strong presidential leadership, such as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. , would gloss over the Indian Removal in a footnote. In 1969, Francis Paul Prucha defended Jackson's Indian policy and wrote that Jackson's removal of

1140-647: A more somber perspective. Historians have often described the removal of American Indians as paternalism , ethnic cleansing , or genocide . American leaders in the Revolutionary and early US eras debated about whether Native Americans should be treated as individuals or as nations. In the indictment section of the Declaration of Independence , the Indigenous inhabitants of the United States are referred to as "merciless Indian Savages", reflecting

1254-781: A period of time, claimed and improved (or in some cases purchased for $ 1.25 per acre) the homestead lands via a Land run . Two sections in each Oklahoma Territory township were to be reserved, in the form of a Land grant , as public school lands, with money from land leases to be used to pay for public education. Later, the Oklahoma Constitution established the Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office to manage this resource. Section-line roads to provide access to land parcels, were to be maintained on each side of every one-mile-square section throughout

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1368-487: A political issue, urging President Martin Van Buren to prevent the enforcement of Cherokee removal. Other individual settlers and settler social organizations throughout the United States also opposed removal. Native groups reshaped their governments, made constitutions and legal codes, and sent delegates to Washington to negotiate policies and treaties to uphold their autonomy and ensure federally-promised protection from

1482-411: A proponent of annexation, spoke plainly in his Fifth Annual Message to Congress on December 05, 1905: "I recommend that Indian Territory and Oklahoma be admitted as one state, and that New Mexico and Arizona be admitted as one state. There is no obligation upon us to treat territorial subdivisions, which are matters of convenience only, as binding us on the question of admission to Statehood... There

1596-527: A scale equal to their wants, and under regulations calculated to protect them from imposition and extortion, its influence in cementing their interests with our's [sic] could not but be considerable. In his seventh annual message to Congress in 1795, Washington intimated that if the US government wanted peace with the Indians it must behave peacefully; if the US wanted raids by Indians to stop, raids by American "frontier inhabitants" must also stop. In his Notes on

1710-635: A semiautonomous district by the Enabling Act of 1906 . With the passage of the Osage Allotment Act of June 28, 1906 (34 Stat. 539 c. 3572), each member of the tribe received an average allotment of 659.51 acres, with no surplus land remaining and the tribe retained ownership of mineral under the land (held in trust by the US Government). The United States House Committee on Territories was initially formed in 1825. Shortly after

1824-678: A separate State of Sequoyah should be created for the Tribes. The Cherokee Commission , created by Section 14 of the Indian Appropriations Act of March 2, 1889, was empowered to acquire land in the Cherokee Outlet not occupied by tribes, and to acquire excess land of other tribes in the Oklahoma Territory for non-indigenous homesteading . Eleven agreements involving nineteen tribes were signed over

1938-672: A small faction of twenty Cherokee tribal members (not the tribal leadership) on December 29, 1835. Most of the Cherokee later blamed the faction and the treaty for the tribe's forced relocation in 1838. An estimated 4,000 Cherokee died in the march, which is known as the Trail of Tears . Missionary organizer Jeremiah Evarts urged the Cherokee Nation to take its case to the US Supreme Court . The Marshall court heard

2052-597: A survey of Indian tribal land for the purposes of dividing the land into allotments for individual Indians. Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again in 1906 by the Burke Act . The General Allotment Act's "goal was to end tribal ownership of land by assimilating Indians as part of an agrarian society." Individual ownership of land was seen as an essential step. The act also provided that the government would purchase Indian land "excess" to that needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians. The Dawes Commission

2166-549: Is authorized, by proclamation, to declare all treaties with such tribe abrogated by such tribe if in his opinion the same can be done consistently with good faith and legal and national obligations. As part of the Reconstruction effort following the Civil War, a " Southern Treaty Commission " was formed to meet with Indian tribes to negotiate new treaties. A result of these " Reconstruction Treaties " with various tribes

2280-555: Is no justification for further delay; and the advisability of making the four Territories into two States has been clearly established." Roosevelt proposed a "compromise" that would join Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to form a single state and resulted in passage of the Oklahoma Enabling Act , which he signed June 16, 1906. Although the State of Sequoyah never came into existence, its constitution made an important contribution to Oklahoma history as it formed

2394-685: Is such diversity of opinion in Congress on the question of statehood legislation for Indian Territory that it is impossible for the Indians and noncitizens here to unite on any plan acceptable to Congress. However, I express the sentiment of the great majority of the Indians of the Five Tribes when I say that we are in favor of any statehood that Congress may provide, so long as it is statehood for Indian Territory alone, independent of Oklahoma." Green McCurtain, 1904 "We, as Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole and Osage Indians, together with

