Volume 9 , Issue 19

An OkieLegacy Centennial Moment

All was not "peaches & cream" for Oklahoma & Indian Territories in the early 1900's as they were choosing sides for statehood. Would it be two states or one? Oklahoma? Sequoyah? What If... The symbolic "marriage" of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory on the steps of the old Carnegie Library had NOT taken place November 16, 1907?

While we were doing a Google search online for information concerning Sequoyah constitution, we came across one of our first volumes for "Oakie's Heart To Heart" where we mentioned the merger of Indian & Oklahoma Territories of 1907.

In 1907 the marriage of the two territories was of considerable emotional significance when one state was created from what had been considered a candidate for two states (Sequoyah & Oklahoma).

When the Five Civilized Tribes thought they had found a place they could call home in Oklahoma & Indian Territory, the U.S. Congress reneged over and over again using such things as the Manifest Destiny, Enabling Act (June 16, 1906), Curtis Act of 1889, Oklahoma Organic Act, etc...

There were those in Indian Territory that wanted their own statehood with Sequoyah and the capital at Muskogee.

BUT... The US Government made up of Republicans, along with President Teddy Roosevelt were NOT going to let that happen. There would be only one state admitted to statehood, November 16, 1907... Oklahoma!

Indian Territory, former territory, U.S. West, included most of modern Oklahoma. The Choctaw, Creek, Seminole, Cherokee, and Chickasaw tribes were forcibly moved to this area between 1830 and 1843. An 1834 Act set aside the land as Indian country. In 1866 its western half was ceded to the U.S. This portion was opened to white settlers in 1889 and became the Territory of Oklahoma in 1890.

It was August 21, 1905 when the Sequoyah Convention convened at Muskogee to draw up their own Sequoyah Constitution and committee. On March 4, 1906 the US Government attempts to abolish the government of the five civilized tribes through the Curtis Act. The Sequoyah constitution was published October 14, 1905. The most important provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution were derived from the inspiration of the Sequoyah Constitution, notably... Article 9 on Corporations, the method of Legislative apportionment; the Great Seal; less than a unanimous verdict of Jurors in trials of civil causes; compulsory teaching of Agriculture and Domestic Arts in the public schools; the names of many Counties in old Indian Territory; etc... Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 9, No. 2, June, 1931, THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, By William H. Murray.

The Indian Territory counties formed were: Adair, Atoka, Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Choctaw, Coal, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Garvin, Haskell, Hughes, Johnston, Latimer, LeFlore, Love, Marshall, Mayes, McClain, McCurtain, McIntosh, Murray, Muskogee, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Ottawa, Pittsburg, Pontotoc, Pushmataha, Rogers, Seminole, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner, and Washington.

The Oklahoma Territory counties formed were: Alfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Greer, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kingfisher, Kiowa, Lincoln, Logan, Major, Noble, Oklahoma, Osage, Pawnee, Payne, Pottawatomie, Roger Mills, Washita, Woods, and Woodward.

The counties formed out of both territories (mostly the Indian Territory) were Grady, Jefferson, and Stephens. AND... of course we have the No Man Lands of the Oklahoma Panhandle counties that consisted of Beaver, Cimarron, and Texas.

Did you know that Rogers County was named for Clement Vann Rogers, who was a member of the Sequoyah statehood convention in August 21, 1905 and the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention two years later?

AND... The two territories were merged, November 16, 1907, into one state, OKLAHOMA! Let us always remember the culturals, sacrifices the Five Civilized Tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw and Seminole) had a role in the formation of Oklahoma. In fact, not many know the five tribes were for the creation of a separate state known as the State of Sequoyah.
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