Chickasaw Nation Documents
Collection
Identifier: MSS-228 -SC
Scope and Content
This collection contains two documents. Both are from the period after the Atoka agreement, which required all Chickasaw Nation legislation be approved by the President of the United States. The first document is a bill passed by the Chickasaw in 1898 to create the Chickasaw Citizenship Commission. On the back of the document, President William McKinley disapproved the bill. The second document is an act passed by the Chickasaw Nation legislature to have the Federal government deposit sixty-thousand dollars into the Nation's treasury. The figure comes from a 1794 treaty between the Chickasaw and the U.S. government in which the federal government agreed to pay the tribe three thousand dollars. The 1902 figure includes capitalization of the original sum. The document is stamped "disapproved" and signed by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Dates
- 1898-1902
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.
History
During the 1880s, as more and more white settlers pushed into Oklahoma Territory, a drive began to join the lands belonging to the Five Civilized Tribes with the territory and form a new state. In 1887 a major shift in the federal governments Indian policy aided this drive. The Dawes Act legislated the allotment of communal tribal lands into individually owned plots. By 1895, surveys of tribal lands for allotment began. The federal government established the Dawes Commission to designate persons eligible for rights to land. Fearing the loss of tribal land to mixed blood Chickasaws and freemen, the Chickasaw government appointed the Chickasaw Citizenship Commission to evaluate citizenship claims along with the Dawes Commission staff.
In 1898, the Curtis Act dealt a serious blow to the Chickasaw Nation's autonomy. The act was the culmination of several laws designed to strip the tribal governments autonomy. The act required that all acts passed by the tribal legislatures after 1898 had to be approved by the President of the United States. In that same year the Chickasaw Nation signed an agreement with the U.S. government to allot all tribal lands in severalty. Part of the agreement stipulated that the Chickasaw Nation's government would be resolved after 1906. The following year, the lands of the Five Civilized tribes, including the Chickasaw Nation, were fused with Oklahoma Territory and admitted as the forty-sixth state.
In 1898, the Curtis Act dealt a serious blow to the Chickasaw Nation's autonomy. The act was the culmination of several laws designed to strip the tribal governments autonomy. The act required that all acts passed by the tribal legislatures after 1898 had to be approved by the President of the United States. In that same year the Chickasaw Nation signed an agreement with the U.S. government to allot all tribal lands in severalty. Part of the agreement stipulated that the Chickasaw Nation's government would be resolved after 1906. The following year, the lands of the Five Civilized tribes, including the Chickasaw Nation, were fused with Oklahoma Territory and admitted as the forty-sixth state.
Extent
1 Folder
Abstract
The collection consists of two documents related to the Chickasaw Nation's struggle to resist allotment in severalty of tribal lands after the Dawes Act passed in 1887.
Relevant Secondary Sources
- Gibson, Arrell M. The Chickasaws.(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.)
- Gibson, Arrell M. and Hale, Duane K. The Chickasaw.(New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1991.)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Chickasaw Nation Documents, 1898-1902
- Status
- For Approval
- Author
- Processed by L. Bramwell
- Date
- ©2002
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- June 28, 2004: PUBLIC "-//University of New Mexico::Center for Southwest Research//TEXT (US::NmU::MSS 228 SC::Chickasaw Nation Documents)//EN" "nmu1mss228sc.sgml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu