Territorial Oklahoma (part 3) |
The final political debate within the Oklahoma Territory concerned statehood. Indeed, the first statehood convention met in Oklahoma City in December 1891. Booming for statehood replaced booming for land as the favorite political pastime. However, divergent views on the number of states to be formed and the timetable for their joining the Union hampered the debate. In general, Republicans favored statehood for Oklahoma Territory, while Democrats favored a single state combining both Oklahoma and Indian territories. Some favored immediate statehood for Oklahoma Territory, with the piecemeal addition of Indian Territory.
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Map of Oklahoma (dark green) and Indian Territories (light green). (From the Historical Atlas of Oklahoma, 3rd edition, by John W. Morris, Charles R. Goins, and Edwin C. McReynolds. Copyright © 1965, 1976, 1986, by the University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. Reprinted by Permission of the Publisher. All rights reserved.) |
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Citing treaty provisions ensuring tribal ownership and governance of the Indian Territory, leaders of the Indian nations opposed single statehood. However, in 1896 Congress enacted a bill to enroll individual Indians and allot lands; this forced a change in Indian tactics. A push for dual statehood resulted, climaxing in the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention of 1905. Only when non-Indian leaders within the Indian nations showed that dual statehood was impossible—the Republican national administration did not want two new states, each with the potential for electing two Democratic senators—did the Indian nations acquiesce in seeking a single state. |
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The clash of party opinions at both territorial and national levels, plus the steadfast opposition of Indian leaders, kept the debate lively. The Enabling Act of 1906 called for a constitutional convention, which drew up a document for one state for the dual territories. Following the allotment of Indian lands and the territorial plebiscite approving the new constitution, President Theodore Roosevelt issued his proclamation of November 16, 1907, admitting Oklahoma to the Union. |
(Courtesy The Oklahoma Publishing Company, copyright 1907) |
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