Comments on: There never was a state like Sequoyah.

There never was a state like Sequoyah.

salishsea — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:35:00 -0800

Between 1902 and 1905 representatives of five tribes in the Indian Territory of the southern United States lobbied for statehood. The tribes proposed creating a tribal state called Sequoyah (hi res image here). At the constiutional conference in 1905 a constitution was drafted and later forwarded to the federal Congress and President, but despite a successful ratification campaign, the effort died on the vine. The Indian Territory and Oklahoma were instead admitted to the Union two years later as one state.

By: salishsea

salishsea — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:35:25 -0800

Some background posted previously on MeFi.

By: dw

dw — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:03:30 -0800

Arrgh. I was planning on doing a whole series of Oklahoma posts leading up to the centennial. You left out the proposal to make Indian Territory a black state, though.

By: salishsea

salishsea — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:08:57 -0800

Rats...sorry dw. Go ahead though. Not knowing anything else about OK, I'd be interested to read more, especially after following the hi jinx in the constitutional conference link.

By: Sailormom

Sailormom — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:13:43 -0800

State song. The first link looks interresting, thanks for posting.

By: caddis

caddis — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:28:43 -0800

It is posts like these that make me love MetaFilter.

By: dw

dw — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:59:32 -0800

The first Oklahoma constitution was basically the Sequoyah constitution with appropriate language changes. Oklahoma's seal Sequoyah's proposed seal (bigger one in the map links above) Oklahoma Territory Seal So the Oklahoma seal is the Indian Territory seal with the star de-"pentagramed" and the "handshake" part of the O.T. seal replaced with the "marriage" -- O.T. groom, I.T. bride (it was a shotgun wedding). And, of course, the Sequoyah seal was derived from the 7-pointed star on the Cherokee Nation seal.

By: dw

dw — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:03:19 -0800

Rats...sorry dw. No worries. I've debated actually announcing the plan in MeTa and seeing if I can get the other Okies to join in, especially after Brittanie posting her family diaries from one of the land rushes. Oklahoma is such an ugly, lovely state that we could milk a good post every couple of weeks until November 16.

By: rob511

rob511 — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:08:36 -0800

We know we belong to the land And the land we belong to is grand! And when we say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay! We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, ~~Sequoyah!~~ Oklahoma! ~~Sequoyah~~ Oklahoma OK

By: jason's_planet

jason's_planet — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:18:08 -0800

This is an awesome post, salishsea. Thank you very much.

By: mrbill

mrbill — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 22:34:19 -0800

reminds me that I need to go home to visit (Anadarko/Chickasha area).

By: RavinDave

RavinDave — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:10:15 -0800

I'm only two states away and I had no clue that Oklahoma was so late in the statehood game. We have dang near 40 years on'em. "Hey you, Oakies!!! Get off my lawn!"

By: Busithoth

Busithoth — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:01:26 -0800

hooray for history! sad to think what might have been. great stuff, thank you.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 06:47:03 -0800

We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:05:32 -0800

We don't take our trips on LSD.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 09:36:03 -0800

On the subject of alternate histories of statehood, consider James Reavis, the would-be Baron of Arizona.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:42:37 -0800

I had no idea of any of this--thanks! (Imagine how different things might have been if it succeeded)

By: ormondsacker

ormondsacker — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:32:46 -0800

On the subject of alternate histories of statehood, consider James Reavis, the would-be Baron of Arizona. Or Mirabeau Lamar, 2nd President of the Republic of Texas, and proponent of the "Screw the U.S., we're wiping out the Indians and conquering our way to the Pacific" policy. Tex Imperius, baby!

By: ormondsacker

ormondsacker — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 16:10:31 -0800

And dw: series of Oklahoma posts leading up to the centennial I'm in, long as we space it out enough not to wear out our welcome. Do you have contact info anywhere? And can I call a state song post, since that's one of the great epics of legislative wtf-ery anywhere ever?

By: dw

dw — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 15:17:47 -0800

I'm in, long as we space it out enough not to wear out our welcome. Do you have contact info anywhere? And can I call a state song post, since that's one of the great epics of legislative wtf-ery anywhere ever? Hey, let's go to MeTa!