What if in 1865, Aberham Lincoln, hot off winning the Civil War, signs one last bill into law before his untimely death splitting OTL Oaklahoma in half forming the state of Sequoyah (reserved for the native Americans) in the Eastern half & Oklahoma, for white settlement, in the Western half (Including the panhandle). how do you think history would have played out if the indians had got their long sought after state?
Sequoyah becomes a state in 1865
- Thread starter historylover91
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Welcome to AH.com historylover91. With regards to your idea, its difficult to comment on the "what if" regarding establishment a the State of Sequoyah in 1865 because its establishment is implausable at best. Any enabling legislation to do so would be DOA in Congress. There wasn't even an established territorial government in "Indian Territory" at the time. Beside, the tribes wanted recognition as sovereign and independent tribes, not statehood post Civil War. Statehood and Sequoyah as a state in the union (and Oklahoma too) was a later turn of the century concept.
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This reminds me of an idea I had a while back, the POD is slightly different but the end result is more or less the same as the OP.
Basically, my idea revolved around having a "Great Man" arise from among the tribes in the Indian Territory prior to the American Civil War. One of the possible candidates I was considering was a surviving Lyncoya Jackson. Anyways in my TL, Lyncoya Jackson manages to convince the tribal leadership of the Indian Territory to form a coherent form of government in order to best handle the upcoming conflict between the North and the South.
With the secession of South Carolina, the Tribal Council begins to debate whether or not to secede or remain in the Union. Eventually a third option is settled upon and as soon as the outbreak of hostilities occur, Lyncoya Jackson leads the residents of the Indian territory in a relatively bloodless insurrection seizing all US forts and positions in the region and sending their garrisons back to their respective states. Diplomats are then sent to both the nascent Confederacy and the Union in order to secure the best possible deal for the Indian territory.
Though both the US and CS governments consider re-conquering the rebellious Indian Territory, neither eventually opt to do so due to the expanding nature of the civil war. As the war drags on, Lincoln sees an opportunity in the Indian territory situation to demonstrate his willingness to negotiate and bring about a quicker diplomatic end to the American Civil War. To this end the Indian territory is offered an incredible deal, which includes statehood and considerable internal autonomy including the retention of slavery should they choose to join the Union and contribute forces to the suppression of the rebellion. A lack of similar counter-offers from the CSA lead the Tribal Council to accept the offer and the treaty narrowly passes through Congress.
Though the successful negotiations with the Indian Territory fail to bring about a significantly earlier end to the American Civil War, the participation of Native cavalry in the conflict significantly influence events in the Trans Mississippi theater resulting in an earlier capture of Vicksburg and an earlier end to the War. Thus following the end of the war the Indian Territory finally ratifies it's constitution and is admitted into the Union.
Basically, my idea revolved around having a "Great Man" arise from among the tribes in the Indian Territory prior to the American Civil War. One of the possible candidates I was considering was a surviving Lyncoya Jackson. Anyways in my TL, Lyncoya Jackson manages to convince the tribal leadership of the Indian Territory to form a coherent form of government in order to best handle the upcoming conflict between the North and the South.
With the secession of South Carolina, the Tribal Council begins to debate whether or not to secede or remain in the Union. Eventually a third option is settled upon and as soon as the outbreak of hostilities occur, Lyncoya Jackson leads the residents of the Indian territory in a relatively bloodless insurrection seizing all US forts and positions in the region and sending their garrisons back to their respective states. Diplomats are then sent to both the nascent Confederacy and the Union in order to secure the best possible deal for the Indian territory.
Though both the US and CS governments consider re-conquering the rebellious Indian Territory, neither eventually opt to do so due to the expanding nature of the civil war. As the war drags on, Lincoln sees an opportunity in the Indian territory situation to demonstrate his willingness to negotiate and bring about a quicker diplomatic end to the American Civil War. To this end the Indian territory is offered an incredible deal, which includes statehood and considerable internal autonomy including the retention of slavery should they choose to join the Union and contribute forces to the suppression of the rebellion. A lack of similar counter-offers from the CSA lead the Tribal Council to accept the offer and the treaty narrowly passes through Congress.
