Oklahoma Territory
From Oklahoma
Oklahoma Territory was an organized territory of the United States from May 2, 1890 until November 16, 1907, when Oklahoma became the 46th state. It consisted of the western area of what is now the State of Oklahoma. The eastern area consisted of the last remnant of Indian Territory.
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History
Organization
Oklahoma Territory’s history began with the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 when the United States Congress set aside land for Native Americans. At the time, the land was unorganized territory that consisted of all the federal land “west of the Mississippi and not within the states of Missouri and Louisiana, or the territory of Arkansas…" By 1856, the territory had been reduced to the modern day borders of the State of Oklahoma. These lands quickly began known as Indian Territory.
Up until this point, the land had been exclusively used by Native Americans. However, in 1866, shortly after the American Civil War, the federal government forced many of the tribes in Indian Territory into making concessions. Washington accused them of abrogating the standing treaties by joining the Confederacy. As a result some two million acres (8,000 km²) of land in the center of the Indian NationTerritory were ceded to the United States. The popular press began referring to this tract as the Unassigned Lands or Oklahoma and to the people agitating for its settlement as Boomers. To prevent settlement of the land, President Rutherford B. Hayes, in April 1879, issued a proclamation forbidding unlawful entry into Indian Territory.
David Payne and the Boomers
Despite federal obstruction, popular request for the land did not end. Captain David L. Payne was one of the main supporters of the opening of Oklahoma. Payne traveled to Kansas where he founded the Boomer "Colonial Association." Payne's organization hoped to establish a white colony in the Unassigned Lands and included some 10,000 members. The formation of the group prompted President Hayes, on February 12, 1880, issued a proclamation ordering Payne not to enter Indian Territory. In response, Payne and his group traveled to Camp Alice in the Unassigned Lands, east of Oklahoma City. There, they made plans for a city, which they named Ewing. Unfortunately, the Fourth Cavalry arrested them, took them to Ft. Reno and then escorted them back to Kansas. Payne was furious, as public law (see Posse Comitatus Act) prohibited the military from interfering in civil matters. Payne and his party were freed—effectively denying them access to the courts.
Anxious to prove his case in court, Payne and a larger group returned to Ewing in July. The Army again arrested the party and escorted them back to Kansas. Again they were freed but this time leading to a trial in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. Payne was charged under the Intercourse Act with trespassing. Judge Isaac Parker ruled against Payne and fined him the maximum amount of one thousand dollars. Since Payne had no money and no property, the fine could not be collected. The ruling settled nothing as to the question of the public domain lands, however, and Payne continued his activities unabated. He organized and led several more expeditions into the territory.
After his trial, Payne would try a third time to enter the Unassigned Lands. In December, Payne and his group moved along the northern border of Indian Territory. They were followed by a unit of cavalry under the command of Colonel J.J. Copinger. Colonel Copinger warned Payne that if he crossed the boarder that they would be "forcibly resisted." As the number of Boomers grew as people joined Payne on the board, a messenger was sent to President Hayes asking permission to enter Indian Territory. After weeks of no response, Payne led his followers to the Unassigned Lands. Once again, they were arrested and Payne was sent back to Fort Smith. He was found guilty and sentenced to pay a $1,000 fine. Upon his release, he returned to Kansas where he would spend the next four years trying to open Oklahoma.
During his last venture, this time into the Cherokee Outlet in 1884, the Army again arrested him. Instead of taking him to Kansas, they hauled him several hundred miles under severe physical circumstances over a tortuous route to Ft. Smith. Public sentiment grew so great over his mistreatment at the hands of the military that the government finally granted his trial. Payne was turned over to the United States District Court at Topeka, Kansas. In the fall term, Judge Cassius G. Foster quashed the indictments and ruled that settling on the Unassigned Lands was not a criminal offense. Joyous celebrations broke out among the Boomers. It was short–lived however. The government refused to accept the decision.
Payne immediately planned another expedition, but he would not lead it. On November 28 1884, in Wellington, Kansas, the morning after a late–night address to the Boomers, he collapsed and died.
William Couch and the Opening
After Payne's death, his associate William L. Couch assumed his leadership role. Couch, in December of 1884, moved the Boomers into Indian Territory and founded Camp Stillwater on December 12, 1884. President James Garfield sent a small detachment of troops to escort Couch out of the Territory. However, when the soldiers arrived, 200 armed men met the military and refused to be moved. After 600 reinforcements arrived, the Boomers were given the option of leaving within 48 hours or been attacked. After the Boomers refused to leave, the commanders moved their troops across the Kansas boarder and cut off Couch's supply lines. Soon, their food was gone, and Couch and Boomer were escorted back to Kansas.
In response to Couch’s claims that the federal government was discriminating against them, on March 3, 1885, Congress approved the Indian Appropriations Act of 1885. This act authorized negations for the cession of unoccupied lands belonging to the Creek Indians, the Seminole Indians, and the Cherokee Indians. It was at this point that Couch stopped being a colonist and became a lobbyist.
