Transcript Unit 4
Unit 4 Territorial Days Courts and Prisons Prior to 1896 there were no courts in Indian Territory with authority over white people. Therefore in 1871 the United States District Court at Fort Smith Arkansas was given authority to try cases from Indian Territory involving whites as well as cases in which Indians were charged with violating Federal Laws. The Hanging Judge Judge Isaac Parker was appointed to the Fort Smith court in 1876. Appalled at the crime rate in the Territory, he began to assess high penalties for breaking the law. In his twenty years on the bench in Fort Smith he imposed punishment on 9000 convicted criminals, including eighty eight who were sentenced to death by hanging. He became famous as the “Hanging Judge” of Fort Smith. Courts The Fort Smith Court maintained jurisdiction over certain matters in Indian Territory until 1883. In 1896 three United States District Courts were established in Indian Territory, removing jurisdiction of the Fort Smith court from all of Indian Territory. Outlaws Numerous Whites had enjoyed the far-removed jurisdiction of the Fort Smith court. With justice so many miles away, Indian Territory appeared to some to be the perfect place to escape prosecution for crimes committed in other states. Outlaws such as Jim Reed, Jesse James, Cole Younger, and Bill Doolin often took refuge in Indian Territory. Census Figures In 1890 the federal census was taken in Indian Territory for the first time There were 128,042 aliens recorded as living there, compared to 50,055 Indians. Tribesmen were outnumbered almost three to one. Gold and Silver One of the activities that brought outsiders into Indian Territory was the reported discovery of gold and other minerals. In 1889 ancient Spanish gold mines were discovered near Purcell. In 1890 gold and silver deposits were reported in the Arbuckle Mountains and in the eastern Cherokee Nation. In 1891 gold was discovered near Chandler Oil Another mineral discovered in Oklahoma was Oil Oil did not merit commercial production in the Territories until 1889. Property Ownership Noncitizens could not own land and their children could not attend tribal schools. They also had very little government and no voice in the government that was provided for them. In 1887 Congress passed the Dawes Allotment Act. It provided for allotments in severalty for all Indian tribes in the United States except the Five Civilized Tribes and the Peoria Confederation. “Allotments in Severalty” was a phrase that meant portions of land that would be allotted to individual owners. Tribal lands no longer belonged to the tribe as a group. Indian citizens would each be given a specific amount of land, usually 160 acres The Organic Act The Organic Act of 1890 which set up the government for Oklahoma Territory, also allowed for the admission of each tribal area to the Territory of Oklahoma as it was opened to white settlement. The Dawes Commission After March 2, 1889 only the five Civilized Tribes were unaffected by the Dawes Act. In March, 1893, congress passed the annual Indian Appropriations Act with an addition to the act establishing the Dawes Commission. The job of the commission was to persuade the Five Civilized Tribes to accept allotments in severalty in exchange for their tribal lands. Most Indians vigorously protested the work of the commission. Forcible Enrollment On June 10, 1896, Congress instructed the Dawes Commission to begin enrolling tribal members without tribal government permission. The bill they passed further states that the United states had the duty to “establish a government in the Indian Territory which will fix the many inequalities and discriminations now existing in said Territory and afford needful protection of the lives and property of all citizens and residents thereof” The clearly stated purpose of the bill persuaded the tribal leaders to begin negotiations. The Curtis Act After five years the only legal agreement which was actually made by the Dawes Commission with the Five Civilized Tribes was the Seminole agreement. U.S. Representative Charles Curtis of Kansas had introduced a bill in 1896 authorizing the allotment of Indian Territory lands without the approval of the tribes. Congress considered the bill again and passed it with Presidential approval on June 28, 1898. The Curtis Act was the enactment of the bill passed in 1871 abolishing treaties with the Indians as sovereign nations. It was the final conquest of Native Americans. While the US Government never forcibly conquered the Indians, the power of the native nations was gradually diminished over the years, as were their lands. With the Curtis Act their governments were finally abolished and their lands reduced t holdings of 160 acres for each person. The Crazy Snake Rebellion In January 1901 full blood Creeks under the leadership of Chitto Harjo, or crazy Snake, made public their intention of retaining the old tribal