Transcript Unit 4 - Guthrie Public Schools

Unit 4
Territorial Days
Courts and Prisons
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Another mineral discovered in Oklahoma
was Oil
Oil did not merit commercial production in
the Territories until 1889.
Property Ownership
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
Questions
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How was the Cherokee Strip land run different
than other land runs?
Why was Greer county in dispute?
Tell what E.P. McCabe wanted Oklahoma to be?
Describe the Oklahoma Enabling Act?
What are Jim Crow Laws?
Which President signed the bill that made
Oklahoma a state?