Excerpt from Modern
History of Oklahoma and Sequoyah, 1890-Present
Chapter 1: Statehood
The Twin Territories and the Election of 1904
At the turn of the 20th
century, north of the State of Texas, lay the so-called “Twin Territories,”
referring to the Oklahoma and Indian Territories. In these two lands, the
Federal Government relocated thousands upon thousands of Native American tribes
from their original lands to this relatively small location. The most famous,
of course, were the “Five Civilized Tribes”. They were called “civilized”
because they had adopted a lot of customs and traditions thought of as
belonging to the “white man’s culture.” They built houses, had governments, and
some even had their own alphabet. Although moved there against their will,
these tribes would soon leave their own marks on the map of North America.
Prior
to 1890, this whole area had been Indian Territory, but pressure for white
settlement in the region resulted in the famous land-runs of 1889, giving away
land not used by the tribes. The subsequent creation of Oklahoma Territory in
1890 was out of the western half of Indian Territory. In the following years,
more and more Indian land in Oklahoma territory was given away to white
settlement at the expense of the Native American inhabitants. The leaders of
the “Five Tribes” recognized this pattern and feared it would be repeated in
their own territory. They began to discuss different options to preserve their
lands and autonomy, coming to the conclusion that they must organize and
petition the Federal Government for the creation of their own state. Meetings between the different tribal
governments set up the plan for a statehood convention to be held in the town
of Muskogee in July 1905.
Out
of the hands of these tribal leaders, the Election of 1904 would be critical
for their plan to succeed. The Republican Party, which nominated Senator Mark
Hannah to succeed the two-term presidency of Republican William McKinley,
feared the creation of more Democratic-controlled states, and upsetting the
balance of power between Eastern and Western states. When asked about the
Oklahoma and Indian territories, most Republicans in Congress supported
combining the two territories into a single state. On the other hand, the
Democratic Party, which once again nominated William Jennings Bryan as their
candidate, supported a two state plan, both liking the idea of giving their
party the chance for two new pro-Democratic states and also wanting to protect
the rights of Indians and their treaties.
The
leaders of Indian Territory got lucky. The later half of William McKinley’s
presidency had been rough. Economic problems and several sever labor disputes
had made the country wary of many Republicans. And to make matters worse,
McKinley’s Vice President, Theodore Roosevelt, was outraged that Senator Hannah
had prevented him from getting the Republican Party’s nomination. He campaigned
as an independent under a loose party he created called the National Party.
McKinley’s unpopularity combined with the severe divisions within the
Republican Party led to a major sweep for the Democrats. With Bryan’s
inauguration in March of 1905, the stage was set for the leaders of Indian
Territory to create their own state.
The 1905 Convention
The date for the start of the Indian
Territory Statehood Convention was set for Monday, July 31, 1905. The delegates
elected William C. Rogers, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, as the
President of the Convention, and Green McCurtain, Chief of the Choctaw Nation,
as Vice President. The delegates had several issues to overcome. First among
them was the status of the tribal governments that were represented. Federal
policy was to “Americanize” the Native Indians and according to the Curtis Act
of 1896, Washington would no longer recognize tribal governments after 1906.
There were many in attendance that wanted to find some way to circumvent this
looming deadline.
Chief
Rogers introduced a revolutionary plan he hoped would help preserve some of the
tribal governments at the state level even when the Federal recognition went
away. Rogers proposed that the governments of the Five Tribes be integrated in
to the state government. The territory would be divided into counties, which
would be grouped under whatever Tribal Nation they happened to be in. Most
power would still rest with the state governments, but there would be judicial and
representational districts drawn along the old tribal lines. In addition,
tribes would have councils to handle issues at a lower level before they had to
be addressed at the state level. He also suggested that “tribal” citizenship
would be based upon who lives in the boundaries of that tribe, not on who was
actually Indian blood. This was quite bold, and definitely a departure from
just about every other state government in existence in the whole of the Union
at the time.
Despite worry
from some, including delegate Charles N. Haskell of the Creek Nation, the
delegates decided to base their constitution on this plan. Haskell believed
strongly in separate statehood, and so he fought hard to get the language of
the proposals changed so as to avoid the potential rejection of the Federal
government. In the final document, there is no mention of “tribes” or of the five
nations. Instead, these political divisions were called “districts” and were
named after cities: Tahlequah for the Cherokee; Okmulgee for the Creek; Wewoka
for the Seminole; Tuskahoma for the Choctaw; and Tishomingo for the Chickasaws.
These were to serve as an intermediary between the State and county
governments, and would primarily serve as judicial districts. Some delegates
criticized Haskell, saying that he was weakening the tribes too much. He countered
that the Federal government would never approve a constitution with strong
Indian governments. He believed that after statehood was achieved, the tribal
governments could be reconstituted on some level without interference from
Washington. His arguments won over most, and on September 8, the convention
adopted the Constitution of the proposed State of Sequoyah. After approval by
territorial voters in November, Haskell, Rogers, and several others took their
proposal to the national capital to seek Federal approval.