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2508-635: Is to be entered into as soon as may be with the Six Nations; their Limits to be ascertained and secured to them; their Land not to be encroached on, nor any private or Colony Purchases made of them hereafter to be held good, nor any Contract for Lands to be made but between the Great Council of the Indians at Onondaga and the General Congress. The Boundaries and Lands of all the other Indians shall also be ascertained and secured to them in

2622-465: Is undoubtedly Indian Country . They have taken on the dress, the customs, and the religion of the white man, and welcomed him as a brother. The national government must grant us separate statehood, or make a confession." Single-state supporters and Indian nation leaders pressed the campaign in the weeks leading to the November 7, 1905, election, with the legislatures of each of the Five Tribes endorsing

2736-742: The 1866 Treaty of Washington with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations which contained the following provisions: Under the Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866 , the Osage Nation began the process of purchasing approximately 1,570,059 acres in the Cherokee Outlet from the Cherokee Nation . The Osage Reservation was part of Oklahoma Territory under the Oklahoma Organic Act of 1890 and was made

2850-477: The American settlers and Indigenous tribes since the 17th century and were escalating into the early 19th century (as settlers pushed westward in accordance with the cultural belief of manifest destiny ). Historical views of Indian removal have been reevaluated since that time. Widespread contemporary acceptance of the policy, due in part to the popular embrace of the concept of manifest destiny , has given way to

2964-656: The Five Civilized Tribes ) were relocated. The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation of the Choctaw Nation in 1831. In 1834, Congress created the first Indian Territory, with the Five Civilized Tribes occupying the land that became the State of Oklahoma, excluding its panhandle. See: Indian Territory in the American Civil War Several members of the Five Civilized Tribes owned slaves and had sympathies with

3078-551: The Indian Territory in eastern present-day Oklahoma . In 1905, with the end of tribal governments looming, Native Americans (the Cherokee , Choctaw , Chickasaw , Creek , and Seminole ) in Indian Territory proposed to create a state as a means to retain control of their lands. Their intention was to have a state under Native American constitution and governance. Their efforts failed to gain support in Congress, and

3192-670: The McGirt decision. In the Southern Victory series by Harry Turtledove , Indian Territory is annexed by the Confederate States in 1862, later becoming the State of Sequoyah, where the Five Civilized Tribes are granted autonomy and special protections, similar to the historical Sequoyah proposal. After the state is annexed by the United States following the First Great War, a failed plebiscite to return

3306-539: The Mississippi River . In an 1803 letter to William Henry Harrison , Jefferson wrote: Should any tribe be foolhardy enough to take up the hatchet at any time, the seizing the whole country of that tribe, and driving them across the Mississippi, as the only condition of peace, would be an example to others, and a furtherance of our final consolidation. In that letter, Jefferson spoke about protecting

3420-727: The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (a precedent for US territorial expansion would occur for years to come), calling for the protection of Native American "property, rights, and liberty"; the US Constitution of 1787 (Article I, Section 8) made Congress responsible for regulating commerce with the Indian tribes. In 1790, the new US Congress passed the Indian Nonintercourse Act (renewed and amended in 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834) to protect and codify

3534-594: The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936. The Department of the Interior took over the Indian schools, school funds, and tribal government buildings and furniture. The law provided that the President may appoint a principal chief for any of the tribes. If a chief failed to sign a document presented to him by U.S. authorities, he was either to be replaced or the document could be simply approved by

Oklahoma Organic Act - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-591: The Second Seminole War . Osceola was a Seminole leader of the people's fight against removal. Based in the Everglades , Osceola and his band used surprise attacks to defeat the US Army in a number of battles. In 1837, Osceola was duplicitously captured by order of US General Thomas Jesup when Osceola came under a flag of truce to negotiate peace near Fort Peyton . Osceola died in prison of illness;

3762-575: The Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino . Historical views of Indian removal have been reevaluated since that time. Widespread contemporary acceptance of the policy, due in part to the popular embrace of the concept of manifest destiny , has given way to a more somber perspective. Historians have often described the removal of Native Americans as paternalism , ethnic cleansing , or genocide . Historian David Stannard has called it genocide. Andrew Jackson's Indian policy stirred

3876-645: The Senecas transferred all their land in New York (except for one small reservation) in exchange for 200,000 acres (810 km ) of land in Indian Territory. The federal government would be responsible for the removal of the Senecas who opted to go west, and the Ogden Land Company would acquire their New York lands. The lands were sold by government officials, however, and the proceeds were deposited in

3990-582: The Trail of Tears . Indian removal, a popular policy among incoming settlers, was a consequence of actions first by the European colonists and then later on by the American settlers in the nation during the thirteen colonies and then after the revolution , in the United States of America also until the mid-20th century. The origins of the policy date back to the administration of James Monroe , but it addressed conflicts which had occurred between

