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What is a Sooner state?
Unowned / Federal land was offered to settlers through theHomestead Act of 1862. The act provided that a settler could claim160 acres of public land, and those who lived on th…e land for fiveyears, and who improved the land during that time would actually begiven ownership of the land. One of the Indian Appropriations Acts (the one in 1889), tried tomake the land claiming equal by saying that anyone who claimed landbefore a certain time would not be able to homestead on that land.This became known as the "sooner clause," so basically "sooners"were seen as cheaters and thieves. Later, the negative connotation of the word changed, and perhapsbecause it was an old pioneerish type word, people started thinkingthat sooners were cool in a historical, "my roots go back this far"type of way. In 1908 the University of Oklahoma named theirfootball team the "Sooners" and Oklahoma is now known as "TheSooner State." (MORE)