Though the successful negotiations with the Indian Territory fail to bring about a significantly earlier end to the American Civil War, the participation of Native cavalry in the conflict significantly influence events in the Trans Mississippi theater resulting in an earlier capture of Vicksburg and an earlier end to the War. Thus following the end of the war the Indian Territory finally ratifies it's constitution and is admitted into the Union.
Didn't the Indian Territory support the Confederacy, though? Surely Abraham Lincoln would be wary about admitting a new state into the Union which had supported secession -- let alone two!
The Indian Territory perhaps could have become a state, but with support some of the tribes gave to the rebels, this happening in the 1860's with everything else to that point going OTL is an impossibility. Perhaps, however, if for some reason, the South invades Indian Territory, things might be different...
Yes and No. "Indian Territory" was initially set up specifically and only for the relocation of the "Five Civilized Tribes" from the Southeast (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee-Creek, and Seminole). The Five tribes were given all the land that comprised modern Oklahoma except for the panhandle. After the Civil War, as punishment for the fact that most leadership of the Five Tribes sided with the Confederacy, they were forced to cede their holdings in western Oklahoma to the USA for use in relocating other tribes. So, in fact, the east-west split of Indian Territory into what could have become the separate states of Sequoyah and Oklahoma did occur in the immediate post-Civil War period even though it was all just "Indian Territory"
The real problem with this PoD is that there is no way Lincoln or any Northerner would reward the Five Tribes with their own state just after many of their people, including one who became a Confederate general, just fought in a war against the USA.
Also, in 1865, American Indians were not US citizens and it is possible that the Five Tribes themselves would not want to become a state of the US. Also, as noted, Indian Territory was not at the time organized for eventual statehood.
Actually, both the North and South "invaded" Indian territory to stake claims and support factions favorable to them. Much of the fighting of the Civil War in Indian Territory was done by Texas regiments as well as allied Native forces. As an Oklahoman, I'm always bothered by how the civil war is virtually ignored west of Arkansas. The war in Oklahoma, although on a small scale and certainly not decisive in any way, was a microcosm of the bigger fight, with the addition of very interesing racial dynamics.
I agree with you wholly. The Civil War west of the Mississippi is a very intresting conflict. Sadly, interesting and important can be very seperate qualities, and the war east of the Mississippi is more important, and only slightly less interesting.
Back on topic, did the Indian Territory even have enough population to make a state?
While the overall population in the late 19th century was large enough, the white population was not until the turn of the (20th) century.
Specific late 19th century population figures can be found here: http://www.sonofthesouth.net/american-indians/indian-territory.htm and here: http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/census/condition/indian_territory, 1890.htm
There are no reliable population records for Indian Territory prior to 1890. IN 1890, it certainly had enough people, so it's probably reasonable to presume it may have had a big enough population at least a decade or two earlier. On the other hand, could non-citizen Indians be counted when determinig population of an eventual US state? I don't know. In 1890 there were about 250,000 people in the combined territories. The overwhelming majority lived in the part of eastern Oklahoma that applied for statehood at the turn of the century as Sequoyah (about 180,000). Well over 50% of these people were white.
So it seems that if Indian Territory was going to be admitted as a state in the 1865-1880 period, there wouuld have to be a parallel action by Congress granting the Indians citizenship. There is precedent for some tribes to have been granted citizenship before this was done by the 1924 legislation. The Citizen-Pottawatomi tribe in Kansas was granted US citizenship in 1867, for example. So back, to the original question, It is possible that, if the Five Nations allied and fought with the North and helped the US in the western theatre of war, they might have all been given US citizenship and been allowed to organize as a state if they wanted to. Ditto for the Confederacy, but only Harry Turtledove knows the answer to that one.
Perhaps by the late 1880s (just my gut sense, with no research to back it up).
It would be imteresting to see a timeline which focused to one extent or another on the western front in the war
