Editing Unassigned Lands (section)

==Settlement and statehood==
The Springer Amendment was immediately added to the Indian Appropriation Act of 1889 to authorize settlement under the provisions of the [[Homestead Act]] of 1862. The amendment, however, denied the settlers their [[squatter's rights]]. The lands were to be settled by a [[land run]]. The original settlers were rounded up and expelled. 

On April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma lands were settled by what would later be called the [[Land Run of 1889|Run of '89]]. Over 50,000 people entered on the first day, among them several thousand freedmen and descendants of slaves. [[tent city|Tent cities]] were erected overnight at [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma|Oklahoma City]], [[Kingfisher, Oklahoma|Kingfisher]], [[El Reno, Oklahoma|El Reno]], [[Norman, Oklahoma|Norman]], [[Guthrie, Oklahoma|Guthrie]] and [[Stillwater, Oklahoma|Stillwater]], which was the first of the settlements.

Federal troops of the [[United States Army]] provided law enforcement; the closest criminal and civil jurisdictions were the federal courts of the [[United States District Court]] for the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas|Western District of Arkansas]], with its courthouse centered in the border town to the east of [[Fort Smith, Arkansas]]. Despite that, the district and territory was generally peaceful with its longtime infamous federal judge [[Isaac C. Parker]] (1838-1896), and a posse of his [[United States Marshal Service|United States deputy marshals]]. Most land disputes were settled without bloodshed, although a few took years to resolve.

The passage of the [[Oklahoma organic act|Organic Act of 1890]] by the [[United States Congress]], signed by 23rd [[President of the United States|President]] [[Benjamin Harrison]] (1833-1901, served 1889-1893),  incorporated the former western Unassigned Lands into the newly organized federal [[Oklahoma Territory]], (which endured 17 years until 46th statehood in [[1907]]). Under the congressional act, local officials were appointed to handle civil and criminal matters until elections were held. Under the later [[Curtis Act]] of 1898, the communal lands of the Five Civilized Tribes in the adjacent Indian Territory to the east, were allocated to registered heads of households, thus extinguishing tribal title. The federal government declared any excess lands as "surplus" and allowed sale to non-Native Americans. In 1907, the new [[Oklahoma|State of Oklahoma]] (the merger of the full Indian Territory and former Oklahoma Territory areas) was admitted as the 46th state in the American Union.