4104-528: The United States Congress to petition for statehood, along with 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans who were to serve as congressmen. As the convention closed, Chief Porter made a final impassioned appeal for Sequoyah Statehood: "From time immemorial, the Indians, as a heritage of the original inhabitants, have been promised a state, an Empire of their own. Driven west by successive invasions, the Indians were forced to settle in this territory, which

4218-402: The forced displacement of self-governing tribes of American Indians from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi River —specifically, to a designated Indian Territory (roughly, present-day Oklahoma ), which many scholars have labeled a genocide . The Indian Removal Act of 1830 , the key law which authorized the removal of Native tribes,

4332-577: The Chactas were leaving their country. "To be free," he answered, could never get any other reason out of him. We ... watch the expulsion ... of one of the most celebrated and ancient American peoples. While the Indian Removal Act made the move of the tribes voluntary, it was often abused by government officials. The best-known example is the Treaty of New Echota , which was signed by

4446-673: The Cherokee Chief W.C. Rogers and Choctaw Chief Green McCurtain calling for a constitutional convention that August. The convention met in Muskogee , on August 21, 1905. The new state was to be named for the Cherokee statesman Sequoyah , who invented the tribe's written language . General Pleasant Porter , Principal Chief of the Creek Nation , was selected as president of the convention, while Creek journalist Alexander Posey served as Secretary. The elected delegates decided that

4560-545: The Civil War, land runs , and other treaties with the United States. In the 1900 US Census , Native Americans composed 13.4 percent of the population in the future state. By 1905, the Five Civilized Tribes comprised about 10% of the Indian Territory’s total population of around 600,000 people. Despite having been previously exempt from the 1887 General Allotment Act, the Curtis Act of 1898 allowed Congress to set

4674-451: The Civil War, the Committee began discussing how best to assimilate the Five Civilized Tribes and how to combine Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. It was decided that one component of assimilation would be the distribution of property held in-common by the tribe to individual members of the tribe. A second component of this decision was that in 1871, Congress decided that the United States would no longer deal with Indian tribes through

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4788-598: The Confederacy. All of the Five Civilized Tribes signed treaties placing themselves "under the protection of the Confederate States of America" During the Civil War, Congress passed a statute concerning the Abrogation of treaties with Indian Tribes, (codified at 25 USC Sec. 72) which states: Whenever the tribal organization of any Indian tribe is in actual hostility to the United States, the President

4902-576: The Creek population to leave voluntarily, Creeks who had not participated in the war were not forced west (as others were). The Creek population was placed into camps and told that they would be relocated soon. Many Creek leaders were surprised by the quick departure but could do little to challenge it. The 16,000 Creeks were organized into five detachments who were to be sent to Fort Gibson. The Creek leaders did their best to negotiate better conditions, and succeeded in obtaining wagons and medicine. To prepare for

5016-468: The Five Civilized Tribes from the hostile political environment of the Old South to Oklahoma probably saved them. Jackson was sharply attacked by political scientist Michael Rogin and historian Howard Zinn during the 1970s, primarily on this issue; Zinn called him an "exterminator of Indians". According to historians Paul R. Bartrop and Steven L. Jacobs , however, Jackson's policies do not meet

5130-585: The House and Senate, respectively. Murray, however, known for his eccentricities and political astuteness, predicted their efforts would fail: "After we'd adjourned, Haskell walked to the Depot, and he said, 'Do you believe we will get statehood under this bill?' I said no. 'Why?' Because the eastern fellas don't want two new states out there with two senators instead of one." Congress, however, did not support statehood for Sequoyah. President Theodore Roosevelt , long

5244-587: The House of Representatives by the Georgia delegation. President John Quincy Adams assumed the Calhoun–Monroe policy, and was determined to remove the Indians by non-forceful means; Georgia refused to consent to Adams' request, forcing the president to forge a treaty with the Cherokees granting Georgia the Cherokee lands. On July 26, 1827, the Cherokee Nation adopted a written constitution (modeled on that of

5358-434: The Indian Territory. In 1832, the Sauk leader Black Hawk led a band of Sauk and Fox back to their lands in Illinois; the US Army and Illinois militia defeated Black Hawk and his warriors in the Black Hawk War , and the Sauk and Fox were relocated to present-day Iowa . The Miami were split, with many of the tribe resettled west of the Mississippi River during the 1840s. In the Second Treaty of Buffalo Creek (1838),

5472-434: The Indian Territory. Historically, non-Indians were not allowed in Indian Territory and the Federal Court in Ft. Smith, Arkansas had jurisdiction over Indian Territory. Arkansas recognizes the doctrine of Riparian water rights , based on English common law, and generally accepted in the eastern part of the United States. For the Oklahoma Territory, the laws of Nebraska were to prevail. Water rights in Oklahoma Territory and

