Indian Territory

Not to be confused with Indiana Territory.

This article is about the historical territory in the United States of America. For other uses, see Indian Country (disambiguation).

The term Indian in this article refers to American Indians; not to be confused with ethnic Indians or South Asians from the Indian subcontinent

Indian Territory Unorganized territory of the United States 1834–1907 →   →   →   →   → Flag of the United States Oklahoma and Indian Territory, 1890s Government Unorganized territory History  - Indian Intercourse Act June 30, 1834  - Platte Purchase 1836  - Kansas–Nebraska Act May 30, 1854  - Oklahoma Territory May 2, 1890  - Oklahoma statehood November 16, 1907 Today part of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri (Platte Purchase), Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land within the United States of America that was reserved for the forced re-settlement of Native Americans. The general borders were set by the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834.

After the Civil War the Southern Treaty Commission re-wrote treaties with tribes that sided with the Confederacy, reducing the territory of the Five Civilized Tribes and providing land to resettle Plains Indians and tribes of the mid-west.

Before the 1871 Indian Appropriations Act much what was called Indian Territory was a large area in the central part of the United States whose boundaries were set by a number of treaties between the US Government and various indigenous tribes. After 1871, the Federal Government dealt with Indian Tribes through statute.

The Oklahoma organic act of 1890 created an organized incorporated territory of the United States of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, with the intent of combining the two territories into a single State of Oklahoma. The residents of Indian Territory propsed to Congress that Indian Territory be admitted to the Union as the State of Sequoyah. However, Congress rejected the idea and Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

Colonial & Early American History

The Indian Territory had its roots in the British Royal Proclamation of 1763, which limited the settlement of Caucasians to Crown-claimed lands located west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Indian Reserve was reduced under British administration -- and, reduced further again after the American Revolutionary War -- until it included only lands west of the Mississippi River.

At the time of the American Revolution, many Native American tribes had long-standing relationships with British who were loyal to the British Empire (e.g., traders, etc.); but, they has a less-developed relationship with the Empire's colonists-turned-rebels. After the defeat of the British, the Americans twice invaded the Ohio Country; but, were twice defeated. They finally defeated an Indian confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794, imposing the Treaty of Greenville, which ceded most of what is now Ohio, part of present-day Indiana, and the lands that include present-day Chicago and Detroit, to the United States federal government.

Indian Territory in 1885 (top) and 1891 (bottom)

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson and his successors viewed much of the land west of the Mississippi River as a place to resettle the native Americans, so that white settlers would be free to live in the lands east of the river. By 1825, this concept had become official policy. However, white immigrants continued to expand across the Mississippi, into the fertile plains. Arkansas had become a territory in 1819 and Missouri had achieved statehood in 1821. In 1824, a survey established the western border of Arkansas Territory well inside the present state of Oklahoma, where the Choctaw and Cherokee had previously begun to settle. The two nationsobjected strongly, and in 1828 a new survey redefined the western Arkansas border. Thus, the "Indian zone" would cover the present states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and part of Iowa.

Five Civilized Tribes

The Indian Territory served as the destination for the policy of Indian Removal, a policy pursued intermittently by American presidents early in the nineteenth century, but aggressively pursued by President Andrew Jackson after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The Five Civilized Tribes in the South were the most prominent tribes displaced by the policy, a relocation that came to be known as the Trail of Tears during the Choctaw removals starting in 1831. The trail ended in what is now Arkansas and Oklahoma, where there were already many Indians living in the territory, as well as whites and escaped slaves. Other tribes, such as the Delaware, Cheyenne, and Apache were also forced to relocate to the Indian territory.

The Five Civilized Tribes set up towns such as Tulsa, Ardmore, Tahlequah, Tishomingo, Muskogee, and others, which became some of the larger towns in the state. They also brought their African slaves to Oklahoma, which added to the black American population in the state. Members of these tribes fought primarily on the side of the Confederacy during the American Civil War in Indian territory. Following the Battle of Doaksville, Brigadier General Stand Watie, a Confederate commander of the Cherokee Nation, became the last Confederate general to surrender in the American Civil War, on 23 June 1865. The Reconstruction Treaties signed at the end of the Civil War fundamentally changed the relationship between the tribes and the US Government, and the Indian Territory shrank to about 1/2 its former size.

Oklahoma and Indian Territories

In time, the Indian Territory was reduced to what is now Oklahoma. The Organic Act of 1890 reduced Indian Territory to the lands occupied by the Five Civilized Tribes and the Tribes of the Quapaw Indian Agency (at the borders of Kansas and Missouri). The remaining western portion of the former Indian Territory became the Oklahoma Territory.

The citizens of Indian Territory tried, in 1905, to gain admission to the union as the State of Sequoyah, but were rebuffed by Congress and an Administration which did not want two new Western states, Sequoyah and Oklahoma. Citizens then joined to seek admission of a single state to the Union. With Oklahoma statehood in November 1907, Indian Territory was extinguished.

Many Indians continue to live in Oklahoma, especially in the eastern part.

See also

• American Civil War, 1861–1865
  • Native Americans in the American Civil War
    • Cherokee in the American Civil War
• Historic regions of the United States
• History of Oklahoma
• Missouri Compromise
  • Parallel 36°30' north
• Territorial evolution of the United States
  • Territories of Spain that encompassed land that would later become part of Indian territory:
    • Nueva Vizcaya, 1562–1821
    • Tejas, 1690–1821
    • Luisiana, 1764–1803
  • Territory of France that encompassed land that would later become part of Indian territory:
    • Louisiane, 1682–1764 and 1803
  • U.S. territories that encompassed land that would later become part of Indian territory:
    • Louisiana Purchase, 1803–1804
    • District of Louisiana, 1804–1805
    • Territory of Louisiana, 1805–1812
    • Territory of Missouri, 1812–1821
    • Territory of Arkansaw, 1819–1836
  • U.S. territories that encompassed land that was previously part of Indian territory:
    • Territory of Kansas, 1854–1861
    • Territory of Nebraska, 1854–1867
    • Territory of Oklahoma, 1890–1907
  • U.S. states that encompass land that was previously part of Indian territory:
    • State of Missouri, 1821
      • Platte Purchase, 1836
    • State of Kansas, 1861
    • State of Nebraska, 1867
    • State of Oklahoma, 1907
• Trail of Tears

External links

• Twin Territories: Oklahoma Territory – Indian Territory
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture – Indian Territory
• High resolution maps and other items at the National Archives
• See 1890s photographs of Native Americans in Oklahoma Indian Territory hosted by the Portal to Texas History