government. Harjo claimed that his rights under the old treaties were preserved by his service as a Union Soldier in the Civil War. He became a Creek Chief in 1900 and attempted to enforce old laws and customs. Harjo and a core group were still attempting to restore tribal government through federal courts twenty years later. They refused to select allotments so selections were made for them, and the Crazy Snake Rebellion was considered by federal officers to be over. Other Resistance Many tribal leaders insisted upon compliance by the United States with treaty agreements which promised that Indian Territory would not be included in a state unless agreed to by the Indians. Further they claimed that it would take them twenty-five years to get ready for statehood. Land of the Red Man In 1866 when the Reconstruction treaties were signed between leaders of the Five Civilized Tribes and the United States Government, Choctaw Chief Allen Wright coined the “Oklahoma” from two Choctaw words meaning “Land of the Red Man” Wright meant that the name should apply to the eastern half of Indian Territory the home of five tribes. Provisional Governments Official government was not provided for Oklahoma Territory until the Oklahoma Organic Act was passed on May 2, 1890, almost thirteen months after settlers rushed into the area to establish homes. The people recognized the need for some kind of government and on April 23 1889 the day immediately after the Land Opening meetings were held in Oklahoma City and Guthrie. The first public officials were elected and temporary governments established. Temporary Governments The temporary or provisional governments were indeed unofficial and they were successful only because the majority of people consented, however, and crime could not adequately be controlled by unofficial governments. The presence of the army suppressed violence in the young territory to the extent that living conditions were at least tolerably safe. Within a few weeks most of the new towns had several permanent buildings which housed banks, cafes, and other businesses. The tent cities were disappearing and permanent homes were replacing them. Rural Life The Territory’s rural residents found more difficult than did their city neighbors. The prairies natural lack of timber and the absence of commercial building supplies made permanent housing impossible. Families lived in dugouts, shelters dug from a hillside and covered with log and earth roofs, and “soddies”, homes made from blocks of turf which were stacked like bricks. Territorial government By July 1889 settlers recognized the legal disadvantage of living in a territory without an official government. Conventions were held at Guthrie for the purpose of discussing the problem. The group at Guthrie voted to organize a territorial government immediately. The Guthrie group later reconvened and sent a statement to Congress outlining the problems the people were having because of the lack of a common government. The Organic Act President Benjamin Harrison signed the Organic Act on May 2, 1890 establishing a government for Oklahoma Territory. The official title of the bill was “An Act the Provide Temporary Government for the Territory of Oklahoma, to Enlarge the Jurisdiction of the United States Court in the Indian Territory and for the Other Purposes.” This was the first time the area had been officially referred to as the Territory of Oklahoma, the Organic Act designated the Unassigned lands as Oklahoma Territory and provided that as soon as the various Indian land areas were opened to white settlement they would each be added automatically to the Territory. This included all Indian lands except the land designated for the Five Civilized Tribes, the unoccupied portion of the Cherokee Outlet and the lands belonging to the Indians under the Administration of the Quapaw Agency. No Mans Land The Organic Act also included the Public Land Strip or No Mans Land in Oklahoma Territory. The eastern boundary of the land strip had been established by the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, and the western boundary form the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo negotiated at the end of the Mexican War in 1848. The Compromise of 1850 set the northern boundary of Texas at 36’ 30’ N Latitude. The southern boundary of Kansas Territory was set at 37’ n Latitude in 1854. These negotiations had left the Public Land Strip ungoverned. It was not part of any state or territory prior the Organic Act of 1890 and had never been declared a territory by itself Territorial Government There were seven counties designated in the Oklahoma Organic Act, which were not named but numbered. They became Logan, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Canadian, Kingfisher, and Payne Counties. No Mans Land became Beaver County. Guthrie was named as the capital of the Territory and the President appointed George