5586-432: The Indian tribes is gaining strength daily... and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practiced towards them ... [O]ne of the two great divisions of the Cherokee nation have now under consideration to solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified with us in-laws and government, in such progressive manner as we shall think best. As some of Jefferson's other writings illustrate, however, he

5700-483: The Indians from injustices perpetrated by settlers: Our system is to live in perpetual peace with the Indians, to cultivate an affectionate attachment from them, by everything just and liberal which we can do for them within ... reason, and by giving them effectual protection against wrongs from our own people. According to the treaty of February 27, 1819, the US government would offer citizenship and 640 acres (260 ha) of land per family to Cherokees who lived east of

5814-470: The Mississippi (present-day Oklahoma ), where they could exist without state interference. At Jackson's request, Congress began a debate on an Indian-removal bill. After fierce disagreement, the Senate passed the bill by a 28–19 vote; the House had narrowly passed it, 102–97. Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law on May 30, 1830. That year, most of the Five Civilized Tribes —the Chickasaw , Choctaw , Creek , Seminole , and Cherokee —lived east of

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5928-412: The Mississippi River. Friends and Brothers – By permission of the Great Spirit above, and the voice of the people, I have been made President of the United States, and now speak to you as your Father and friend, and request you to listen. Your warriors have known me long. You know I love my white and red children, and always speak with a straight, and not with a forked tongue; that I have always told you

6042-516: The Mississippi. Native American land was sometimes purchased, by treaty or under duress . The idea of land exchange, that Native Americans would give up their land east of the Mississippi in exchange for a similar amount of territory west of the river, was first proposed by Jefferson in 1803 and first incorporated into treaties in 1817 (years after the Jefferson presidency). The Indian Removal Act of 1830 included this concept. Under President James Monroe , Secretary of War John C. Calhoun devised

6156-424: The Mississippi. The Indian Removal Act implemented federal-government policy towards its Indian populations, moving Native American tribes east of the Mississippi to lands west of the river. Although the act did not authorize the forced removal of indigenous tribes, it enabled the president to negotiate land-exchange treaties. On September 27, 1830, the Choctaw signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek and became

6270-453: The Muscogee were confined to a small strip of land in present-day east central Alabama . The Creek national council signed the Treaty of Cusseta in 1832, ceding their remaining lands east of the Mississippi to the US and accepting relocation to the Indian Territory. Most Muscogee were removed to the territory during the Trail of Tears in 1834, although some remained behind. Although the Creek War of 1836 ended government attempts to convince

6384-414: The Oklahoma Organic Act was passed officially creating Oklahoma Territory, which initially excluded lands occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes, but reorganized the legal system of Indian Territory, providing for a mechanism to consolidate Oklahoma and Indian Territories. "The purpose of the Organic Act was to begin the process of creating a state and forming a government, while still allowing time to divide

6498-427: The Oklahoma Water Resources Board. The organic act created several Federal District Courts, both in the Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. The act also preserved Indian court civil authority by stipulating that "and any person residing in the Territory of Oklahoma, in whom there is Indian blood, shall have the right to invoke the aid of courts therein for the protection of his person or property, as though he were

6612-416: The Secretary of the Interior. The law also provided that: The Oklahoma Enabling Act of June 16, 1906 provided for the people of Oklahoma and Indian Territories to elect delegates to a state constitutional convention, and established the Territorial capital in Guthrie, Oklahoma , until 1913, when a permanent capital would be selected by a statewide election. The act also provided "that nothing contained in

6726-405: The Seminole Tribe of Florida, and the Creeks in Alabama (including the Poarch Band ). Tribes in the Old Northwest were smaller and more fragmented than the Five Civilized Tribes, so the treaty and emigration process was more piecemeal. Following the Northwest Indian War , most of the modern state of Ohio was taken from native nations in the 1795 Treaty of Greenville . Tribes such as

6840-401: The Senecas and the Tonawanda Senecas in 1842 and 1857, respectively. Under the treaty of 1857, the Tonawandas renounced all claim to lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for the right to buy back the Tonawanda Reservation from the Ogden Land Company. Over a century later, the Senecas purchased a 9-acre (3.6 ha) plot (part of their original reservation) in downtown Buffalo to build

6954-453: The State of Virginia (1785), Thomas Jefferson defended Native American culture and marveled at how the tribes of Virginia "never submitted themselves to any laws, any coercive power, any shadow of government" due to their "moral sense of right and wrong". He wrote to the Marquis de Chastellux later that year, "I believe the Indian then to be in body and mind equal to the whiteman". Jefferson's desire, as interpreted by Francis Paul Prucha ,

