Editing Oklahoma (section)

=== 19th century ===

During the 19th century, the [[Federal government of the United States|U.S. federal government]] forcibly removed tens of thousands of American Indians from their ancestral homelands from across North America and transported them to the area including and surrounding present-day Oklahoma. The Choctaw was the first of the [[Five Civilized Tribes]] to be removed from the [[Southeastern United States]]. The phrase "[[Trail of Tears]]" originated from a description of the removal of the [[Choctaw]] Nation in 1831, although the term is usually used for the [[Cherokee]] removal.<ref name="len_green">
{{cite web|url=http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/trtears.htm| title = Choctaw Removal was really a "Trail of Tears"| access-date = April 28, 2008| author=Len Green|publisher=Bishinik, mboucher, University of Minnesota |date=November 1978 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604005108/http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mboucher/mikebouchweb/choctaw/trtears.htm<!--Added by H3llBot-->|archive-date = June 4, 2008}}</ref>

Seventeen thousand Cherokees and 2,000 of their black slaves were deported.<ref>Carter, Samuel (III) (1976). ''Cherokee sunset: A nation betrayed: a narrative of travail and triumph, persecution and exile''. New York: Doubleday, p. 232.</ref> The area, already occupied by [[Osage Nation|Osage]] and [[Quapaw]] tribes, was called for the [[Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma|Choctaw Nation]] until revised Native American and then later American policy redefined the boundaries to include other Native Americans. By 1890, more than 30 Native American nations and tribes had been concentrated on land within [[Indian Territory]] or "Indian Country".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.com/~cherokee/1890map.html|title=1890 Indian Territory Map|publisher=RootsWeb|access-date=May 6, 2009}}</ref>

All Five Civilized Tribes signed treaties with the Confederate military during the [[American Civil War]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morton|first=Ohland|year=1953|title=Confederate Government Relations with the Five Civilized Tribes|journal=Chronicles of Oklahoma|volume=31|issue=2|pages=189–204|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v031/v031p189.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201074014/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v031/v031p189.pdf|archive-date=February 1, 2016}}</ref> The [[Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)|Cherokee Nation]] had an internal civil war.<ref name="Native_American_Participation_Numbers">{{cite book|last=Rodman|first=Leslie|title=The Five Civilized Tribes and the American Civil War|url=http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf|page=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723013312/http://www.amtour.net/downloadable/The_5_Civilized_Tribes_in_the_Civil_War_a_Biographical_Essay.pdf|archive-date=July 23, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Slavery in Indian Territory was not abolished until 1866.<ref>{{cite book|first=Alton|last=Hornsby, Jr.|title=A Companion to African American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bqIJ278VHuwC&pg=PA127|date=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4051-3735-5|page=127}}</ref>

In the period between 1866 and 1899,<ref name="OK History" /> cattle ranches in Texas strove to meet the demands for food in eastern cities and railroads in Kansas promised to deliver in a timely manner. [[Cattle drive|Cattle trails]] and cattle ranches developed as [[cowboy]]s either drove their product north or settled illegally in Indian Territory.<ref name="OK History" /> In 1881, four of five major cattle trails on the western frontier traveled through Indian Territory.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://genealogytrails.com/main/cattletrails1881map.html|title= Map of Cattle Drives in 1881| publisher=Genealogy Trails History Group| access-date=August 1, 2007}}</ref>
[[File:Former Indian Reservations in Oklahoma.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Indian reservations in Oklahoma prior to the Dawes Act of 1887.]]
Increased presence of white settlers in Indian Territory and their demand for land owned and guaranteed to Indian tribes by treaties with the U.S. government prompted the United States to enact the [[Dawes Act]] in 1887 and the [[Curtis Act of 1898]]. The acts abolished tribal governments, eliminated tribal ownership of land, and allotted {{cvt|160|acre|ha}} of land to each head of an Indian family. An objective of the acts was the forced assimilation of Indians into white society. Land not allotted to individual Indians was owned by the U.S. government and sold or distributed to settlers and railroads. The proceeds of the land sales were used to educate Indian children and advance the policy of assimilation. As a result of the two acts about one-half of land previously owned by Indian tribes was owned by whites by 1900.<ref>{{cite web | first=Robert|last=Hamilton|url=http://itech.fgcu.edu/&/issues/vol3/issue1/united.htm|title= United States and Native American Relations | publisher=Florida Gulf Coast University| access-date=August 1, 2007}}</ref> Moreover, much of the land allotted to individual Indian heads of families became white-owned. Allottees often sold or were fraudulently deprived of their land.<ref name="Case">{{cite book|author=Case DS, Voluck DA|year=2002|title=Alaska Natives and American Laws|edition=2nd|pages=104–105|location=Fairbanks, AK|publisher=University of Alaska Press|isbn=978-1-889963-08-2}}</ref>
     
The acquisition of tribal lands by the U.S. government led to [[land runs]], also called "land rushes," from 1887 and 1895. Major land runs, including the [[Land Rush of 1889]], opened up millions of acres of formerly tribal lands to white settlement. The "rushes" began at a precise times as each prospective settler literally raced with other prospective settlers to claim ownership of {{cvt|160|acre|ha}} of land under the [[Homestead Act of 1862]]. Usually land was claimed by settlers on a first come, first served basis.<ref>{{cite web|year=1999 |url=http://aaae.okstate.edu/proceedings/1999/Factors%20Influencing%20Enrollment.doc |title=Factors Influencing Enrollment in Agricultural Education Classes of Native American Students in Oklahoma |publisher=Oklahoma State University |format=DOC |access-date=August 1, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808074216/http://aaae.okstate.edu/proceedings/1999/Factors%20Influencing%20Enrollment.doc |archive-date=August 8, 2007 }}</ref> Those who broke the rules by crossing the border into the territory before the official opening time were said to have been crossing the border ''sooner'', leading to the term ''[[sooners]]'', which eventually became the state's official nickname.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/r_virt_landrun5.html|title= Rushes to Statehood | publisher=National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum|access-date=August 1, 2007|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234602/http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/research/r_virt_landrun5.html|archive-date=September 26, 2007}}</ref> [[George Washington Steele]] was appointed the first governor of the territory of Oklahoma in 1890.