Washington Steele as first territorial governor. An election was held to select legislative assembly members on August 5, 1890 and the first legislature met on August 29. Legislators passed bills designating the establishment of the Territorial University at Norman, and Territorial Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater, and the Territorial Normal School at Edmond. A taxation system was established and laws were passed controlling commerce and industry. On December 25, 1890 an act passed which established the public school system. Territorial Governors During Oklahoma’s territorial period, nine men served as governor. William Cary Renfrow took office on May 7 the only Democrat among the territorial governor. During Renfrow's term as governor bills were passed establishing the Agricultural Normal University at Langston for blacks and the Northwestern Normal School at Alva. On May 24 1897 Cassius McDonald Barnes became the fifth governor of Oklahoma Territory, during his term he established the Southwest Normal School at Weatherford and the University Preparatory school at Tonkawa. Barnes term ended in 1901 but he remained in the territory and later served as mayor of Guthrie Territorial Governors G. W. Steele, 1890-1891 R. Martin, 1891 A. J. Seay, 1892-1893 C. Renfrow, 1893-1897 C. M. Barnes, 1897-1901 W. M. Jenkins, 1901 C. W. Grimes, 1901 T. B. Ferguson, 1901-1906 F. Frantz, 1906-1907 The Jerome Commission The opening of the Unassigned Lands was just the beginning for Oklahoma Territory. The non-Indian public hoped that all the Indian reservations would be opened for settlement and the government did its best to oblige. In July 1889 President Benjamin Harrison appointed the Jerome Commission also known as the Cherokee Commission to negotiate with tribes in the western territory. Each man, woman, and child on the tribal rolls was to receive 160 acres of land. The remainder of the tribal lands would be purchased by the US Government and opened to settlement by non-Indians The Second Opening On September 22, 1891 in a run similar to the one conducted on the Unassigned lands, 900,000 acres of Sac and Fox, Pottawatomie, Iowa, and Shawnee lands were opened. Twenty thousand people competed for 5600 claims. The area became Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties. Opening the Cherokee Outlet Since the first opening of Indian lands to non-Indian settlement the lands many people had been waiting for were in the Cherokee Outlet. The Cherokee Strip Livestock Association had worked long and hard to prevent the opening and to retain its lease of those lands. However, in 1890 the President declared their lease invalid and ordered them to remove their livestock from the area. The Jerome Commission made an agreement with the Cherokee Nation after long months of deliberation and the Outlet was opened for settlement on September 16,1893 Prettyman’s Photograph The Cherokee Outlet opening also included lands which had belonged to the Tonkawa's and Pawnees. It was perhaps the most famous of all openings thanks the William S. Prettyman a frontier photographer from Kansas. With his experience at the first opening Prettyman devised a scheme whereby he might produce the best possible picture of the beginning of the land run. The Race The Cherokee Outlet opening was operated somewhat differently from the other openings. The Racers were required to register before the race, and anyone who later filed a claim was required to show his registration paper. No claim could be filed without it. It was hoped that this would impair the Sooners from claiming so much land. In fact there were probably more Sooners participating in this run than in any previous. They simply registered before they entered the area. Pawnee, Kay, Grant, Garfield, Noble, Woodward, and Woods counties were created by the opening of the Cherokee Outlet. Opening the Kickapoo Reservation The last area to be opened by run was the Kickapoo Reservation. The Kickapoo land area was small. Opened in 1895 the land area was attached to existing counties. Greer County Greer County had been in dispute with Texas for several years. The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 had declared the Red River the boundary between the two areas, but at the western corner of the area the North Fork of the Red River separated a triangular section of land totaling 1,500,00 acres. Texas claimed that the North Fork was the dividing line and moved into the area. The Oklahoma Organic Act of 1890 ordered a lawsuit to determine the actual boundary. On May 4, 1896 an act of Congress declared Greer County to be part of Oklahoma Territory Ethnic Groups People of other ethnic origins often settled in groups, according to race, religion, or occupation. Many Germans made their homes in El Reno, Enid, Muskogee, and Leedy. Ukrainian settlement was in Hartshorne Czechs settled in Bison and Prague One religious group