The Twin Territories. By W. David Baird and Danney Goble 1

Transcription

1 The Twin Territories By W. David Baird and Danney Goble 1 Before there was any state of Oklahoma, there were two territories the Oklahoma and Indian territories which commonly were called the Twin Territories. In some respects their eventual combination into one state was the product of accident. But in another since, it was no accident at all. The political reality, Oklahoma, grew from circumstances that were both predictable and political themselves. However closely related, the Twin Territories were hardly identical. Roughly the western half of the modern state was known as Oklahoma Territory. On the east lay the estates of the Five Tribes. Although commonly referred to as Indian Territory, that particular term was much less political than it was geographical in meaning. After all, there was no single, unified government over those lands. Instead they were separated into five independent and quite distinct Indian republics. Tribal Politics As noted, political participation in each of those republics was tightly limited to the citizens of the separate tribe. Except for a handful of newcomers who had married into those tribes and thereby had acquired the status of tribal citizens, neither the whites nor the blacks who were flooding into the territory enjoyed any of the benefits of Indian citizenship. For tribal citizens, however, those governments were quite important. Both the full-bloods and their mixed-blood cousins were proud of their Indian heritage, and intermarried citizens also recognized the significance of tribal traditions. Not the least element of that heritage and those traditions was the set of tribal governments that had begun right after the removals. Although the forms of these tribal governments looked much like those common in most of the United States, the reality behind them was unique to Indian Territory. For example, although each tribe had at least two political parties, in no tribe were these at all related to the Democratic and Republican parties that existed throughout the rest of the nation. Instead the tribal parties continued to reflect distinctly Indian differences, many of which went back to pre-removal divisions. Thus the Creek Nation s political parties in the late 1800s still reflected the ancient split between Upper and Lower Creeks. Similarly, the Cherokee parties continued the rivalries between the Ridge and Ross factions. In practice the Indian governments exercised only the most limited powers. Although they continued to maintain fine schools for their own children and effective police forces for their own citizens, their authority over most of their residents were minimal. For example, tribal courts did not have jurisdiction over non-tribal members in the region which led to a large number of outlaws from the surrounding states taking refuge within Indian Territory. Also, the 1 From Baird, W. David and Danney Goble. The Story of Oklahoma. Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1994.

2 federal constitution s commerce clause allowed Congress to have ultimate power over the Choctaw Nation s coal industry rather than the Choctaw legislature. The whites and blacks who settled within Indian Territory, despite political standing within the tribes, still held Republican and Democratic party conventions and acted like their counterparts in the surrounding states. Although they knew that their actions were not valid, they were hopeful of a future when the Indians no longer possessed control over Indian Territory and they would be able to implement their own political agendas. These outsiders within Indian Territory selected their party allegiances based upon their attitudes regarding the Civil War and its aftermath. Blacks and those whites from the North favored the Republicans while those whites from the South favored the Democrats. In that Indian Territory was surrounded by former Confederate states, it attracted far more Democrats than Republicans. Should tribal government disappear, it was almost certain that Democrats would be in charge. Politics in Oklahoma Territory Oklahoma Territory, in the west, had similar patterns of party loyalty, but with less certainty about the eventual outcome. Being bordered by Union Kansas and the large number of freed blacks who sought land during the various land runs, Oklahoma attracted more Republicans than did Indian Territory. The balance of the two parties was near equal. Another difference separated the political affairs of the Twin Territories. Unlike the tribal dominance in Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory did have a formal territorial government, established by the Organic Act of 1890 that officially created Oklahoma Territory. Modeled on similar patterns for the transition from territory to state status since the ratification of the constitution, the Organic Act provided a simple structure of government. A governor and a territorial secretary exercised executive authority, both appointed by the President. Legislative authority rested with a bicameral legislature selected by the territory s residents. Three judges appointed by the President oversaw the territorial courts. Party control in Oklahoma Territory generally went to the Republicans in that they held a slight majority, a majority that could be overcome if the Democrats would side with a minor party of any reasonable size. In that the President appointed the governor, secretary, and judges, whichever party controlled the White House controlled executive and judicial control in Oklahoma Territory. For thirteen of the seventeen years as a territory, Republicans controlled the presidency. Only one of the territory s nine governors was a Democrat. Progressivism During the territorial era a new political movement developed in response to the rapid growth of major corporations, such as the railroad and steel industries. Progressivism sought to limit the expansion of business by increasing the powers of government. Progressives called for laws to protect farmers, workers, children, and others from unfair corporate power. They also

