[2][3][4][5] During the Articles of Confederation-era, several U.S. states, particularly New York, purchased lands from Indians without the consent of Congress.
However, the Second Circuit has held that Congress had neither the authority nor the intent to prohibit such purchases within the borders of individual states, and thus that the Proclamation applied only to the federal territories.
The Proclamation prohibits: all persons from making settlements on lands inhabited or claimed by Indians, without the limits or jurisdiction of any particular State, and from purchasing or receiving any gift or cession of such lands or claims without the express authority and directions of the United States in Congress assembled.
[6] However, the Proclamation has been cited in more recent litigation challenging conveyances of aboriginal title from tribes between 1783 and 1790.
[19][20][21] Howard Elijah, secretary of the Oneida Council of Chiefs, called the decision a "genocide.