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7068-428: The US Treasury. Maris Bryant Pierce , a "young chief" served as a lawyer representing four territories of the Seneca tribe, starting in 1838. The Senecas asserted that they had been defrauded, and sued for redress in the Court of Claims . The case was not resolved until 1898, when the United States awarded $ 1,998,714.46 (~$ 62.5 million in 2023) in compensation to "the New York Indians". The US signed treaties with

7182-476: The US. or remove beyond the Missisipi. The former is certainly the termination of their history most happy for themselves. But in the whole course of this, it is essential to cultivate their love. As to their fear, we presume that our strength & their weakness is now so visible that they must see we have only to shut our hand to crush them, & that all our liberalities to them proceed from motives of pure humanity only. As president, Thomas Jefferson developed

7296-407: The United States determined in McGirt v. Oklahoma that the reservations of the Five Tribes, comprising much of Eastern Oklahoma, were never disestablished by Congress and thus are still "Indian Country" for the purposes of criminal law. In late 2024, Sac and Fox writer and professor Donald Fixico theorized that the Five Tribes could revive the Sequoyah Movement for separate statehood following

7410-433: The United States for their lands east of the Mississippi River. They reached an agreement to purchase of land from the previously-removed Choctaw in 1836 after a bitter five-year debate, paying the Chocktaw $ 530,000 for the westernmost Choctaw land. Most of the Chickasaw moved in 1837 and 1838. The $ 3 million owed to the Chickasaw by the US went unpaid for nearly 30 years. The Five Civilized Tribes were resettled in

7524-540: The United States) which declared that they were an independent nation with jurisdiction over their own lands. Georgia contended that it would not countenance a sovereign state within its own territory, and asserted its authority over Cherokee territory. When Andrew Jackson became president as the candidate of the newly-organized Democratic Party , he agreed that the Indians should be forced to exchange their eastern lands for western lands (including relocation) and vigorously enforced Indian removal. Although Indian removal

7638-431: The United States, and on the sincerity and zeal with which I am myself animated in the furthering of this humane work. You are our brethren of the same land; we wish your prosperity as brethren should do. Farewell. When a delegation from the Cherokee Nation's Upper Towns lobbied Jefferson for the full and equal citizenship promised to Indians living in American territory by George Washington, his response indicated that he

7752-550: The United States. "Provided, that the Indians who become Citizens of the United States under the provisions of this act do not forfeit or lose any rights or privileges they enjoy or are entitled to as members of the tribe or nation who which they belong." Existing railroad easements were to remain in effect. Railroads were also given the right to "cross, intersect, join or unite it railroad with any other railroad now constructed or that may hereafter be constructed at any point upon its routes" "Congress may at any time hereafter change

7866-482: The already-displaced Lenape (Delaware tribe), Kickapoo and Shawnee , were removed from Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio during the 1820s. The Potawatomi were forced out of Wisconsin and Michigan in late 1838, and were resettled in Kansas Territory . Communities remaining in present-day Ohio were forced to move to Louisiana, which was then controlled by Spain. Bands of Shawnee , Ottawa , Potawatomi , Sauk , and Meskwaki (Fox) signed treaties and relocated to

7980-406: The boundaries of said Territory, or attach any portion of the same to any other State or Territory of the United States without the consent of the inhabitants of the Territory hereby created: Provided, That nothing in this act shall be construed to impair any right now pertaining to any Indians or Indian tribe in said Territory under the laws, agreements, and treaties of the United States, or to impair

8094-429: The case in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), but declined to rule on its merits; the court declaring that the Native American tribes were not sovereign nations, and could not "maintain an action" in US courts. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Marshall in Worcester v. Georgia (1832), individual states had no authority in American Indian affairs. The state of Georgia defied the Supreme Court ruling, and

8208-454: The commission of outrages upon the Indians; without which all pacific plans must prove nugatory. To enable, by competent rewards, the employment of qualified and trusty persons to reside among them, as agents, would also contribute to the preservation of peace and good neighbourhood. If, in addition to these expedients, an eligible plan could be devised for promoting civilization among the friendly tribes, and for carrying on trade with them, upon

8322-407: The criteria for physical or cultural genocide . Historian Sean Wilentz describes the view of Jacksonian "infantilization" and "genocide" of the Indians, as a historical caricature, which "turns tragedy into melodrama, exaggerates parts at the expense of the whole, and sacrifices nuance for sharpness". State of Sequoyah The State of Sequoyah was a proposed state to be established from

8436-446: The date stipulated in the treaty. When Andrew Jackson became president of the United States in 1829, his government took a hard line on Indian removal; Jackson abandoned his predecessors' policy of treating Indian tribes as separate nations, aggressively pursuing all Indians east of the Mississippi who claimed constitutional sovereignty and independence from state laws. They were to be removed to reservations in Indian Territory, west of

