Claims by Mississippi Choctaws
But no roll of Choctaw citizenship could be
complete until the Mississippi Choctaws were given an opportunity to establish
their rights to citizenship as provided by Section twenty-one of the Curtis
Bill. Living as he did in the most out of the way place in Mississippi,
in complete ignorance of what was taking place outside of his immediate
neighborhood, the average Mississippi Choctaw might have never known, if
left to himself, of this late revival of his almost forgotten claim. Furthermore,
in order for him to be enrolled it was necessary for him to appear in person
before the Commission. So it was thought best for the Commission to send
representatives to Mississippi to instruct the Mississippi Choctaws in
the matter of their claims and to afford them an opportunity for filing
their claims and making the necessary proof of their rights to enrollment.
To carry out this purpose, the Commission opened
an office in Meridian, Miss., and for several months devoted their time
to the applications of Mississippi Choctaws. Hundreds of them appeared
in person before the Commission with their witnesses. Their applications
were formally filed, and their evidence recorded by the Commission.
But to the applicants the proving of claims was a new business, and not
all of them made the proof that they could have made had they only known
how to make it.
These filings together with the evidence was
carried by the Commission back to its main office at Muskogee, Indian Territory,
there in time to be passed upon. If the Commission found that the
evidence of record in any case was not sufficient to entitle the claimant
to enrollment, he was notified of the fact and given further opportunity
to make his proof. If sufficient evidence was furnished the Commission
in time, the claimant was enrolled, otherwise the claim was dismissed.
With the appearance of the Mississippi Choctaw
before the Commission certain questions of procedure had to be determined.
By referring to section twenty-one of the Curtis Bill it will readily be
seen that much was left to be supplied by the Commission. First,
what Mississippians were entitled to claims of Indian citizenship?
In this particular the Commission held,
(1) that the claimant must be a Choctaw or a descendant of
a Choctaw;
(2) that he or some of his ancestors before him must have made application
or sought to make application, or made some effort or done some overt act
toward making application, to Judge Ward, the United States Indian Agent,
who was sent to Mississippi by the United States Government during the
six months immediately following the ratification of the treaty of 1830
for the purpose of carrying out with the Choctaws remaining in Mississippi
the provisions of the 14th article of the aforesaid treaty, for a home
for himself in Mississippi;
(3) that he did not receive that home or any in lieu thereof from the
United States Government; and
(4) that he had not become a permanent bona fide citizen of the Indian
Territory prior to June 25, 1898.
For a time full-bloods and descendants were regarded
by the Commission as being on the same footing. Descendants were
allowed to file their claims by proving one-eighth Choctaw blood or even
one-sixteenth Choctaw blood, and in some cases probably less. In
this way many white people and negroes got their claims on file before
the Commission.
Supplemental
Treaty of 1902
It was thought too at first that full-bloods
and descendants were both required to show some semblance of compliance
with the requirements of the 14th article of the treaty of 1830.
The Supplemental Treaty of 1902 to a great extent reversed this policy
by making a vast difference in the status of the claims of Mississippi
Choctaws as to whether they were full-bloods or descendants. This
new law virtually established the claims of all full-bloods upon their
proving that they were such, which proof was easily made by profert of
the claimant before the Commission. But while the new law greatly aided
the full-bloods, it virtually eliminated all descendants from any further
consideration.
The purpose of the law was to cut down the
number of Mississippi Choctaw claimants, and it served well the purpose
for which it was intended. That the Commission was being imposed
upon by the Mississippians who were not Choctaws was evident. Furthermore
there was opposition among Indian citizens to the claims of Mississippi
Choctaws; not because they did not love their Mississippi brothers, but
because each new name on the final roll meant a corresponding reduction
in each individual share, each increase in the divisor meaning a proportionate
decrease in the quotient, the dividend being a constant quantity.
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Copyright 2001 - All Rights
Reserved
Ellen
Pack
