An Organic Act is a generic name for a statute used by the United States Congress to describe a territory, in anticipation of being admitted to the Union as a state. Because of Oklahoma's unique history (much of the state was a place where aboriginal natives have always lived and after forced removal many other tribes were relocated here) an explanation of the Oklahoma Organic Act needs a historic perspective. In general, the Oklahoma Organic Act may be viewed as one of a series of legislative acts, from the time of Reconstruction, enacted by Congress in preparation for the creation of a united State of Oklahoma. The Organic Act created Oklahoma Territory, and Indian Territory that were Organized incorporated territories of the United States out of the old "unorganized" Indian Territory. The Oklahoma Organic Act was one of several acts whose intent was the assimilation of the tribes in Oklahoma and Indian Territories through the elimination of tribes' communal ownership of property.
History
Indian Relocation
"Indian removal" was a nineteenth-century policy of the US Government to relocate aboriginal natives living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river.
The Indian Removal Act, a specific implementation of the Removal Policy, was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The Act transformed most of the current state of Oklahoma into an Indian Territory, where southern aboriginal natives (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, also called the Five Civilized Tribes) were relocated. The Trail of Tears is a name given to the forced relocation of the Choctaw Nation in 1831.
In 1834, Congress created the first Indian Territory,H.R. Rep. No. 496, pt. 1, at 7 (Jan. 23, 1906) with the Five Civilized Tribes occupying the land that became the State of Oklahoma, excluding its panhandle.
Civil War See: Indian Territory in the American Civil War
Several members of the Five Civilized Tribes owned slaves and had sympathies with the Confederacy. All of the Five Civilized Tribes signed treaties placing themselves "under the protection of the Confederate States of America".Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the self-proclaimed Confederate States of America. Treaty of July 12, 1861, Confederate States of America-Choctaw Nation-Chickasaw Nation
During the Civil War, Congress passed a statute concerning the Abrogation of treaties with Indian Tribes, (codified at 25 USC Sec. 72) which states:
Whenever the tribal organization of any Indian tribe is in actual hostility to the United States, the President is authorized, by proclamation, to declare all treaties with such tribe abrogated by such tribe if in his opinion the same can be done consistently with good faith and legal and national obligations.
Reconstruction
As part of the Reconstruction effort following the Civil War, a "Southern Treaty Commission" was formed to meet with Indian tribes to negotiate new treaties.Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the Year 1865, Washington, Government Printing Office (1865) A result of these "Reconstruction Treaties" with various tribes was that the land allocated to the Five Civilized tribes was reduced to the eastern part of the territory, making room for relocation of other Indian tribes. Later, other aboriginal people, such as the Apache, Comanche, Delaware, Kiowa, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes and the Osage Nation were also forced to relocate to the Territories (there are currently 38 federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma).
Treaty of Washington (1866) The Southern Treaty Commission formulated the 1866 Treaty of Washington with the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations which contained the following provisions: Abolished slavery1866 Treaty of Washington, arts. II, III agreed to legislation that Congress and the President "may deem necessary for the better administration of justice and the protection of the rights of person and property within the Indian territory.".1866 Treaty of Washington, art VII Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes received $300,000, selling tribal lands west of 98 west longitude to the United StatesTreaty of Washington, Art 3 General amnesty for siding with Confederate States of AmericaTreaty of Washington, Art 5 Tribes grant right of way for rail roads authorized by Congress; A Land patent, or "first-title deed" to alternate sections of land adjacent to rail roads would be granted to the rail road upon completion of each 20 mile section of track and water stationsTreaty of Washington, Art 6 Agree to participate in the Indian Territory Legislature, with proportional representation from all tribes over 500 membersTreaty of Washington, Art 8 Laws take effect unless suspended by Secretary of the Interior or President of the United States No laws shall be inconsistent with the US Constitution, or laws of Congress, or treaties of the US No legislation regarding "matters pertaining to the legislative, judicial, or other organization, laws, or customs of the several tribes or nations, except as herein provided for" Superintendent of Indian Affairs (or appointee) is the presiding officer Secretary of Interior appoints secretary "The Choctaws and Chickasaws also agree that a court or courts may be