8550-423: The desire of settlers and land speculators for Indian lands continued unabated; some whites claimed that Indians threatened peace and security. The Georgia legislature passed a law forbidding settlers from living on Indian territory after March 31, 1831, without a license from the state; this excluded missionaries who opposed Indian removal. The Seminole refused to leave their Florida lands in 1835, leading to

8664-518: The detachments faced bad roads, worse weather, and a lack of drinkable water. When all five detachments reached their destination, they recorded their death toll. The first detachment, with 2,318 Creeks, had 78 deaths; the second had 3,095 Creeks, with 37 deaths. The third had 2,818 Creeks, and 12 deaths; the fourth, 2,330 Creeks and 36 deaths. The fifth detachment, with 2,087 Creeks, had 25 deaths. In 1837 outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana over 300 Creeks being forcibly removed to Western prairies drowned in

8778-399: The encroachment of states. They thought that acclimating, as the US wanted them to, would stem removal policy and create a better relationship with the federal government and surrounding states. Native American nations had differing views about removal. Although most wanted to remain on their native lands and do anything possible to ensure that, others believed that removal to a nonwhite area

8892-446: The executive officers of the Five Civilized Tribes would also be appointed as vice-presidents of the convention. These were: The convention, which met as a whole on August 21 and 22 and September 5 to 8, during which over 150 delegates drafted a constitution, drew up a plan of organization for the government, put together a map showing the counties to be established (such as Hitchcock and Pushmataha ), and elected delegates to go to

9006-470: The final act leading to Oklahoma Statehood. One of the act's purposes was to pave the way "for Oklahoma's admission to the union on an " Equal footing with the original States", conditioned on its disclaimer of all right and title to lands "owned or held by any Indian, tribe, or nation." In the Act, Congress unilaterally diminished the power of the five sovereign tribal governments, lost powers were reinstated by

9120-640: The first Native American tribe to be removed. The agreement was one of the largest transfers of land between the US government and Native Americans which was not the result of war. The Choctaw signed away their remaining traditional homelands, opening them up for European–American settlement in Mississippi Territory . When the tribe reached Little Rock , a chief called its trek a "trail of tears and death". In 1831, French historian and political scientist Alexis de Tocqueville witnessed an exhausted group of Choctaw men, women and children emerging from

9234-596: The first half of the twentieth century. Termination efforts continued against them until 1970, when Richard Nixon repealed the Termination Act of 1959. Following this, the tribes began to elect their own chiefs and governments independent of federal oversight, and built separate agreements with the state government in Oklahoma City to protect their autonomy. On July 9, 2020, the Supreme Court of

9348-512: The first plans for Indian removal. Monroe approved Calhoun's plans by late 1824 and, in a special message to the Senate on January 27, 1825, requested the creation of the Arkansaw and Indian Territories ; the Indians east of the Mississippi would voluntarily exchange their lands for lands west of the river. The Senate accepted Monroe's request, and asked Calhoun to draft a bill which was killed in

9462-433: The forest during an exceptionally cold winter near Memphis, Tennessee , on their way to the Mississippi to be loaded onto a steamboat. He wrote, In the whole scene there was an air of ruin and destruction, something which betrayed a final and irrevocable adieu; one couldn't watch without feeling one's heart wrung. The Indians were tranquil but sombre and taciturn. There was one who could speak English and of whom I asked why

9576-423: The friendship and cooperation of many Native American tribes as president, repeatedly articulating his desire for a united nation of whites and Indians as in his November 3, 1802, letter to Seneca spiritual leader Handsome Lake : Go on then, brother, in the great reformation you have undertaken ... In all your enterprises for the good of your people, you may count with confidence on the aid and protection of

9690-423: The friendship between them and the United States. Later that year, in his fourth annual message to Congress, Washington stressed the need to build peace, trust, and commerce with Native Americans: I cannot dismiss the subject of Indian affairs without again recommending to your consideration the expediency of more adequate provision for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier, and for restraining

9804-586: The land rights of recognized tribes. President George Washington , in his 1790 address to the Seneca Nation which called the pre-Constitutional Indian land-sale difficulties "evils", said that the case was now altered and pledged to uphold Native American "just rights". In March and April 1792, Washington met with 50 tribal chiefs in Philadelphia—including the Iroquois—to discuss strengthening

9918-431: The land, and you can live upon it you and all your children, as long as the grass grows or the water runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever. For the improvements in the country where you now live, and for all the stock which you cannot take with you, your Father will pay you a fair price ... Unlike other tribes, who exchanged lands, the Chickasaw were to receive financial compensation of $ 3 million from

