Editing Indian Territory (section)

===Reductions of area===
[[Image:1855 Colton Map of Kansas and Nebraska (first edition) - Geographicus - NebraskaKansas-colton-1855.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Kansas Territory|Kansas]], [[Nebraska Territory|Nebraska]], and [[Minnesota Territory|Minnesota]] Territories in 1855]]

White settlers continued to flood into Indian country.  As the population increased, the homesteaders could petition Congress for creation of a territory. This would initiate an [[Organic Act]], which established a three-part territorial government. The governor and judiciary were appointed by the President of the United States, while the legislature was elected by citizens residing in the territory. One non-voting representative was allowed a seat in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]]. The federal government took responsibility for territorial affairs. Later, the inhabitants of the territory could apply for admission as a full state.  No such action was taken for the so-called Indian Territory, so that area was not treated as a legal territory.<ref name="EOHC-Indian Territory"/>

The reduction of the land area of Indian Territory (or Indian Country, as defined in the [[Indian Intercourse Act]] of 1834), the successor of Missouri Territory began almost immediately after its creation with:
* [[Wisconsin Territory]] formed in 1836 from lands east of the Mississippi and between the Mississippi and [[Missouri River|Missouri]] rivers. Wisconsin became a state in 1848
** [[Iowa Territory]] (land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers) was split from Wisconsin Territory in 1838 and became a state in 1846.
*** [[Minnesota Territory]] was split from Iowa Territory in 1849 and part of the Minnesota Territory became the state of Minnesota in 1858
* [[Dakota Territory]] was organized in 1861 from the northern part of Indian Country and Minnesota Territory. The name refers to the Dakota branch of the [[Sioux]] tribes.
** [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]] became separate states simultaneously in 1889.
** Present-day states of [[Montana]] and [[Wyoming]] were also part of the original Dakota Territory
Indian Country was reduced to the approximate boundaries of the current state of Oklahoma by the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] of 1854, which created [[Kansas Territory]] and [[Nebraska Territory]]. The key boundaries of the territories were:
* [[40th parallel north|40°&nbsp;N]] the current Kansas–Nebraska border
* [[37th parallel north|37°&nbsp;N]] the current Kansas–Oklahoma (Indian Territory) border
[[Kansas]] became a state in 1861, and Nebraska became a state in 1867. In 1890 the [[Oklahoma Organic Act]] created Oklahoma Territory out of the western part of Indian Territory, in anticipation of admitting both Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory as a future single State of Oklahoma.

Some in federal leadership, such as Secretary of State [[William H. Seward]], did not believe in the rights of Indians to continue their separate tribal governments, and vocally championed opening the area to white settlement while campaigning for [[Abraham Lincoln]] in 1860.<ref>{{cite news |last=Huston |first=James L.|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CI011 |title=The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture: Civil War Era |work=[[Oklahoma Historical Society]] |date= |access-date=June 20, 2024 }}</ref> 
Some historians argued Seward's words steered many tribes, notably the Cherokee<ref>{{Citation | last = Gibson| first = Arrell| title = Oklahoma, a History of Five Centuries | publisher = University of Oklahoma Press| year = 1981| isbn = 0-8061-1758-3}}</ref> and the Choctaw<ref>{{cite book|last = Debo|first = Angie|title = The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic|publisher = University of Oklahoma Press|chapter = The Civil War and Reconstruction|page = 80|year = 1934}}</ref> into [[List of treaties of the Confederate States of America|an alliance]] with the Confederate States.