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Oklahoma Territory in pink and
Indian Territory in yellow
The Many Faces of Oklahoma History
People unfamiliar with southwestern history can get mightily
confused with the different names given to the state of
Oklahoma. And because it is a relatively young state, many don't
even know the copious history that exists, anyway. Unlike any
other state in the Union, Oklahoma's history can be readily
identified by the various legal names it has carried over the years.
Becoming American
The area that is now Oklahoma had both Spanish and French
claims to it, but ultimately the Americans gained the land through
the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 (the Louisiana Purchase
boundary was deemed to go a bit south of the Red River into
Texas, and this is why the first American settlements of Texas
occurred along the Red River, not at Austin's colony. However,
the 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty defined the boundary better). The
Oklahoma panhandle was not included in the Adams-Onis Treaty
and remained "no-man's land" up until Oklahoma Organic Act of
1890.
Indian Territory
The Louisiana Purchase made the land that would become
Oklahoma a border state, and was considered a kind of buffer
between the Aglo east and the Spanish west. Maybe that's why
Andrew Jackson decided that the area would become the new
homelands for expelled Indian tribes in the East; in any event, he
designated the land "Indian Territory" and throughout his
administration several tribes were expelled from their homes.
The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek - who
had been designated the "Five Civilized Tribes" - thus made the
hard journey west to an unfamiliar and very different landscape.
The tribes had known large hardwood forests and lush bottom
lands. Indian Territory was rocky, dry, and brushy.
Some of the Native Americans set up life in their new lands that
approximated their old ways, but many members had become
"Americanized" through the years and continued that behavior.
As they had been expelled from southern states, all of the tribes
owned slaves, but the slaves' treatment differed considerably in
each group. They also brought with them cotton culture.
Civil War
The Civil War along the Red River merits a whole other section;
suffice to say, the South lost, and as Indian Territory had been
deemed by the Union as Confederate sympathizers. Of course,
that was not completely true; there were Unionists and
Confederates not just within the territory, but among the tribes as
well. It was literally brother fighting brother in some instances.
Most of the Indians did not own slaves or have plantations, and
they resented having to fight for those who did.
After the war, the federal government voided all previous treaties
with the Five Civilized Tribes, even though half of the tribes had
remained loyal. The 1866 Treaties with each of the Five Civilized
Tribes stipulated that, among other conditions, the tribes allow
their lands to the west to be redistributed for an new influx of
dispossessed Indians. The tribes were also to release land to the
railroad right of way. The breakdown of Indian Territory had
begun.
Oklahoma Territory
When the railroads, speculators and new tribes entered, the old
communal land holding ways of the Native Americans were
ignored. The new tribes were forced to homestead a certain
number of acres. The left-over acreage was then free game for
speculators, bankers, and railroad and industry promoters, and
they promoted settlement by calling on white homesteaders.
The first Land Run on the unassigned lands - in the middle of the
state, where Oklahoma City now lies - occurred by presidential
Proclamation on April 22, 1889. Congress decided to protect the
eastern part of the territory by establishing the Oklahoma
Organic Act (1890), which designated that the east remain
"Indian Territory" and the west become "Oklahoma Territory."
Oklahoma Territory was considered white man's land.
The End of Indian Territory
The Dawes Commission Act of 1893 was lauded as an attempt to
get the eastern Indian Territory to act more "American" -
meaning, to lose their communal ways and become private
property holders. The Act, which passed as a rider to an Indian
appropriations bill, stipulated that all Indians had to register with
the Indian Bureau to claim benefits (many did not for fear of
persecution), and that the land of the Five Civilized Tribes would
be redistributed by allotment. The remaining acreage would then
be opened for settlement via a land lottery.
By 1906, the lands were allotted, the open lands grabbed up, and
the last frontier was now settled. It was time for statehood.
Oklahoma or Sequoyah?
Indian Territory had proposed to be its own separate state,
named Sequoyah, but Congress didn't buy it. Instead, Theodore
Roosevelt signed the Enabling Act, which made the territories
eligible for statehood - but only as one unit. The territorial
government did not even recognize Indian nationhood anymore.
After the Constitutional Convention of 1906 in Guthrie, to which all
counties within Oklahoma and Indian territories sent delegates,
the new state was founded. Oklahoma was admitted into the
Union as the 56th state on September 17, 1907.
The history of the creation of Oklahoma is one of deceit,
opportunity, and dreams. Of all the states in the Union, it surely is
the most fascinating story - and the most tragic.
Thurber brick sidewalk)
through Boggy Depot, Shawnee Cattle Drive stop
and Civil War ghost town
elevators in the background, indicates the
hold railroads still have over the state
history?
Visit the Red River Historian Bookstore!
after statehood. For the most part, Native American
tribes were paid for the oil. But all lost substantial
amounts of their lands. The Osage oil fields north
of Oklahoma City were so rich that unscrupulous
men married Osage women, then murdered them,
to obtain their oil leases.