Chapter 6 | Section 1
Competing Ideas for Statehood
The history of the division and expansion of Oklahoma land is complex. It is helpful to keep in mind that prior to 1890, present-day Oklahoma was part of Indian Territory.
In 1890, the region was split into Indian Territory (much of the eastern half of present-day Oklahoma), where the Five Tribes and other Indigenous nations lived, and Oklahoma Territory, where Indigenous nations (mostly Plains tribes) and a growing number of settlers lived. As discussed in the last chapter, much of the land in Oklahoma Territory was opened for new settlement through land runs and land lotteries, following the further dispossession of Indigenous land. As the population increased in both Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, a lot of ideas and plans emerged about statehood, including the possibility of the twin territories becoming two states.
Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. By 1890 the western portion of Indian Territory became known as Oklahoma Territory. Together, the two areas became known as the “Twin Territories.”
Copyright 2020 University of Oklahoma Press. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Then came the idea of an all-Indian state of Sequoyah. The idea of Oklahoma, or even two states, held great promise in many people’s minds. In order to understand that promise and the hope it created, it is important to consider the different plans for statehood and what Oklahoma meant to different groups of people. For example, E. P. McCabe saw an opportunity. He believed Oklahoma could offer African Americans a true “promised land.” He worked tirelessly to convince others to support the plan for Oklahoma Territory to become an all-Black state where African Americans could realize full equality. African Americans from all over the country heard about the opportunities in Oklahoma. Some people traveled a great distance to settle in one of Oklahoma’s many All-Black towns or thriving Black communities in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Indigenous Nations meanwhile faced unrelenting efforts to undermine their sovereignty and land rights, especially after the Reconstruction treaties took more land and weakened tribal governments.
If Indian Territory became an all-Indian US state, then tribal power within that state would be recognized and protected. Perhaps this was the solution that would finally give lasting protection to Indigenous land and sovereignty. Republicans had dominated territorial government in Oklahoma. With the influx of more Democrats from the South and the unwillingness of many Republicans to reject calls for segregation, however, Democrats might just have a chance to take control of Oklahoma politics.
The “City of Muskogee” steamboat on the Arkansas River around 1906. With the establishment of Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River and Fort Towson on the Red River in 1824, steamboats delivered supplies and people to Indian Territory and later Oklahoma. Major exports included cotton and hides. Steamboat landings were places where a steamboat could pull up and lay a plank connecting it to the shore. Landings on the Arkansas River included Fort Coffee, Skullyville, Sallisaw, Webbers Falls, and Fort Gibson. When railroads expanded in the late 1800s, steamboat transportation began to decline.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The Sequoyah Movement and Convention
James A. Norman, a Cherokee citizen, surprised a lot of people when he called for a meeting to take place in Muskogee on August 21, 1905. He wanted those at the meeting to create a constitution for Indian Territory as its own state, separate from Oklahoma Territory. The idea of a separate Indian state of Sequoyah seemed far-fetched at first, but it quickly gained support from some powerful Indigenous leaders. They believed that a separate state would strengthen sovereignty rights for the Five Tribes. Most important, the creation of an Indian state of Sequoyah would stop a key part of the 1898 Curtis Act from taking effect. According to a provision in the Curtis Act, tribal governments were to dissolve in 1906. Preventing this from happening was a major goal for Indigenous leaders who participated in and supported the Sequoyah Movement.
Chief Pleasant Porter was supposed to oversee the dismantling of the Muscogee (Creek) government under the Curtis Act. He quickly gave his support to the Sequoyah Movement in an effort to save tribal sovereignty and prevent a full dismantling of tribal governments. Chief Porter understood that much of Congress as well as President Theodore Roosevelt opposed having separate states, but he hoped that tribal representatives could persuade these US leaders to change their minds.
Some influential white citizens, however, saw the Sequoyah Movement quite differently. They viewed it as an effort by Native Americans to deprive white people living in Indian Territory of their rights as citizens. They described the movement as undemocratic, claiming it would allow a small minority to control the rights of the still increasing majority of white occupants in Indian Territory. For example, a powerful railroad attorney named Samuel Thomas (“S. T.”) Bledsoe opposed the creation of the State of Sequoyah, saying it would be “controlled and dominated by the red man to the practical exclusion of his Anglo-Saxon brother.” While this was never the intent or the likely outcome of the State of Sequoyah, Bledsoe’s claim echoed the opinions of other opponents of the movement.
