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Five Civilized Tribes of Indians University of Oklahoma College of Law University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 3-24-1896 Five Civilized Tribes of Indians Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/indianserialset Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons Recommended Citation S. Doc. No. 182. 54th Cong., 1st Sess. (1896) This Senate Document is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Indian and Alaskan Native Documents in the Congressional Serial Set: 1817-1899 by an authorized administrator of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 54'.l'H CONGRESS,} SEN.ATE. Docm,rnNT 1st Session. { No.182. lN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED' STATES. MARCH 24, 1896.-0rdered to be printed.--.• l\fr. BERRY presented the following ARGUMENT MADE BY JUDGE M'KENNON BEFORE THE COMMIT­ TEE ON INDIAN APPAIRS OF · THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA­ TIVES, RELATIVE TO CONDITION OP AFFAIRS IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY, TOGETHER WITH OTHER PAPERS, AND SENATE DOCUMENT NO. 12, REPORT OF THE COMMISSION · APPOINTED TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES OF INDIANS, KNOWN AS THE "DAWES COMMISSION." HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Co:Ml\HTTEE ON lNDIAN AFFAIRS, 'Wednesday, March 11, 1896. The committee met at 10.30 o'clock a. m., there being present: Mr. Sherman (chairman), and Messrs. Curtis, Doolittle, Fischer, Eddy, White, Stewart, Hyde, Maddox, Little, Pendleton, and :F'lynn. The members of the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and others were also present. Mr. DA WES. Mr. Chairman, it is the wish of the Commission, if agreeable to the committee, that my colleague, Mr. McKennon, may occupy the remainder of the time allotted by this committee to the Commission. The UH.AIRMAN. Senator Dawes, there has been no fixed time allotted to the Commission. We want you to have unlimited time to present to us every possible phase of the question that you think we ought to understand. Mr. DA WES. We desire to have Mr. McKennon listened to this morning, if that be agreeable to the committee. The UHAIRlVIAN. Certainly. STATEMENT OF HON. A. S. M'KENNON. Mr. MCKENNON. Mr. Cba.irman and gentlemen of the committee, yon certainly have been very patient in the hearing of this question, as it is meet and proper you should be upon a question of so much impor­ tance to the country, and especially to the people of the Indian Terri­ tory who are directly concerned. I shall cornmme as little time as po ible, though it will necessarily take some time to go over the ground which I desire to present for the consideration of the commit­ tee. We are here, as you know, simply to serve you; we have been brought here for that purpose, and we are at your service. We have 2 FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES OF INDIA.NS. no other business on hand except to give such information to the committee as we may be able. This is a matter that has attracted considerable attention for several vears. Itis nothing new. We find that in 1889 a committee was sent to the Territory to investigate affairs there. There must have been some reason for that committee going there. If everything had been re­ garded as in a perfectly safo condition, I apprehend that Congress would not have gone to the trouble of sending a committee there. That committee was headed by a then member of the House of Representa­ tives, now one of the judges in that Territory, Hon. William M. Springer. Mr. Mansur, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Peters, and Mr. Allen were also mem­ bers of it. I do not now remember who the other members were, if there were others. When they returned the chairman of that com­ mittee introduced a bill providing for statehood in that Territory. I shall leave a copy of that bill with the committee for its use, simply calling attention to it. Mr. FISCHER. What is the number of that bill f Mr. MCKENNON. It is the bill H. R. 224, Fifty-first Congress, first ses ion. Afterwards, in 1892, another committee was sent down there-that was in the first session of the Fifty-second Congress. The chairman of that committee was Senator Butler, and Mr. Perkins, and Mr. Hig­ gins were his associates. When they returned Mr. Perkins introduceu a court bill for the purpose of regulating affairs in that Territory. · lVIr. Fr CHER. What is the number of that bill¥ Mr. M KENNON. That was Senate bill 2924 of the Fifty-second Con­ gres , first e sion. In 1 94 a bill was introduced by Mr. Higgins in regard to the intruder qne. tion. I de ire to call attention to that. It is Senate bill No.1850, Fifty-third ongress, second session. I merely call attention to these in order to show you the interest that has be n mauife ted in this question. In 1 U3 Congre s pa ~ed a bill for the creation of a commission to n gotiate with the Five Civilized Tribes. Hon. Henry L. Dawes, Major idd, and I were appointed the members of that commission; Senator Daw wa made chairman of it. We went to the Territory about Jan n,1ry 10, 1 '94. ft rward~, during that year, a Senate committee, composed of Sena­ tor Teller, latt, and Roach, came to the Terrir ory to investigate matter , aud on their return Senator Teller made a report (Senate Repor~ o. 37! ). Gentlemen of the committee, I invite your especial attent10n to this report, becau e it is in the line of the report which we aft rwar<l made, in ubstance the same, reporting the same co11dition of affair that we founrl to exi. tin that Territory. I hope that every member of thi committee will read that report. I will not undertake to go over the whole ofit; you can read it for yourselves. That report tate<l conditions that were tartling. The Cougre s of the United tat ' had not been made acquainted with the condition of affairs exi t­ iug in th Te_rritory prior to that time, and I say that it was a tartlin°· r p rt wheu 1t wa ruad to the S nate of the United State . That repor undertake.' to review the ituation, aud in conclu ion tates in . ub t, u that the only thing that can be done is to ~ipe out the exi t­ rng g vernmeut in the Territory, and put in lieu thereof a government capabl f ontrolliu affair and taking care of the lives of tlle people. I d n 11ncl rtake to quote the exact languacre, but that is the ub- tanc of it. FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES OF INDIANS. 3 I have another report here, made by Senator Morgan (Senate Report No. 281, Fifty-second Congress, .first session). It undertakes to review the whole question. I need not call your attention to the character of the man who took that matter in band. You know him; you know his ability to investigate a question like that and to determine what ought to be done. I assert, in calling attention to that report, that it will give you more information than almost any other document that can be pre­ sented to you, as to the real condition of affairs in that Territory, and what may be necessary to regulate conditions there. Before going to the Territory, the honorable chairman of this Com­ mission gave notice to the heads of the various Indian governments that we were going to the Territory, and that when there we should be glad to confer with them, and asked that committees be appointed to confer with us. Just after we went there the Cherokee council, then in session, authorized the chief of that tribe to appoiut a committee to meet us, but in the resolution for that purpose expressly prohibited such com­ mittee from doing anything except to throw every possible obstruction in our way in order to prevent us from accomplishing the purposes of our mission. That committee came before us, and it was in that conference that the full-blood declared himself in the manner in which Senator Dawes stated the other clay. After others had made their talks to the Commission he was called upon, a.ncl, through an interpreter, said be was opposed to any !rind of a change there, but there was one thing he did not understand, and that was that while he had only a few acres of land others had boundless possessions and ~i.a,ny acres. He could not understand that. He said he understood that the lands were to be held in common, but here was one feature he did not understand. Nothing, of course, was accomplished then. But immediately afterwards Chief Harris called an international con­ vention, which met at Checotah, in the Creek Nation, and there it was agreed that nothing should be done by any tribe, touching a change, without the cooperation of all the tribes; that no concessions would be made, and that nothing should be done in regard to the work we had in hand. We had conferences aner that with the other tribes in that Territory in which we laid this matter before them as pleasantly and as kindly as we could. Mr. MADDOX. A.bout what time was that, Mr. MCKENNON. It was about the 21st of February.
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