3 wanted to edit governmental processes so that average people would have more of a say within government (i.e. direct election of national senators and female suffrage). In the Twin Territories progressives saw a magnificent opportunity to achieve all of those things and to achieve them all at once. Statehood would require Oklahomans to write a constitution. Progressives hoped to place every one of their ideas right in the heart of that constitution. The progressive agenda found favor among many Democrats, especially in Indian Territory. Uniting with other of like mind, they met in Muskogee in 1905 and gave form and substance to their ideas. Proposing to create a state of Indian Territory alone, they gave it a name Sequoyah and wrote a constitution for it. Contained within the proposed constitution was nearly every item on the progressive s wish list. Of course, Sequoyah never became a state. Progressive or not, any state formed from Indian Territory alone was certain to be Democratic. Republican President Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican controlled Congress had no interest in such a prospect. Instead, they insisted on a joint statehood of Democratic Indian Territory and Republican Oklahoma Territory that had some chance of sending Republicans to Washington. To prepare the way for its entry into the union, Congress approved the Oklahoma Enabling Act in The Constitutional Convention The Enabling Act authorized citizens in both territories to elect a single convention later in The 122 delegates (55 from Indian Territory, 55 from Oklahoma Territory, and two from the Osage Nation) would then meet in Guthrie to draft a proposed constitution for the new state. Within broad guidelines contained in the Enabling Act, the convention would be free to write anything its members wanted. In preparation for those elections, the progressive Democrats from the Sequoyah convention reminded potential voters of the progressive ideals that they already supported. They also vowed to support an additional list of progressive reforms proposed by both the Indiahoma Farmers Union and the Federation of Labor, whose members were both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans remained largely silent during much of the campaign for the upcoming election of convention delegates, believing that registered Republicans would select Republican delegates and Democrats would select Democratic delegates. However, Republicans were soon forced to voice a stance on an issue that arose during the campaigns. Most southern states had laws requiring racial segregation. These Jim Crow laws were a major reason that many blacks had migrated to the Twin Territories. Now, the Democrats in those territories, due in party to their southern legacies, began to demand that Oklahoma s new constitution must embrace Jim Crow laws too. Segregation was popular among most whites, even white republicans. This led the territory s Republicans into an impossible dilemma. If they opposed Jim Crow, many of their white supporters might vote Democratic. If they supported segregation, their black followers might not vote at all. Calculating that black voters had

4 nowhere else to turn, the Republicans made their decision and cast their support for Jim Crow laws as well. On the day of the election for delegates to the constitutional convention, the majority of whites voted for the party that committed itself to the progressive reforms, the Democrats. Most black voters, refusing to support a party which endorsed segregation, did not vote at all. After years of Republican domination in Oklahoma Territory, 100 of the 112 convention delegate seats went to the Democrats. Meeting at Guthrie through the last weeks of 1906 and early 1907, the Democratic victors proceeded to keep nearly all of their many pledges. One result was that they produced the longest written constitution produced up to that time. Another result was that Oklahoma s constitution was regarded as the most progressive for its day. Strict corporate regulation, safeguards for farmers, protection for workers, rights for children, new instruments of popular rule all of these and other provisions found their way into the 250,000-word document. There, too, was the mandate of segregation in the new state. When the constitution was submitted to the people for final ratification they were to vote both on the constitution and for those individuals who would become the first state officials in the event that Congress and President Theodore Roosevelt approved of the finished constitution. In the debate over ratification, Republicans encouraged voters to vote no on the constitution and while Democrats reminded voters that it was they who were chiefly responsible for its progressive provisions. This led the vast majority of the people, who supported the progressive agenda, to fear that Republicans, who were against the final constitution, might attempt to destroy its provisions if elected. When the results were counted, the constitution was overwhelmingly approved and Democrats were elected to every statewide office in the new government. Although Congress approved of the document, President Theodore Roosevelt wavered on signing the constitution. Roosevelt was opposed to segregation elements within the document. However, due to the Supreme Courts ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, his advisors reminded him that segregation was considered to be legal. Reluctantly Roosevelt signed Oklahoma s constitution on November 16, With the stroke of the President s pen, Oklahoma became the forty-sixth state in the union and Charles N. Haskell, a key leader at both the Sequoyah and Guthrie constitutional conventions, was sworn in as and the first governor.

5 Twin Territories Questions Responses are to be on a separate sheet of paper. All responses are to be in complete sentences. 1. The Twin Territories was the name given to describe the Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, and both were distinctively different. According to the document, the term was more political than geographical. Explain why. 2. Tribal politics in Indian Territory resembled the political climate of America, but politics were uniquely different. Provide at least three examples of how politics were different. 3. Explain how the outsiders in Indian Territory were stratified. 4. How were politics in the Oklahoma Territory different from politics in Indian Territory/ 5. Explain the Organic Act beyond the act of creating the Oklahoma Territory. 6. How did Progressivism affect Oklahoma during territorial days? Be sure to explain in detail. 7. What was the Oklahoma Enabling Act of 1906? 8. Discuss the make-up of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention. Be sure to address Republican and Democrat agendas. 9. What was Jim Crow and how did segregation correlate to Jim Crow? 10. What pledges did the Democrats make good once a state constitution was agreed up?