Removal of Restrictions | Oklahoma Historical Society (2024)

Home | Research Center | Records | Removal of Restrictions

About This Database

This database includes names indexed from two groups of records: general applications and orders for removal of restriction, and petitions for removal specifically to use the land as a townsite.

Removal of Restriction Applications and Orders

This index was created from the applications made by individuals to remove restrictions from their allotted lands found in the American Indian Archives. The archives also include orders for restriction to be removed. The documents include first and last name, roll number (in most cases), tribal affiliation, and in a few cases blood quantum is listed. The index includes more than 11,000 names. These materials are part of the Union Agency Records and they pertain to the Five Tribes: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw (including Mississippi Choctaw), Muscogee (Creek), and Seminole.

Most of the information contained in the document has been included in this database. Below are examples of the application and order documents.

Application for removal of restrictions

Order for removal of restrictions

Removal of Restriction for Townsite Use

The townsite records contain petitions from individuals for the removal of restriction on land for townsite purposes. Included in the files are questionnaires, plat maps, and correspondence. Most files include legal land descriptions. To search these records, enter the name of an individual. The files are organized by town within the tribal nations. There are only a few files per town and not all towns are represented. The files date from 1903 to 1909 and can be found in the American Indian Archives, Dawes Commission Records. This database includes 467 names of individuals in Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Muscogee (Creek) Nations.

Why Were Allotments Restricted?

During the land allotment period in Indian Territory, Congress made the decision to restrict allotments of American Indians who enrolled with one-half or more blood quantum. Members of Congress believed that the restricted tribal members did not fully understand what it meant to own land as a private owner, since their cultural practice prior to allotment was to share the land with other tribal members. Congress also believed that tribal members with one-half or more blood quantum could easily become persuaded by white citizens to alienate (or give up) their own property, which might mean they would lose their allotment in its entirety.

According to Section 19 of the Act of April 26, 1906, the decision made by Congress states: “That no full blood Indian…shall have power to alienate, sell, dispose of, or encumber in any manner any of the lands allotted to him for a period of 25 years…” This meant that restricted tribal members were not in control of their own property and had a guardian assigned to them who would make decisions about the allotment.

On May 27, 1908, legislation known as the Restrictions Bill was passed. This law removed restrictions on all lands and homesteads of intermarried whites, Freedmen, and those enrolled with less than one-half blood quantum. For individuals with a blood quantum between one-half and three-quarters, restrictions remained on homesteads, but were removed from all other lands. For full-blood individuals and those with more than three-quarters blood quantum, all lands and homesteads remained under restriction.

The Restrictions Bill also confirmed the authority of the secretary of the Interior to remove restrictions. Restricted tribal members could make an application to a US Indian agent for the removal of their restrictions. The field Indian agent would then investigate the applicants and forward any reports and recommendations to the Department of the Interior, which would be reviewed by the secretary of the Interior. The secretary had the final say as to whether restrictions should be removed or not. Once restrictions were removed, they could not be reimposed.

Section 9 of the Act of April 10, 1926, explains in the instance an allotment recipient died, the restriction would essentially “die” with the original allottee, allowing the heir or heirs to gain control of their share of the allotted land.

Access These Records

Visit the Research Center to view these records from the American Indian Archives. Removal of restriction applications and orders are part of the Union Agency records; townsite documents are part of the Dawes Commission records.

Order Copies

The Research Center offers a $15 express service for orders from this database. Please note that this database includes most of the information listed on the records. To order copies of a listing by mail, use the printable order form and include the information provided in the index. To order by phone call 405-522-5225.

Removal of Restrictions | Oklahoma Historical Society (2024)

FAQs

What was the result of the Indian Removal Act? ›

These led to the relocation of nearly 50,000 eastern Indians to the Indian Territory—what later became eastern Oklahoma. It opened up 25 million acres of eastern land to white settlement and, since the bulk of the land was in the American south, to the expansion of slavery.

How did the Cherokees and their leaders respond to removal and relocation? ›

The Cherokee Nation, led by Principal Chief John Ross, resisted the Indian Removal Act, even in the face of assaults on its sovereign rights by the state of Georgia and violence against Cherokee people.

