Indian Territory

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.

While Congress passed several Organic Acts that provided a path for statehood for much of the original Indian Country, Congress never passed an Organic Act for the Indian Territory. Indian Territory was never an organized incorporated territory of the United States. In general, tribes could not sell land to non-Indians (Johnson v. M'Intosh). Treaties with the tribes severely restricted entry of non-Indians into tribal areas; Indian tribes were largely self-governing, were suzerain nations, with established tribal governments and well established cultures. The region never had a formal government until after the American Civil War. Therefore, the geographical location commonly called "Indian Territory" was not a traditional territory.

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. These re-written treaties included provisions for a Territorial Legislature (which could only meet 30 days per year) with proportional representation from various tribes.

The Oklahoma organic act of 1890 created an organized incorporated territory of the United States of Oklahoma Territory, with the intent of combining the Oklahoma and Indian territories into a single State of Oklahoma. The residents of Indian Territory proposed 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.