View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by SHAREOK repository UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE “PEOPLE TO OUR SELVES”: CHICKASAW DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By DANIEL FLAHERTY Norman, Oklahoma 2012 “PEOPLE TO OUR SELVES”: CHICKASAW DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY BY Dr. Joshua Piker, Chair Dr. Fay A. Yarbrough Dr. Terry Rugeley Dr. R. Warren Metcalf Dr. Robert Rundstrom © Copyright by DANIEL FLAHERTY 2012 All Rights Reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As with any scholarly endeavor, I certainly could not have accomplished this effort alone. Two early influences in my academic career, Ed Crapol and James Axtell, provided me with a love and foundation in the unique methodologies I combine in this dissertation. The idea for this dissertation was born in Robert Shalhope’s seminar in Fall 2006. Dr. Shalhope’s avuncular disposition provided an early litmus test in which to investigate the significance of Native Americans’ understanding of and interaction with the republican experiment that is the United States. His early encouragement gave me the confidence to investigate further. The choice of the Chickasaws as a subject of study is due thanks to a friendly suggestion from Matt Despain. To the members of my committee—during both the exam and dissertation phases—I owe a great deal. Fay Yarbrough has offered thoughtful criticism and consistent encouragement since she first became involved with my work five years ago. Warren Metcalf asked pointed questions and offered thoughtful critiques for how I can improve this project going forward. Paul Gilje and Terry Rugeley not only helped me to achieve a better understanding of their own subjects, they also provided great examples of what it means to be an historian. Robert Rundstrom proved to be a calming and supportive presence throughout the entire process. Finally, Josh Piker’s willingness to let me stray when appropriate and his ability to pull me back when necessary provided an ideal environment in which to develop my ideas, both for this project and for the future. I could not have asked for a better mentor. Along the way, numerous organizations provided financial support and assistance. Robert Griswold and the Department of History at the University of iv Oklahoma provided several opportunities to expand my research in new directions and to test my theories at professional conferences. As many others before me have found, Barbara Million, Rhonda George, and Kelly Guinn keep the department running smoothly; they certainly made my life easier. Nelson Lankford at the Virginia Historical Society granted an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for research in the Revolutionary era and on the Confederacy. Glenn Crothers and the Filson Historical Society afforded me a fellowship to examine the educational training of Chickasaw youth at the Choctaw Academy in Scott County, Kentucky. Finally, the American Philosophical Society awarded a grant from the Phillips Fund for Native American Research, allowing me to conduct research throughout the Southeast. Numerous archivists and staff assisted me throughout the process. I specifically wish to thank Dean DeBolt at the University of West Florida and James Holmberg and his staff at the Filson Society, who made two rather harried research trips in less than ideal weather over one winter break both enjoyable and productive. Participation in the annual conferences of the American Society for Ethnohistory, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, and the Organization of American Historians provided many opportunities to invite criticism from a very broad community of scholars. The comments offered by John Bowes, Andrew Cayton, Heather Cox-Richardson, Andrew Denson, and Paul Kelton have forced me to sharpen my focus in many ways. I hope that the final product in some small way does justice to the advice that these individuals—and many audience members—have offered over the past few years. v I have made countless friends during this journey. The history community at the University of Oklahoma was much more convivial than I could have imagined. Michele Stephens, Patrick Bottiger, and Emily Wardrop all helped to make life in graduate school—and life in Norman—stimulating and very enjoyable. Matt Bahar took time from his own research agenda to gather materials while traveling in New England. Brad Raley listened to my incessant blathering about this project and helpful advice along the way. Not only that, he and his wife Lisa have been wonderful and supportive friends ever since I had the good fortune to be assigned as his teaching assistant early on in my time in Norman. My parents, Helen and Ed Flaherty, have offered unquestionable comfort and support over these many years. Whether the moment called for emotional, financial, or intellectual assistance, they have unselfishly supported me through this and many other endeavors. My in-laws, Kathy and Ron Espieg, lent their support to me and gleefully spent time with my daughter and wife, which alleviated much stress as I pushed through to the finish. My daughter, Madeline, came along at a fortunate time in the development of this project. I had nearly completed my archival travels and was turning to sort out the evidence. Over the past two and a half years, our mornings together provided much needed sanity breaks, and I would not trade them for anything. As she continues to grow, it is a joy to watch her mimic me when she tells her mommy that she has to work on her “tations.” I reserve the ultimate thank you for my wonderful wife, Lori. She has endured the highs and lows of the entire process with unwavering patience and support. Her continued presence in my life makes the fruits of this labor all the more meaningful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... iv Abstract .......................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1: “We Know Not of Them We Are to Listen To” .......................................... 24 Chapter 2: A People to Our Selves? .............................................................................. 67 Chapter 3: Becoming a Nation within a Nation .......................................................... 122 Chapter 4: A Father’s Betrayal .................................................................................... 165 Chapter 5: The Road to Consolidation ........................................................................ 217 Chapter 6: The Chickasaw Nation Asserts its Right ................................................... 269 Epilogue ........................................................................................................................ 305 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 320 vii ABSTRACT This project adopts an international relations perspective to examine how the Chickasaws conceptualized their position within the unraveling system of western imperial involvement in North America from the American Revolution until the end of the nineteenth century. In their attempts to assert their right to sovereignty during the Early American Republic, the Chickasaws transformed from a coalescent society into a consolidated nation-state. As a result, the Chickasaws established a strong political organization that prolonged their ability to thwart American attempts to subjugate them to the status of domestic dependent nations further than conventional historiography admits. Whereas most scholars credit removal with establishing an understanding among Native Americans that they must accept United States hegemony, I argue that the federal-state power struggle offered opportunities for the Chickasaw to negotiate for autonomous sovereignty through the end of the Civil War. In settling the debate over authority within the United States, the process of reconstruction—not removal— demonstrated to the Chickasaws that the United States was able to impose a permanent semi-sovereign status on Native Americans. By developing a native understanding of the debates concerning the nature of authority during the first century of the United States’ existence, therefore, I reexamine the process through which Native Americans understood that a semi-sovereign status under the United States became permanent. viii INTRODUCTION No culture . retains its identity in isolation; identity is attained in contact, in contrast, in breakthrough. – Carlos Fuentes1 True identity is found, oddly enough, when we lose ourselves. Like happiness in living and good style in writing, a strong identity generally comes, if it comes at all, only when we are preoccupied with something or someone else: if we deliberately go after it, we will probably not get it. – James Axtell2 1 Carlos Fuentes, Myself with Others: Selected Essays, reprinted (New York: Macmillan, 1990), p. 12. 2 James Axtell, The Pleasures of Academe: A Celebration and Defense of Higher Education (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,