Expanding into reservation land, settlers known as Sooners came to start a new life for themselves in land already occupied.
With the expansion of the Dawes Act we see the final effort to wipe out Native American sovereignty in the United States. Every provision of the original act was subsequently amended to further rob Native Americans of their lands. In the words of Senator Henry Dawes, Indian Territory was a savage land ungoverned by the rule of law. This was not only untrue but there is evidence to support the idea that Indian Territory was more organized than the American frontier towns of the time. The economic stagnation and disease that did run rampant in the territory was the result of the situation forced upon the inhabitants.