10032-795: The majority of the later Oklahoma Constitution. The delegates who wrote it, including Haskell and Murray, shared an underlying populist distrust of elected officials. The convention also catapulted Haskell, Murray, and others further into the public arena, securing for Indian Territory a solid seat at the debate at the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. Oklahoma became the 46th state on November 16, 1907, with Haskell as its first Governor and Murray as its first House Speaker. Following Oklahoma statehood, Haskell and Murray had segregation enshrined into law. The five tribes, diminished in power, faced further marginalization and discrimination, both racially and politically during

10146-538: The measure. A month before the scheduled vote, The New York Times cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election. However, on Election Day, voters in the territory approved the constitution and statehood petition by 56,279 in favor to 9,073 against. Following this success, Porter, Posey, Haskell, Murray, and the four congressmen brought the proposed constitution to Washington, D.C. to lobby for its passage. Republicans Arthur P. Murphy of Missouri and Porter James McCumber of North Dakota introduced statehood bills to

10260-665: The new Indian Territory. The Cherokee occupied the northeast corner of the territory and a 70-mile-wide (110 km) strip of land in Kansas on its border with the territory. Some indigenous nations resisted the forced migration more strongly. The few who stayed behind eventually formed tribal groups, including the Eastern Band of Cherokee (based in North Carolina), the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians ,

10374-480: The people of New Mexico and of Arizona to form a constitution and State government and be admitted into the Union. At the time President Roosevelt proclaimed Oklahoma a state on November 16, 1907, there were no Indian Reservations within the state boundaries; former Indian Lands were either held by the U.S. Government in trust for members of the tribes, were allotted to members of the tribe, or distributed through land runs for settlers to homestead, ultimately receiving

10488-536: The period of May 1890 through November 1892. Investigations for Commission irregularities continued through the end of the 20th Century. The 1889 Act also opened the Unassigned Lands to homesteaders , which included the Land Run of 1889 that settled Oklahoma City, Oklahoma . Congress rejected the Five Civilized Tribes' argument for a State of Oklahoma and a separate State of Sequoyah. On May 2, 1890,

10602-541: The property of the Five Civilized Tribes and transfer the property from communal to individual ownership." The act also included the "Public Lands" or "No-man's land" in the present-day Oklahoma panhandle . This land had been part of Texas, But was north of the limit for slavery set by the Compromise of 1850 and so had been given up by Texas upon its entry into the union. In the 1890s both Oklahoma and Indian Territories contained Indian Reservations. Indian Territory

10716-580: The relocation, Creeks began to deconstruct their spiritual lives; they burned piles of lightwood over their ancestors' graves to honor their memories, and polished the sacred plates which would travel at the front of each group. They also prepared financially, selling what they could not bring. Many were swindled by local merchants out of valuable possessions (including land), and the military had to intervene. The detachments began moving west in September 1836, facing harsh conditions. Despite their preparations,

10830-548: The removal treaty was illegitimate; it was a "sham treaty", which the US government should not uphold. He describes removal as such a dereliction of all faith and virtues, such a denial of justice...in the dealing of a nation with its own allies and wards since the earth was made...a general expression of despondency, of disbelief, that any goodwill accrues from a remonstrance on an act of fraud and robbery, appeared in those men to whom we naturally turn for aid and counsel. Emerson concludes his letter by saying that it should not be

10944-485: The rights of person or property pertaining to said Indians, or to affect the authority of the Government of the United States to make any regulation or to make any law respecting said Indians, their lands, property, or other rights which it would have been competent to make or enact if this act had not been passed" The Dawes Act , (also called "The General Allotment Act") was adopted by Congress in 1887, and authorized

11058-515: The said constitution shall be construed to limit or impair the rights of person or property pertaining to the Indians of said Territories (so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished) or to limit or affect the authority of the Government of the United States to make any law or regulation respecting such Indians, their lands, property, or other rights by treaties, agreement, law, or otherwise, which it would have been competent to make if this Act had never been passed." The same act also provided for

11172-598: The same manner; and Persons appointed to reside among them in proper Districts, who shall take care to prevent Injustice in the Trade with them, and be enabled at our general Expense by occasional small Supplies, to relieve their personal Wants and Distresses. And all Purchases from them shall be by the Congress for the General Advantage and Benefit of the United Colonies. The Confederation Congress passed

11286-479: The territory was annexed to the United States in 1907. Starting in 1890, when Congress passed the Oklahoma Organic Act , the land that now forms the State of Oklahoma was made up of two separate territories: Oklahoma Territory to the west and the Indian Territory to the east. The Indian Territory had a large Native American population. The territory had been reduced by required land cessions after

11400-407: The territory. This requirement does not apply to the former Osage Reservation, now Osage County, Oklahoma . Members of an Indian Tribe, who were not already citizens, could apply to become citizens of the United States. In an effort to entice Indians of Indian Territory to accept their land allotments, it was provided that upon acceptance of an allotment, the Indians were declared to be Citizens of