Couch would spend four years in Washington D.C trying to open Oklahoma. However many full-blooded Indians from the Five Civilized Tribes lobbied against Couch’s actions. It would not be until January of 1889 when things would change. Pleasant Porter led a group of Creeks who offered to sell their unoccupied lands. Within weeks, the Unassigned Lands were sold to the United States. These Unassigned Lands embraced just under 3,000,000 acres (12,000 km²) in the heart of Indian Territory.
On March 2, 1889, Congress passed an amendment with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 which provided for the opening of homestead settlements in Unassigned Lands, to be known as Oklahoma. President Benjamin Harrison announced that Oklahoma would be opened on April 22 via land run. The land run was to be held at noon and was open to all people of at least 21 years of age. Each claim was worth 160 acres and only those who already possessed 160 or more were allowed to enter.
Land Run and the Sooners
Oklahoma was opened on April 22, 1889 by the Land Run of 1889, the first land run in the territory’s history. Over 50,000 people entered the lands on the first day, among them several thousand former slaves and descendants of slaves. Couch and his Boomers, now numbering some 14,000, also entered the race. Those who entered Oklahoma before the official start of the race were labeled Sooners.
When the race began at noon, thousands of horses, wagons, buggies, carts, and others rushed across to Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the law-abiders fought with the Sooners on several instances. William Couch, himself a Sooner, was shot and wounded by a legal pioneer. Couch would died on April 21, 1890, as a result of his wounds.
When the race was over, many disappointed pioneers were forced to leave the area without any claim. Of the 14,000 Boomers, only 1,000 had made claims. Tent cities grew overnight at Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie, and Stillwater, which was the first of the settlements.
Early Territorial Period
The brief legislation that provided for the opening of the land called for no form of government in Oklahoma. No local police or courts were established, with federal troops provided law enforcement and the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas under federal judge Isaac Parker was the only form of criminal and civil jurisdictions. Despite that, the district was generally peaceful. Most land disputes were settled without bloodshed, although a few took years to resolve. For over a year the people of Oklahoma Territory were semi-autonomous. The only government during this period was that created and maintained by common consent, yet there was no lawlessness or outlawry, and property and life were adequately protected at all times.
The next year, on May 2, 1890, Congress passed the Oklahoma Organic Act, which organized the western half of Indian Territory into Oklahoma Territory. The eastern half remained under Indian rule, predominantly the Five Civilized Tribes, as Indian Territory. Congress included in Oklahoma Territory the strip of country known as No Man's Land, embracing 3,681,000 acres (14,900 km²) and became Beaver County. In September of 1890, the 1,282,434 acres (5,190 km²) of the Sac and Fox, Iowa, and Pottawatomie reservations in the eastern part of Oklahoma Territory were opened to settlement. The following spring, the 4,397,771 acres (17,797 km²) of Cheyenne and Arapaho lands in the center of the Territory were opened. On September 16, 1893, the Cherokee Outlet was opened to settlement, and the counties of Kay, Grant, Woods, Woodward, Garfield, Noble, and Pawnee were created from its 6,014,239 acres (24,339 km²) of land. In 1895 the Kickapoo reservation of 206,662 acres (836 km²) was settled, and the year following Greer County, which had been previous to that considered a portion of Texas, was given to the Territory by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. All of these, with the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache and Wichita reservations just opened, give Oklahoma Territory a settled area of 24,000,000 acres (97,000 km²); 1,725,646 acres (6,983 km²) of which was still being included in Indian reservations.
Path to Statehood
Oklahoma Territory would exist from 1890 to 1907. During that time, seven Governors (and two acting Governors) would administer the territory. During its 17 year existence, little of note would occur due to the growing idea of state which had originated in Indian Territory. Most of the Governor’s stayed in office for only a few months, with the only lingering events to be the creation of the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma State University. The territory’s only real purpose was to serve as a transitional government from unorganized territory to state.
The movement to secure statehood for Indian Territory began in 1902 with a convention in Eufaula, consisting of representatives of the "Five Civilized Tribes". The representatives met again in 1903 to organize a constitutional convention.
The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention met in Muskogee, on August 21, 1905. General Pleasant Porter, Principal Chief of the Creek Nation, was selected as president of the convention. The elected delegates decided that the executive officers of the Five Civilized Tribes would also be appointed as vice-presidents: William C. Rogers, Principal Chief of the Cherokees; William H. Murray, appointed by Chickasaw Governor Douglas H. Johnston to represent the Chickasaws; Chief Green McCurtain of the Choctaws; Chief John Brown of the Seminoles; and Charles N. Haskell, selected to represent the Creeks (as General Porter had been elected President).
The convention drafted a constitution, drew up a plan of organization for the government, put together a map showing the counties to be established, and elected delegates to go to the United States Congress to petition for statehood. The convention's proposals were then put to a referendum in Indian Territory, in which they were overwhelmingly endorsed.
The delegation received a cool reception in Washington. Eastern politicians, fearing the admission of two more Western states, and no doubt unwilling to admit an "Indian" state, put pressure on the U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt, who finally ruled that the Indian and Oklahoma Territories would be granted statehood only as a combined state.