Are Choctaw Freedmen Native American? ›

The Choctaw Freedmen are former enslaved Africans, Afro-Indigenous, and African Americans who were emancipated and granted citizenship in the Choctaw Nation after the Civil War, according to the tribe's new peace treaty of 1866 with the United States.

What did the Supreme Court say about the Indian Removal Act? ›

The Cherokee nation protested by taking the Indian Removal Act to the Supreme Court in 1831. The court felt that the Cherokee nation had a right to self-government and thus acknowledged that the Georgia extension of state law over the Cherokee nation was unconstitutional.

How did the Indian Removal Act impact society? ›

The Indian Removal Act opened land that Indigenous peoples had previously called home to White settlement and the expansion of slavery, further codifying injustices at the federal level that had long been underway.

Why was the Indian Removal Act bad? ›

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Dawes Act of 1887 ordered AI/AN people from the lands they had been living on. This removal by force contributed to the loss of entire tribes, their culture, traditions, and languages.

How did Native Americans resist the Indian Removal Act? ›

Some Indian nations simply refused to leave their land -- the Creeks and the Seminoles even waged war to protect their territory. The First Seminole War lasted from 1817 to 1818.

How did the Indian Removal Act of 1830 affect Native Americans in the southeast? ›

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy.

Did the Indian Removal Act violate the Declaration of Independence? ›

Answer and Explanation: The removal of the Native Americans from east of the Mississippi River violated many of the principles found in the Declaration of Independence. A primary principle violated is the tyranny that was inflicted on the Native population being forced off their lands.

Who was the only tribe to treat slaves as freedmen? ›

The Cherokee national government freed their slaves in June 1863, the only one of the Five Tribes to do so until after the war, although few slaveholders acknowledged this law.

What blood type is Choctaw? ›

Studies show some members of the Choctaw Tribe in Oklahoma have blood characteristics not found in any other part of the world. This discovery was made in 1997 at Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI). The “type” or minor blood group is known scientifically as ENAV(MNS42).

What race is Choctaw? ›

Choctaw, North American Indian tribe of Muskogean linguistic stock that traditionally lived in what is now southeastern Mississippi.

Which tribe is most associated with the Trail of Tears? ›

This is the story of the removal of the Cherokee Nation from its ancestral homeland in parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama to land set aside for American Indians in what is now the state of Oklahoma.

Who were the only Native Americans who successfully resisted their removal? ›

Emboldened by the Supreme Court decisions declaring that Georgia law had no force on Indian Territory, the Cherokees resisted removal. Fifteen thousand Cherokee joined in a protest against Jackson's policy: “l*ttle did [we] anticipate that when taught to think and feel as the American citizen ...

What did most American settlers want from American Indians? ›

Working on behalf of white settlers who wanted to grow cotton on the Indians' land, the federal government forced them to leave their homelands and walk hundreds of miles to a specially designated “Indian Territory” across the Mississippi River.

What was the result of the Indian Removal Act quizlet? ›

What was the Indian Removal Act of 1830? It gave the president the power to negotiate removal treaties with Indian tribes living east of the Mississippi River. Under these treaties, the Indians were to give up their land east of the Mississippi in exchange for lands to be west.

What did Native Americans lose as a result of removal? ›

Losing Indian lands resulted in a loss of cultural identity, as tribes relied on their homelands as the place of ancestral burial locations and sacred sites where religious ceremonies were performed. Without their lands, nations lost their identities, and their purpose.

Which of the following were effects of the Indian Removal Act? ›

Expert-Verified Answer. Native Americans were moved to lands west of the Mississippi River an outcome of the Indian Removal Act.

What was the result of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Treaty of New Echota in 1835? ›

The agreement led to the forced removal of Cherokees from their southeastern homelands to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. The Treaty of New Echota gave the Cherokees $5 million and land in present-day Oklahoma in exchange for their 7 million acres of ancestral land.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Mr. See Jast

Last Updated:

Views: 6230

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (75 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Mr. See Jast

Birthday: 1999-07-30

Address: 8409 Megan Mountain, New Mathew, MT 44997-8193

Phone: +5023589614038

Job: Chief Executive

Hobby: Leather crafting, Flag Football, Candle making, Flying, Poi, Gunsmithing, Swimming

Introduction: My name is Mr. See Jast, I am a open, jolly, gorgeous, courageous, inexpensive, friendly, homely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.