Map of the proposed State of Sequoyah. In fall 1905 the Sequoyah Convention was held in Muskogee to draft a constitution for a proposed all-Indian state, made up of the Five Tribes. This 1905 map shows county designations. Convention attendees included Principal Chief Pleasant Porter (Muscogee Creek); Charles Haskell, Oklahoma’s first governor; and Robert L. Owen, one of Oklahoma’s first senators, when Oklahoma became a state two years later in 1907.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Despite the efforts of Bledsoe and others to tout the Sequoyah Movement as unfair to whites, it is noteworthy that it had the support of numerous white leaders with political ambitions of their own. In fact, some non-Indigenous participants at the time as well as later scholars who wrote about the subject have downplayed the role of Indigenous leaders in the Sequoyah Movement. Instead, they have argued that Indian representation was only for appearances and that the real power behind the effort came from whites. It is important to understand how multiple groups saw this effort and to remember that regardless of how some chose to characterize it, for Indigenous leaders like Norman and Porter, the Sequoyah Movement was about protecting tribal sovereignty.
Key support for the Sequoyah Convention (also called the Muskogee Convention) came from Democratic politicians (and future governors) Charles N. Haskell and William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray. Neither of these men really believed that an independent state of Sequoyah was likely. They saw the convention as an opportunity to increase their power and visibility in what would become the single state of Oklahoma. The Sequoyah Convention provided a way for Democrats such as Haskell and Murray to come together in hopes of chipping away at the Republican hold on Oklahoma Territory politics.
The cotton market in downtown Stroud, Oklahoma Territory, 1906. By 1907 almost all of Oklahoma’s seventy-five counties produced cotton. The top cotton-producing counties were Greer, Jackson and Caddo Counties in the southwest, and Lincoln and Pottawatomie Counties in central Oklahoma.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Making the State of Oklahoma
It took less than three weeks for the Sequoyah Convention to draft a constitution and ready it for a vote on November 7, 1905. Murray toured Indian Territory trying to increase support ahead of the election. He argued that the convention in Muskogee had representation from all races in the territory and called on “every farmer, every laborer, every merchant, and every professional man—every man, be he red, white, or black—to cast his ballot” in support of the constitution. While there was some truth to Murray’s claim that the Sequoyah convention promoted democratic or equal representation, his motive was more than a little self-serving and he neglected to point out any of the numerous undemocratic elements of the constitution drafted by the delegates at the convention. Women’s suffrage, or the right of women to vote, was discussed, but not included. A provision requiring married women to get their husband’s permission to sell their property was included. A poll tax was added, which would make it hard for poor men to vote as it would require them to pay a fee before voting. An “open shop” clause was also included, meaning that workers could not be required to join labor unions, which many viewed as vital to protecting worker’s rights. Delegates to the convention also decided to go ahead and “pick” among themselves who would serve as US representatives in Congress and even hoped to install Murray and Haskell as the two US senators.
The front page of Guthrie’s Oklahoma State Capitol newspaper, April 22, 1904. “Forty passenger trains in and out of the Guthrie Union Depot every day,” it boasts. To research this and other newspapers, visit The Gateway to Oklahoma History, gateway.okhistory.org.
Courtesy of the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Despite the enthusiasm of some in Indian Territory for the State of Sequoyah, the possibility of separate Indian statehood was not seriously considered at the national level. Neither the US House of Representatives nor the Senate showed much interest in Sequoyah. Most agreed with President Theodore Roosevelt’s support for a single state of Oklahoma. After both houses of Congress chose not to consider the proposal for the state of Sequoyah, the effort fizzled. On June 16, 1906, President Roosevelt signed the Enabling Act, which started the process of merging Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory into the single state of Oklahoma. The act called for the election of delegates for a constitutional convention. Once delegates were in place, a new constitution would be written. Of course, there was already a draft constitution from the Sequoyah Convention and there were experienced leaders from that movement, like Haskell and Murray, who eagerly awaited the opportunity to influence the new constitutional convention.
Prior to the constitutional convention, the appointment of governors and various territorial officials fell to the president of the United States, which generally meant that the party of the president was the party in control of a territory. That is the main reason why Republicans had dominated territorial politics in what became Oklahoma. Several factors now set the stage for this to change. There was a growing number of whites from the South moving to Oklahoma, and they were much more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. As a result, many Blacks in Oklahoma who identified as Republicans found themselves both outnumbered and increasingly at odds with the party over the issue of segregation. The strong influence of certain Democrats, like Murray and Haskell at the Sequoyah Convention, also strengthened the power of Democrats. Finally, the simple fact that a vast majority of the delegates elected to participate in the new convention were Democrats foreshadowed the likelihood of a Democratic-controlled state.
Each territory elected 55 delegates, and the Osage Nation elected 2. Of the 112 total delegates at the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention in 1906, only 12 were Republicans. Democratic leader Bill Murray presided over the event.