Volume 10 , Issue 4

Tribal Changes - Indian Territory

In theory the Cherokee people were united under a republican form of government, though the internal dissensions seriously interfered with the perfect working of the political system which had been devised for this purpose. In the other tribes from the South, there was even less of unity in their respective tribal political organizations.

In the Creek Nation, the people acted together in matters that affected the interests of the whole tribe, such as in making treaties and distributing annuity funds, they generally kept the sub-tribal lines intact, and in their internal affairs, were practically distinct tribes -- the Upper and Lower Creeks -- just as they were before their migration to the West.

When the Choctaw people first came to the West, they promptly re-established the form of tribal government which they had maintained in their old homeland east of the Mississippi, in which there were three distinct chiefs who collectively acted as the executive head of the tribal government.

When the Chickasaw people came west, they joined their kinsmen, the Choctaws, by purchasing an interest in the Choctaw reservation and merging themselves into its body politic with the proviso that there should be a Chickasaw district, thus making four districts in the Choctaw-Chickasaw Nation (Treaty of Doaksville, January 17, 1837, Senate Document No. 542, Fifty-seventh Congress, 1st Session, pp. 361-2.).

When the Seminole people were transported to the West, it was the intention of the Government authorities to not only settle them among their kinsmen, the Creeks (for the Seminoles were an offshoot of the Creek or Muskogee Nation), but also to have them assume citizenship in the Creek Nation.

Whether the divisions among the Creek Nation, proper, had anything to do with a contrary determination on the part of the Seminoles is not known. The Seminoles held themselves aloof from participation in the political affairs of the Creek Nation, and eventually asked to be set off by themselves.

While the Chickasaws were personally friendly to the Choctaws and held a common and undivided interest in the reservation which had originally been granted to the latter, they became politically dissatisfied. They had the same rights and privileges that the Choctaws did, but the arrangement became somewhat irksome to the Chickasaws because, the tribal lines being always drawn politically, they were always out-numbered and out-voted. The Choctaws were always in full control of the tribal government and only Choctaws were elected to fill national position.

The Chickasaws finally insisted upon a political separation from the Choctaws. Accordingly, on June 22, 1855, at Washington, D. C., commissioners representing respectively the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes and the Federal Government, signed a treaty by the terms of which the political jurisdiction of the Chickasaw District passed under the control of the Chickasaw Nation in consideration of the payment of $150,000 from the trust fund of the Chickasaw Nation to the Choctaws.

Both tribes agreed to relinquish all claims to the country west of the 98th meridian and to accept in compensation, such an amount as might be determined by the United States Senate (Senate Document No. 452, Fifty-seventh congress, 1st Session, pp. 531-6.).

Like the Chickasaws, the Seminoles desired to be set apart and to be allowed to manage their own tribal affairs. They were clothed with the full rights of Creek citizenship, but they were not satisfied, for they wanted to govern themselves rather than Washington, D. C.

August 7, 1856, commissioners representing respectively the Federal Government and the Creek and Seminole tribes of Indians, concluded a treaty by the terms of which a part of the reservation assigned to the Creek Nation was ceded to the Seminoles, who were to be granted a separate agency and to be permitted to establish an independent tribal government. (Ibid., pp. 569-76. The reservation set aside for the Seminole Nation was bounded on the east by a line which would divide the present Pottawattomie County into two very nearly equal parts; thence it extended in a northwesterly direction to the Texas Panhandle line, bounded on the south by the Canadian River and on the north by the North Canadian and the Cherokee Outlet.)

The Choctaws and Chickasaws having separated as the result of the agreement entered into by the treaty of 1855, both nations adopted new constitutions in 1857. The constitutions of both nations, like that of the Cherokees, were republican in form, having many features in common but differing somewhat in detail. Thus, the chief executive of the Choctaw Nation was styled the Principal Chief," while that of the Chickasaw Nation was designated as "Governnor." Both nations had a "Senate" and a "House of Representatives," and, in the Chickasaw Nation the two were called the "Legislature," while in the Choctaw Nation the entire legislative branch of the tribal government was styled the "General Council."

