State of Sequoyah

Sequoyah was the name for a configured U.S. state located in the east of present-day Oklahoma in the area of the former Indian Territory. The name was chosen in honor of Sequoyah, inventor of the Cherokee script.

History

1890 from the Indian Territory, which comprised approximately the area of present-day Oklahoma, separated the Oklahoma Territory in the west and opened to white settlers (Oklahoma Land Run ). Had the remaining Indian Territory in the eastern part a large Indian population from different strains. However, both areas did not have the status of states. Since it was clear that at some point the remaining Indian Territory could be lost to the Indians, was a movement that sought to start their own indian structured state in the Union on the floor of the Indian Territory. 1902 met for this purpose in Eufaula (Oklahoma) a meeting of delegates of the "Five Civilized Tribes " together. 1903 there was a further meeting to organize a constitutional convention for the newly formed state.

The Constituent Assembly

The Constituent Assembly met in Muskogee (Oklahoma) together on 21 August 1905. General Pleasant Porter, head chief of the Muskogee ( Creek ), was elected President of the Assembly. Vice presidents were the leaders or representatives of the five civilized nations: William C. Rogers, head chief of the Cherokee; William H. Murray, appointed by the Governor of the Chickasaw Douglas H. Johnston; Chief Green McCurtain of the Choctaw; Chief John Brown of the Seminoles and Charles N. Haskell as representatives of the Muskogee ( Creek ).

The Assembly drafted a constitution, a plan for a government organization and the administrative division of the projected state and elected delegates, who should submit the application for admission as a state in the Congress of the United States. The proposals of the Assembly were approved in a referendum by an overwhelming majority.

The failure of the project

The delegation was coolly received in Washington. In particular, politicians from the eastern states feared their influence, if with Oklahoma and Sequoyah were two new western states included and so decided to President Theodore Roosevelt that the Indian and Oklahoma Territory would have a chance at receiving a state only as a common state.

The representatives of the Indian Territory united then the following year with the Constituent Assembly of the Oklahoma Territory in Guthrie (Oklahoma) and brought their experience in the design for the new constitution of the state as a whole. On November 16, 1907 both territories were incorporated under the name of Oklahoma as 46th state in the United States.