Congress rejected the Five Civilized Tribes' argument for a State of Oklahoma and a separate State of Sequoyah. On May 2, 1890, 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 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.
Components of Oklahoma and Indian Territories In the 1890s both Oklahoma and Indian Territories contained Indian Reservations. Indian Territory 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: •
Indian Territory •
Cherokee Nation •
Chickasaw Nation •
Choctaw Nation •
Muscogee (Creek) Nation •
Seminole Nation • Land administered by the
Quapaw Indian Agency •
Oklahoma Territory •
Cherokee Outlet •
Osage Nation • "Leased lands" of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations, west of the ninety-eighth degree of west longitude • Ceded lands of the Seminole and Muscogee (Creek) Nations •
Unassigned Lands • Cimarron Territory - the
Oklahoma Panhandle • Disputed land,
Greer County, Texas Civil and Criminal Law in Oklahoma and Indian Territories The Oklahoma Organic Act specifically extended civil and criminal Arkansas laws over 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 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 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 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"
Homestead / Land Use 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 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 the territory. This requirement does not apply to the former Osage Reservation, now
Osage County, Oklahoma.
US Citizenship 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 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."
Railroads 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"
Powers Reserved to US Government and Tribes "Congress may at any time hereafter change 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 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" ==Dawes Act and Dawes Commission==