11514-446: The truth ... Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is destroyed, and many of your people will not work and till the earth. Beyond the great River Mississippi, where a part of your nation has gone, your Father has provided a country large enough for all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers will not trouble you; they will have no claim to

11628-636: The war resulted in over 1,500 US deaths, and cost the government $ 20 million. Some Seminole traveled deeper into the Everglades, and others moved west. The removal continued, and a number of wars broke out over land. In 1823, the Seminole signed the Treaty of Moultrie Creek , which reduced their 34 million to 4 millions acres. In the aftermath of the Treaties of Fort Jackson , and the Washington ,

11742-545: The western United States, water rights were generally allocated under the principle of prior appropriation . Today Oklahoma has a unique set of water rights statues based on groundwater and streamwater. The owner of land owns the groundwater underlying such land and surface water standing on the land, however the Oklahoma Water Resources Board regulates non-domestic use. Stream water is considered to be publicly owned and subject to appropriation by

11856-479: The whites and blacks in our midst, have the same equal right as American loyal citizens to call a constitutional convention this summer, to adopt a constitution for the Indian Territory's new state, called Sequoia." James A. Norman, 1905 The desire of tribal leaders to retain their historic authority and for the territory to be admitted as a single state, apart from Oklahoma Territory, culminated in July 1905 with

11970-568: Was a popular policy, it was also opposed on legal and moral grounds; it also ran counter to the formal, customary diplomatic interaction between the federal government and the Native nations. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote the widely-published letter "A Protest Against the Removal of the Cherokee Indians from the State of Georgia" in 1838, shortly before the Cherokee removal. Emerson criticizes the government and its removal policy, saying that

12084-528: Was ambivalent about Indian assimilation and used the words "exterminate" and "extirpate" about tribes who resisted American expansion and were willing to fight for their lands. Jefferson intended to change Indian lifestyles from hunting and gathering to farming, largely through "the decrease of game rendering their subsistence by hunting insufficient". He expected the change to agriculture to make them dependent on white Americans for goods, and more likely to surrender their land or allow themselves to be moved west of

12198-651: Was created by Congress in 1893 as a further attempt to convince the members of tribes to receive their tribal land allotments. Members of the Five Civilized Tribes (Indian Territory) were exempt from the original Dawes Act legislation, and the Dawes Commission was to convince the Five Civilized Tribes to agree to cede tribal title of Indian lands. The commission established procedures for members of Indian tribes in Oklahoma Territory to register with their respective Indian Nations (only one nation if there

12312-465: Was for Native Americans to intermix with European Americans and become one people. To achieve that end as president, Jefferson offered US citizenship to some Indian nations and proposed offering them credit to facilitate trade. On 27 February 1803, Jefferson wrote in a letter to William Henry Harrison : In this way our settlements will gradually circumbscribe & approach the Indians, & they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of

12426-486: Was mixed ancestry), and procedures to receive land allotments. The Curtis Act of 1898 amended the Dawes Act, abolishing all tribal courts and gave the United States exclusive jurisdiction over "all controversies growing out of the titles, ownership, occupation, possession, or use of real estate, coal, and asphalt." A Constitutional Convention was convened by residents of Indian Territory and proposed to Congress that

12540-534: Was primarily a consolidation of the Five Civilized Tribes plus an assortment of tribes in the northeast part of the territory, land administered by the Quapaw Indian Agency . Oklahoma Territory was essentially an amalgamation of what was left over; land unassigned to other territories and states. Major components of what would become the State of Oklahoma include: The Oklahoma Organic Act specifically extended civil and criminal Arkansas laws over

12654-553: Was signed into law by United States president Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. Although Jackson took a hard line on Indian removal, the law was primarily enforced during the Martin Van Buren administration. After the enactment of the Act, approximately 60,000 members of the Cherokee , Muscogee (Creek), Seminole , Chickasaw , and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves ) were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands, with thousands dying during

12768-689: Was that the land allocated to the Five Civilized tribes was reduced to the eastern part of the territory, making room for relocation of other Indian tribes. Later, other aboriginal people, such as the Apache , Comanche , Delaware , Kiowa , Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and the Osage Nation were also forced to relocate to the Territories (there are currently 38 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma). The Southern Treaty Commission formulated

12882-452: Was their only option to maintain their autonomy and culture. The US used this division to forge removal treaties with (often) minority groups who became convinced that removal was the best option for their people. These treaties were often not acknowledged by most of a nation's people. When Congress ratified the removal treaty, the federal government could use military force to remove Native nations if they had not moved (or had begun moving) by

12996-412: Was willing to grant citizenship to those Indian nations who sought it. In his eighth annual message to Congress on November 8, 1808, he presented a vision of white and Indian unity: With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily maintained ... And, generally, from a conviction that we consider them as part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment of

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