Editing Indian Territory (section)

===Indian Reserve and the Louisiana Purchase===
{{main|Indian Reserve (1763)}}
[[File:U.S._Territorial_Acquisitions.png|thumb|upright=1|The [[Louisiana Purchase]] (highlighted in white), one of several historical territorial additions to the United States]]
The concept of an Indian territory is the successor to the British [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]], a [[British America]]n territory established by the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] that set aside land for use by the [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American tribes]]. The proclamation limited the settlement of Europeans to lands east of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. The territory remained active until the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] that ended the [[American Revolutionary War]], and the land was ceded to the United States. The Indian Reserve was slowly reduced in size via treaties with the American colonists, and after the British defeat in the Revolutionary War, the Reserve was ignored by [[European Americans|European American]] [[settler]]s who slowly [[Territorial evolution of the United States|expanded westward]].

At the time of the American Revolutionary War, many Native American tribes had long-standing relationships with the British, and were loyal to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], but they had a less-developed relationship with the American colonists.  After the defeat of the British in the war, the Americans twice invaded the [[Ohio Country]] and were twice defeated. They finally defeated the Indian [[Western Confederacy]] at the [[Battle of Fallen Timbers]] in 1794, and imposed 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 [[Federal government of the United States|United States federal government]].

The period after the American Revolutionary War was one of rapid western expansion. The areas occupied by [[Native Americans in the United States]] were called Indian country. They were distinguished from "[[Territories of the United States#Formerly unorganized territories|unorganized territory]]" because the areas were established by treaty.

In 1803, the United States agreed to purchase [[French First Republic|France]]'s claim to [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]] for a total of $15 million (less than 3 cents per acre).<ref>
{{cite web | url=http://www.blm.gov/natacq/pls02/pls1-1_02.pdf |title=Acquisition of the Public Domain, 1781–1867, Table 1.1 |access-date=2012-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110723183417/http://www.blm.gov/natacq/pls02/pls1-1_02.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2011}}</ref>

President [[Thomas Jefferson]] doubted the legality of the purchase. [[Robert Livingston (1746–1813)|Robert R. Livingston]], the chief negotiator of the purchase, however, believed that the 3rd article of the treaty of the [[Louisiana Purchase]] would be acceptable to [[United States Congress|Congress]]. The 3rd article stated, in part:<ref name="Downes v Bidwell">{{cite web | url= http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=us/182/244.html| title=Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244 (1901).| access-date=2012-03-02}}</ref>
:{{blockquote|the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profess.|8 Stat. at L. 202}}
This committed the U.S. government to "the ultimate, but not to the immediate, admission" of the territory as multiple states, and "postponed its incorporation into the Union to the pleasure of Congress".<ref name="Downes v Bidwell"/>

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. [[Indian removal]] became the official policy of the United States government with the passage of the 1830 [[Indian Removal Act]], formulated by President [[Andrew Jackson]].

When [[Louisiana]] became a state in 1812, the remaining territory was renamed [[Missouri Territory]] to avoid confusion.{{Clarification needed|reason=Which confusion? Is this isupported by a source? Which one?|date=January 2025}} [[Arkansas Territory|Arkansaw Territory]], which included the present State of Arkansas plus much of the state of Oklahoma, was created out of the southern part of Missouri Territory in 1819. During negotiations with the [[Choctaw]] in 1820 for the [[Treaty of Doak's Stand]], Andrew Jackson ceded more of Arkansas Territory to the Choctaw than he realized, from what is now Oklahoma into Arkansas, east of [[Ft. Smith, Arkansas]].<ref>{{Cite web | title=Encyclopedia of Arkansas| url=https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/arkansas-state-boundaries-2546/| access-date=2020-07-09| website=Encyclopedia of Arkansas| language=en-US}}</ref> The [[General Survey Act]] of 1824 allowed a survey that established the western border of Arkansas Territory 45 miles west of Ft. Smith. But this was part of the negotiated lands of [[Lovely's Purchase]] where the [[Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)|Cherokee]], Choctaw, Creek and other tribes had been settling, and these indian nations objected strongly. In 1828 a new survey redefined the western Arkansas border just west of Ft. Smith.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Stein, Mark| title=How the States got Their Shapes| date=2008| isbn=978-0-06-143138-8| edition=First| location=New York| publisher=HarperCollins| oclc=137324984}}</ref> After these redefinitions, the "Indian zone" would cover the present states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and part of Iowa.<ref name="EOHC-Indian Territory">{{cite web |url = http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/I/IN018.html |title = Everett, Dianna. ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Indian Territory." |access-date = 2012-02-15 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120225155712/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/I/IN018.html |archive-date = 2012-02-25}}</ref>