The Choctaw constitution, commonly called "The Skullaville Constitution," was not regarded with favor by a large faction of the people of that tribe and was the occasion of intense political excitement, which for a time threatened to lead to violence. Those who opposed the new order of things under the Skullaville constitution were mostly of the conservative and non-progressive class. They held a convention in Blue County, at which sundry objections to the constitution were enumerated.

The tribal officers, who had been elected in accordance with the provisions of the constitution (and who had been recognized as the lawful authorities of the Choctaw Nation by the Federal Government) promptly submitted amendments to the constitution to remedy all of the alleged defects. Still discontented, the opposition held a convention at Doaksville framed another constitution and proceeded to hold an election for a legislature and new chiefs.

Although the condition was described as having nearly reached "the brink of anarchy, "the conciliatory attitude of the de facto tribal government ultimately led to a subsidence of the agitation and quiet was restored though not until the whole constitution had been resubmitted to a vote of the people and a number of admendments adopted and the tribal capital moved to Doaksville.

The Cherokee Nation was divided into nine districts, for the purpose of civil administration and the apportionment of legislators, and respectively named as follows: Canadian, Illinois, Sequoyah, Flint, Delaware, Going-Snake, Tahlequah, Saline and Cooweescoowee. These districts resembled counties in size and form of organization.

The Choctaw Nation was divided into three districts, called respectively, Apukshunnubbee, Pushmataha and Mosholatubbee. The first of these was divided into seven counties, the second into four counties and the last mentioned district was divided into five counties.

The names of the sixteen Choctaw counties were as follows: Towson, Cedar, Red River, Eagle, Wade, Boktucklo, Nashoba, Kiamichi, Blue, Atoka, Jack's Fork, Sugar-Loaf, Skullaville, San Bois, Gaines and Tocuksy.

The Chickasaw Nation was divided into four counties, namely, Panola, Pickens, Pontotoc and Tishomingo.

The Creek Nation was never divided into counties or districts as were the tribal domains of the other civilized tribes. Instead the ancient town organization was still maintained. There were forty-seven Creek towns, or communities, each of which had its own petty government. Each of these towns was entitled to representation in the national council.

Shortly after the Choctaw tribal government was reorganized under the constitution of 1857, the general council, or legislative assembly, adopted outright a large part of the statute laws of the State of Mississippi, as the laws of the Cherokee Nation. Whether they were found suited to the administrative requirements of the Choctaw Nation is not recorded, but the compiled laws of the Choctaws, published in 1868, do not contain many if any specimens of legislative statutes which originated outside the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation.

After the adoption of the Chickasaw constitution, the tribal legislature met and enacted a number of laws. A young man, who was a member of the tribe, was sent into Texas with the original copies of the statutes (no duplicates being retained) for the purpose of having them printed. The young man who had been entrusted with this important mission disappeared very mysteriously and the newly enacted laws with him. As a result of this condition, it became necessary to reconvene the tribal legislature in a special session for the purpose of re-enacting the laws which had been thus lost.

Territorial Organizations Proposed
In February, 1854, Senator Robert W. Johnson, of Arkansas, introduced a bill in the United States Senate to create three territories to be known respectively as Chelokee, Muscogee and Chatah and to have their respective capitals at Tahlequah, the Creek Agency, and Doaksville.

The Senate Committee of Territories made a favorable report on the bill in July, but it never came up for consideration. The object aimed at in creating three territories instead of one was to induce the various tribes to accept territorial organizations in order to pave the way for the union of all of them under one state government later.

The matter of the organization and admission of an Indian state had been mooted at various times before the introduction of this measure. As early as 1845 Peter P. Pitchlynn had advocated the organization of the Choctaw Territory. -- A Standard History of Oklahoma, Joseph B. Thoburn, Chapter XXVIII, pg. 207, Vol. 1.
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