WI: The State of Lincoln and the State of Sequoyah
- Thread starter Oba Cahokia
- Start date
Well the first thing that Sequoyah would have to deal with is that it would not nearly be a native majority state according to the census in 1907 the native population of the Indian territory was 61,925 while the black population was 80,649 and the white population was 538,512. This would mean any Sequoyah state would be majority non native by a truly crazy margin.
Yes, I imagine the demographics of Sequoyah are going to be interesting politically. At least to my understanding, there was initially some cooperation among whites and Native Americans while drawing up the proposed state constitution, but I suspect within a decade or two it'll be politically dominated by the former.
I think that it will eventually just become what amounts to a second Oklahoma especially politically. The state might have better overall protections for native Americans and grant the reservations more autonomy considering that the native Americans would be more of a force in state politics and they would have had a hand in creating the state constitution.
Interestingly, the two might potentially diverge for a while assuming OTL politics are more or less the same. The area encompassed by Lincoln has voted strongly Republican for most of its existence, similar to other prairie states such as Kansas and Colorado. So that would likely only be cemented further. The southeastern areas, Sequoyah here, have been more swingy however and actually appear to be a decent bellwether, at least in terms of presidential elections. That would probably last until the Bush years where similar states such as Arkansas and Missouri moved firmly into the Republican Party.
Basically it will just be the southern equivalent of the Dakotas. A mostly southern democrat state ( though Lincoln might flip in Republican landslides like 1928 and 1956 and become mostly Republican by 1964. Sequoyah would be similar but it depends how southern it is.
One more interesting thing that relates mostly to sports is that the football powerhouse University of Oklahoma might not exist. Both major universities appear in Lincoln. So this otl Oklahoma University become the University of Lincoln, while Oklahoma St ( then Oklahoma A&M) would be in Lincoln as well and become Lincoln A&M. This means a U of Sequoyah is founded and as such, there might not be a football powerhouse in either state. In fact, both probably go with the Texas based Southwest Conference. So you might have four major college football teams in otl Oklahoma but they might not be all too strong.
One more interesting thing that relates mostly to sports is that the football powerhouse University of Oklahoma might not exist. Both major universities appear in Lincoln. So this otl Oklahoma University become the University of Lincoln, while Oklahoma St ( then Oklahoma A&M) would be in Lincoln as well and become Lincoln A&M. This means a U of Sequoyah is founded and as such, there might not be a football powerhouse in either state. In fact, both probably go with the Texas based Southwest Conference. So you might have four major college football teams in otl Oklahoma but they might not be all too strong.
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Stop that act and fast forward to a more forceful reconstruction that opens up the western half of the territory while protecting the Eastern Indian half and call it Lincoln and then resettle former slaves there and you definitely could end up with a scenario as proposed in OP. You still probably end up with Jim Crow laws around the country but exemptions put in place for those two territories as they are not white majority (in my proposed scenario anyways), so no one really cares.
This allows the communities to develop at their own pace, ensuring a safe (or at least moderately safe by those times) place for non-whites to live. Then oil is found and boom, here comes the money.
In my first time line attempt, I actually had a harsher reconstruction that split off the Texas panhandle and added it to the western indian territory to create a place for former slaves to settle and eventually both the black population of the territory and the white dominated rest of the nation eventually agreed to split and it gained independence. I think there are many possible options that could have happened post war with the Indian territory, some more likely than others but still theoretically possible.
Stop that act and fast forward to a more forceful reconstruction that opens up the western half of the territory while protecting the Eastern Indian half and call it Lincoln and then resettle former slaves there and you definitely could end up with a scenario as proposed in OP. You still probably end up with Jim Crow laws around the country but exemptions put in place for those two territories as they are not white majority (in my proposed scenario anyways), so no one really cares.
This allows the communities to develop at their own pace, ensuring a safe (or at least moderately safe by those times) place for non-whites to live. Then oil is found and boom, here comes the money.
In my first time line attempt, I actually had a harsher reconstruction that split off the Texas panhandle and added it to the western indian territory to create a place for former slaves to settle and eventually both the black population of the territory and the white dominated rest of the nation eventually agreed to split and it gained independence. I think there are many possible options that could have happened post war with the Indian territory, some more likely than others but still theoretically possible.
The importance of the Homestead Act has been much overrated. https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/improving-the-homestead-acts.432390/#post-16190448
Specifically, in what was to become Oklahoma, it wasn't really until the Free Homes Act of 1900 that settlers on Indian land were relieved of payments for their land: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FR013
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While I acknowledge that it may not be as important as some suggest, it is undeniable that it DID impact the settlement (ie, bringing in of white settlers) to the Indian Territory. So my original point stands.
One thing is the border in the Northeast Lincoln and Northwest Sequoyah between the two would have Osage County, the actual Osage Indian Reservation added to the Sequoyah. This is the largest county IOTL Oklahoma because the whole county is the Osage rez.
Osage County Map.
Link to Osage County itself:
Osage county website.
Osage County Map.
Link to Osage County itself:
Osage county website.
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There was actually a decent case for that, based on treaty lines and how the rivers actually ran.
Greer County, Texas - Wikipedia
Another thing I’m imagining is that Sequoyah would take lot of its state culture and symbols from native American culture even if most of the state wasn’t Native American. It would kind of be like Louisiana where the state has a lot of French culture even though the vast majority of the state is not French.
I’m thinking that in a way Sequoyah is native but also more southern. Lincoln will be more western and might see themselves more like Nebraska, Kansas and Eastern Colorado. It also might be more Republican in the first part of the 20th century, as in otl Oklahoma was part of the solid south, but voted more like the upper south and at times had Republican governors and much like it’s Great Plains counterparts, hadn’t voted democrat at the presidential level since 1964.
In 1908, Oklahoma elected Republicans to 3 of its 5 US House seats. Also, from 1920 through 1930, Oklahoma had at least 1 Republican US Senator. So from the beginning, Oklahoma was never part of the Solid South.
If Sequoyah follows the current population density I do not think it's considered rural, is it?
I’d argue it was more part of it than not. Of course it wasn’t fully but at times it certainly allied itself more with the south. Especially compared with its northern neighbors. However, yes it wasn’t the Deep South. It wasn’t like Mississippi or Alabama. However I find it similar to upper south states like Tennessee and Kentucky, who always had Republican house members and voted Republican in landslides like 1928 and in the 50s but it was closer than not. Granted it flipped earlier as since 64 it’s been a solid Republican state, albeit you got conservatives Dems like David Boren winning for a while and maybe a democrat gets elected governor after a bad Republican.
Edit- I meant David Boren.
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