The hard work of the Sequoyah State Constitutional Convention was not entirely lost, however. When representatives from Indian Territory joined the Oklahoma State Constitutional Convention in Guthrie the next year, they brought their constitutional experience with them. The Sequoyah Constitution served in large part as the basis for the constitution of the State of Oklahoma, which came into being with the merger of the two territories in 1907.
Territorial Governor Frank Frantz oversaw the transition from Territory to State. He was selected as the Republican nominee to serve as the state’s first Governor. He faced the Democratic Charles N. Haskell in the election on September 17, 1907. In the same election, the Oklahoma Constitution was proposed. The Constitution would be passed and Haskell would be elected Governor. Once the people of Oklahoma adopted the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma and Indian Territories officially dissolved and the State of Oklahoma was admitted to the Union as the 46th state. Template:Seealso
Government
With the passage of the Organic Act, in June, 1890, the territorial government came into existence. The territorial government had no constitution, except for sections of the Organic Act creating it, which served as a semi-governing document. The Organic Act provided for a complete organization of the Territory, defined the functions of the territorial government, placed limitations upon the acts of the legislative assembly, as well as that of the territorial officers.
Congress provided for the creation of a legislative branch elected by the people, but the executive and judicial branches of the territories were selected and appointed by the President of the United States.
Legislative Branch
Though the Organic Act called for a popularly elected legislature, it made no reference to its composition other than a bicameral requierment. When the first Territorial Governor George Washington Steele took office, he addressed this issue. He issued an executive order on July 8, 1890, calling for an election for a bicameral legislature. The lower house was a twenty-six member House or Representatives and the upper house was a thirteen member Council. The date set for this election was August 5, 1890. The legislature was to have convened August 12, but owing to the death of two members-elect a special election was called and the convening of the legislature was postponed until August 27, 1890.
Acts passed by the Territorial Legislature did not require the consent of Congress to take effect. They had the same force of law and a law passed by a regular state government,. However, an act of Congress could repeal any law enacted by the legislature. The only limitation on the Territorial Legislature was the Organic Act.
Executive Branch
The executive branch consisted of the Governor of Oklahoma Territory, a Territorial Secretary, and a Territorial District Attorney or Attorney General. The Governor was vested with the executive power, served as the symbol of the federal government in the territory, and was commander-in-chief of the territory’s militia and the federal troops in the territory. It was also the duty of the Governor to outline the boundaries of the counties, name the county seats, and to appoint the county officers, as provided under the Nebraska Code of the Organic Act. The Code would remain in force until the adjournment of the First Territorial Legislature. The Secretary would serve as the assistant to the Governor and in the event of a vacancy of the Governorship, the Secretary would serve as the Acting Governor until a new one could be appointed. The Attorney General gave legal advice to the Governor and served as the chief law enforcement official of the territory.
Judicial Branch
The Judiciary was the Territorial Supreme Court, consisting of three Justices: one Chief Justice and two Associate Justices. The Supreme Court was given a wide jurisdiction. It functioned, not only as a United States Federal Court, but its jurisdiction extended to a trial of all cases (both civil law and criminal law) arising under the code enacted by the Territorial Legislature. The Court could sit half of the day as a Federal Court and the other half as Territorial Court. It would also serve as a supreme court and hear cases which had been appealed from Territory’s lower courts.
List of Governors
| # | Name | Took Office | Left Office | Party | Appointed By | Photo
<tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 1 <td> George Washington Steele <td> 1890 <td> 1891 <td> Republican <td> Benjamin Harrison <td> File:George Washington Steele.jpg <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 2 <td> Robert Martin <td> 1891 <td> 1892 <td> Republican <td> none (acting governor) <td> <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 3 <td> Abraham Jefferson Seay <td> 1892 <td> 1893 <td> Republican <td> Benjamin Harrison <td> File:Abraham Jefferson Seay.jpg <tr bgcolor=#DDEEFF><td> 4 <td> William Cary Renfrow <td> 1893 <td> 1897 <td> Democrat <td> Grover Cleveland <td> File:William Cary Renfrow.jpg <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 5 <td> Cassius McDonald Barnes <td> 1897 <td> 1901 <td> Republican <td> William McKinley <td> File:Cassius McDonald Barnes.jpg <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 6 <td> William Miller Jenkins <td> 1901 <td> 1901 <td> Republican <td> William McKinley <td> File:William Miller Jenkins.jpg <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 7 <td> William C. Grimes <td> 1901 <td> 1901 <td> Republican <td> none (acting governor) <td> <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 8 <td> Thompson Benton Ferguson <td> 1901 <td> 1906 <td> Republican <td> Theodore Roosevelt <td> File:Thompson Benton Ferguson.jpg <tr bgcolor=#FFE8E8><td> 9 <td> Frank Frantz <td> 1906 <td> 1907 <td> Republican <td> Theodore Roosevelt <td> File:Frank Frantz.jpg </table> Lands that came to make up Oklahoma Territory
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