1888 Organization of the Oklahoma Territory, U.S. House Report No. 263, Parts 1 and 2. [Indian Territory Map]

With illustrated and folding map

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Two 1888 Congressional Reports on Organization of Oklahoma Territory

Two 1888 House of Representatives reports—in two parts, as issued—on bill H.R. 1277, a continuing effort to organize what became Oklahoma Territory. One report has a folding map entitled “Indian Territory.” It delineates the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw Nations—alongside other Native holdings including the Cheyenne and Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Osage, and Pawnee reservations. It graphically represents the proposed “Territory of Oklahoma” carved from Indian Territory, bordered by Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas, and marked by the Public Land Strip (the later “No Man’s Land”).

The printed reports include both the majority opinion, dated February 7, 1888, submitted by Representative Springer, and the minority dissent by Representative Barnes, opposing the bill (H.R. 1277) to organize Oklahoma Territory. Together they document a critical debate in U.S. Indian policy at the close of the nineteenth century, revealing congressional reasoning that preceded the Dawes Act’s full implementation and the eventual opening of the “Unassigned Lands” to non-Native settlement in 1889.

First report, titled as issued: 50th Congress House of Representatives 1st Session. Report No. 263. Organization of the Territory of Oklahoma. February 7, 1888. Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and Ordered to Be Printed. Mr. Springer from the Committee on the Territories, Submitted the Following Report: [To accompany Bill H.R.1277.]

Second report, titled as issued: 50th Congress House of Representatives 1st Session. Rept. 263, Part 2. Oklahoma. [House Bill No. 1277, for the Organization of the Territory of Oklahoma.] Views of the Minority. Mr. Barnes, from the Committee on Territories, submitted the following report as the views of the minority in opposition to the passage of the bill.

Price: $125.00