established in said Territory with such jurisdiction and organization as Congress may prescribe: Provided, That the same shall not interfere with the local judiciary of either of said nations." Within each county, a quarter section of land shall be held in trust for the establishment of seats of justice therein, and also as many quarter-sections as the said legislative councils may deem proper for the permanent endowment of schoolsTreaty of Washington, Art 14 Provides for each man, woman, and child to receive 160 acres of land as an allotment.Treaty of Washington, Art 15 A Land patent, or "first-title deed" shall be issued as evidence of allotment, "issued by the President of the United States, and countersigned by the chief executive officer of the nation in which the land lies"Treaty of Washington, Art 25 All treaties and parts of treaties inconsistent herewith be, and the same are hereby, declared null and void.Treaty of Washington, Art 51
Osage Nation Purchase of Land in Cherokee Outlet Under the Cherokee Reconstruction Treaty of 1866, the Osage Nation began the process of purchasing approximately 1,570,059 acres in the Cherokee Outlet from the Cherokee Nation. The Osage Reservation was part of Oklahoma Territory under the Oklahoma Organic Act of 1890 and was made a semiautonomous district by the Enabling Act of 1906. With the passage of the Osage Allotment Act of June 28, 1906 (34 Stat. 539 c. 3572), each member of the tribe received an average allotment of 659.51 acres, with no surplus land remaining and the tribe retained ownership of mineral under the land (held in trust by the US Government).
Committee on Territories
The United States House Committee on Territories was initially formed in 1825. Shortly after the Civil War, the Committee began discussing how best to assimilate the Five Civilized Tribes and how to combine Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory. It was decided that one component of assimilation would be the distribution of property held in-common by the tribe to individual members of the tribe.Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek: Hearings on H.R. 19213 Before the H. Subcomm. on Indian Affairs, at 24 (Feb. 14, 1912) (statement of Hon. Byron P. Harrison) ("While the {1866 Treaty of Washington} contemplated the immediate allotment in severalty of the lands in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, yet such allotment in severalty to anyone was never made under such treaty, and has only been consummated since the breaking up of the tribal organization and preparatory to the organization of the State of Oklahoma.")
A second component of this decision was that in 1871, Congress decided that the United States would no longer deal with Indian tribes through a formal treaty-making process, providing that "[n]o Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be acknowledged or recognized as an independent nation ...".Indian Appropriation Act of March 3, 1871, 16 Stat. 544, 566 (currently codified at 25 U.S.C. § 71)Congress' plenary authority to "override treaty provisions and legislate for the protection of the Indians." United States v. City of McAlester, 604 F.2d 42, 47 (10th Cir. 1979)United States v. Blackfeet Tribe of Blackfeet Indian Reservation, 364 F.Supp. 192, 194 (D.Mont. 1973) ("[A]n Indian tribe is sovereign to the extent that the United States permits it to be sovereign – neither more nor less.")
From the 1870s through the early 1900s, the Committee on Territories heard arguments from the Five Civilized Tribes that the lands within their territory should not be included within the State of Oklahoma and that a separate State of Sequoyah should be created for the Tribes.
Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 The Cherokee Commission, created by Section 14 of the Indian Appropriations Act of March 2, 1889, was empowered to acquire land in the Cherokee Outlet not occupied by tribes, and to acquire excess land of other tribes in the Oklahoma Territory for non-indigenous homesteading. Eleven agreements involving nineteen tribes were signed over the period of May 1890 through November 1892. Investigations for Commission irregularities continued through the end of the 20th Century.
The 1889 Act also opened the Unassigned Lands to homesteaders, which included the Land Run of 1889 that settled Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Contents of Organic Act - Oklahoma Territory Established 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.Acts of the Fifty-First Congress, First Session: Oklahoma Organic Act of May 2, 1890, ch. 182, 26 Stat. 81. Laws and Treaties Vol 1. (Statutes, Executive Orders, Proclamations, and Statistics of Tribes) Compiled to December 1, 1902 by Charles J. Kappler, LL., M., Clerk to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1903
"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."Case No. CIV-11-927-W, in the Western District of Oklahoma. Chickasaw Nation and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma v. Mary Fallin in her capacity as Governor of the State of Oklahoma et al. Defendants City of Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City Water Utilities Trust's Answer to the Plaintiff Nations' First Amended Complaint. Filed 1/25/12, p 91
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