whose members did cluster together were the Mennonites. There were Mennonite settlements in Gotebo, Bessie, Corn, Geary, Canton, Fairview, Meno, Enid, Medford, Perry, Hooker, and Turpin. African Americans made up the largest ethnic group in Oklahoma Territory and there were several all African American towns. A few were Langston, Lima, bailey, Ferguson, Tatums, and Lincoln City. Statehood On December 16, 1891 the first statehood convention was held in Oklahoma City. Those in attendance demanded that the two territories be combined into one state. The first bill for statehood for the twin territories was introduced in the House of Representatives on January 25, 1892. Thereafter for fourteen years every session of Congress considered one or more such billed. Some proposed combining the two territories into one state and some proposed entering Oklahoma Territory as a single state. Some proposed two separate states. E.P. McCabe and the black state E.P. McCabe, founder of Langston, continued to believe the only was for AfricanAmericans to achieve political power was to become a voting majority – that is to have the largest voting aged group in a given area. In this case the area was Oklahoma Territory. McCabe hoped to make Oklahoma an African American State. The Indian State Some Indian leaders were hoping to make Indian Territory a separate Indian state. Until June 10, 896 most Indian leaders opposed statehood of any kind for Indian Territory. On that date when Congress passed the bill instructing the Dawes Commission to begin enrollment for allotment without consent of the tribes, Indian leaders realized that eventual statehood was inevitable. If so they preferred an Indian state rather than joint statehood with Oklahoma Territory The Hamilton Bill Known as the Oklahoma Enabling Act passed on June 16, 1906 providing for the creation of a single state combining the territories. The series of events which had begun with the Indian Removal; Act of 1830 had finally achieved the aims of many of the early white leaders. The Indian Nations no longer existed. Indians were going to be made a part of American society. The Oklahoma Enabling Act was passed by voters on November 6, 1906 The Constitutional Convention The Constitutional Convention convened at Guthrie on November 20, 1906 and elected posts were filled. William H. Murray was elected president of the convention because of his superior knowledge of constitutional law. State Constitution Despite the political battle waged by groups of blacks against segregation laws the new Constitution contained provisions for separating the races in the public schools. The definition of white children in this provision was especially important since so many members of the Constitutional Convention as well as so many citizens of the new state were Indians. On September 17, 1907 the voters of Oklahoma approved the new state Constitution by a vote of 180,333 to 73,059. State officials were also elected on September 17,1907. If the President of the United States approved the Constitution, making Oklahoma a state, the elected officials were automatically approved and would take office on the date proclaimed by the President as Statehood Day. Jim Crowism Although President Roosevelt had previously asked that “Jim Crow” laws not be included in the Constitution he approved the document and proclaimed Oklahoma to be a state on November 16, 1907. “Jim Crow” laws are ones in which segregate or discriminate against African Americans Regardless of the Jim Crowism of the new Constitution the document was considered quite progressive in 1907. It provided for an eight hour work day for government employees and miners, and it allowed women to vote in school elections. Statehood On November 16, 907 thousands of citizens gathered in Guthrie to await news of statehood. In Washington D.C. at 10:16 a.m. President Theodore Roosevelt reluctantly signed the statehood proclamation and declared “Oklahoma as a state” To symbolize the union of the twin territories a woman representing Indian territory and a man representing Oklahoma Territory were “married“ in a mock wedding. Statehood cont. Saloon Owners mourned prohibition and African Americans despised the Jim Crowism of the new Constitution. Indians who had opposed statehood were apprehensive about their new status. Republicans were disappointed by the heavy Democratic victory in the state elections and President Roosevelt was saddened by his failure to force the preparation of a more suitable Constitution for Oklahoma. William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, and tens of thousands of citizens were joyful and looked hopefully forward to prosperity, self-government, and other benefits promised by their new status as full citizens of the United States. Rather than being Territorial citizens and in their opinion political orphans they were now citizens of Oklahoma the 46th state of the union.