Statehood for Indian Territory
The reaction to the proposed
“State of Sequoyah” in Washington was mixed. The Republican minority in the
House was mostly against the idea, as expected, and there was some confusion
about the “district” structure that was included in the constitution. Some congressmen
correctly made the connection to the tribal boundaries and spoke out about this
as a way to slip around the Curtis Act. President Bryan met with Haskell about
the proposal on January 3, 1906, and seemed amiable to the proposal, promising he
would do his best to see it passed. Congress would vote later that month,
ultimately approving, by some of the narrowest of margins, the Sequoyah
Enabling Act.
The bill
recognized the constitution adopted by the Convention held the previous summer,
stated that all tribal governments within the new state would be dissolved upon
statehood, and recommended that Sequoyah be recognized as a state on March 1,
1906. President Bryan signed the bill on Tuesday, January 30, 1906, after which
things began to move very fast. Elections for the governorship and legislature
were scheduled for February 20th, and the politicians went to work
trying to secure votes. Haskell announced his candidacy as soon as he got back,
as did Chief Rogers. Voter turnout was high, and Haskell was elected as first
governor. As predicted, the Democratic Party controlled the new state
legislature. Everything was now set for statehood.
On
March 1, 1906, thousands of Sequoyahns gathered at the local courthouse in the
new state capital of Muskogee, where at the stroke of noon Charles N. Haskell
would be sworn in as the first governor of the new state of Sequoyah. The
people were ecstatic, many waving around the new state flag (consisting of
three equal stripes, blue, white, and red, with a yellow 5-pointed star in the
center that was upside down just like in the new state seal), ready for their
state to join the Union.
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From Chapter 8: Final Devolution in the tumult of the 1950s
Native Rights Movement and Devolution
The 1950s were a tumultuous time
throughout the United States. In the South, African Americas were clamoring for
real equality. In the West, the Asian communities wanted equality before the
law and also compensation for their poor treatment during the Second World War.
Throughout the West and Midwest, Native Americans wanted true equality and
restoration of their old tribal organizations. In this, the States of Sequoyah
and Oklahoma led the fight.
Thanks
to the planning of Sequoyah’s first governor Charles N. Haskell, the
governments of the Five Civilized Tribes were gradually reconstituted over the
intervening four decades. By 1950, the so-called “judicial districts” had been
renamed as the original Indian nation that they represented (1919). Those nations had elected legislatures
called Councils (1930), and the state legislature had gradually granted more
and more authority to those councils. In 1939, the nations elected “Executive
Chiefs” who would sit on the Governor’s cabinet to represent the interests of
the 5 Tribes. When the Great Equal Rights campaign erupted, the State of
Sequoyah, led by its governor, Samuel Rogers, soon found itself at the
forefront.
In
the State of Oklahoma, things had taken a little longer to get off the ground
after statehood in 1908. Many Native American’s who had means to do so moved to
Sequoyah. Those who stayed did not have much in the way of representation until
the 1930s, when a significant number of native representatives were elected to
the state legislature in Guthrie for the first time. They began to advocate for
the same kind of recognition for their tribes as what existed in Sequoyah. The
first tribe to receive this was the Comanche Nation, followed by the Cheyenne
and Arapaho Nation in 1948. These administrative districts were much weaker
versions of what existed in Sequoyah, but were considered a “good start” by the
locals.
Sequoyah’s
example to other tribes across the nation caused quite a stir, with native
people’s demanding legal recognition from the Dakotas to New Mexico and even
back east in New England. This would become even louder in 1952. That year, as
the country decided whether pro-segregationist Democrat Michael Thompson would
remain in the White House or if pro-equality Nationalist-Republican Richard
Morris would take office, the citizens of Sequoyah were presented with nearly a
dozen changes to their constitution. They called for a level of devolution to
the Five Nations that had been unprecedented at statehood forty-six years prior.
State taxes would be determined by each nation, police would be handled
primarily at the tribal level, as would the courts, with the Supreme Court of
Sequoyah becoming the only non-tribal court. The only things remaining under
the State’s control would be the National Guard, education, intra-state trade,
and the state highway network. On every other issue, power would be vested in
the administrative zones of the Five Nations. In addition, the constitutional
changes referred to the tribal organizations not as tribes, but as “First
Nations,” a term that gained wide popularity in the Equal Rights Movement. An
equal rights amendment was also on the ballot, ending racial segregation. When
citizens of the state went to the polls on November 4th, 1952, the
amendments were overwhelmingly approved, making Sequoyah the most devolved
state in the Union. Over the next decade, other tribes would pressure their
states to give similar concessions, with varying degrees of success. It is
widely accepted that the actions of Sequoyahns helped frame the section of the
All are Created Equal Act of 1963 dealing with native peoples, which officially
adopted the term “First Nations,” and saw the creation of dozens of tribal
administrative districts throughout the country by the end of the 1970s.