TREATY WITH CHOCTAW AND CHICKASAW, 1866.
Apr. 28, 1866. 14 Stats., 769. Ratified June 28,
- Proclaimed July 10, 1866.
Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties. Vol. II (Treaties).
Compiled and edited by Charles J. Kappler. Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1904.
Articles of agreement and convention between the United
States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Indians,
made and concluded at the City of Washington the twenty-
eight day of April, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-
six, by Dennis N. Cooley, Elijah Sells, and E. S. Parker,
special commissioners on the part of the United States, and
Alfred Wade, Allen Wright, James Riley, and John Page,
commissioners on the part of the Choctaws, and Winchester
Colbert, Edmund Pickens, Holmes Colbert, Colbert Carter, and
Robert H. Love, commissioners on the part of the Chickasaws.
ARTICLE 1.
Permanent peace and friendship are hereby established
between the United States and said nations; and the Choctaws
and Chickasaws do hereby bind themselves respectively to use
their influence
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and to make every exertion to induce Indians of the plains
to maintain peaceful relations with each other, with other
Indians, and with the United States.
ARTICLE 2.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws hereby covenant and agree that
henceforth neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
otherwise than in punishment of crime whereof the parties
shall have been duly convicted, in accordance with laws
applicable to all members of the particular nation, shall
ever exist in said nations.
ARTICLE 3.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws, in consideration of the sum of
three hundred thousand dollars, hereby cede to the United
States the territory west of the 98o
west longitude, known
as the leased district, provided that the said sum shall be
invested and held by the United States, at an interest not
less than five per cent., in trust for the said nations,
until the said nations, until the legislatures of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations respectively shall have made
such laws, rules, and regulations as may be necessary to
give all persons of African descent, resident in the said
nation at the date of the treaty of Fort Smith, and their
descendants, heretofore held in slavery among said nations,
all the rights, privileges, and immunities, including the
right of suffrage, of citizens of said nations, except in
the annuities, moneys, and public domain claimed by, or
belonging to, said nations respectively; and also to give
to such persons who were residents as aforesaid, and their
descendants, forty acres each of the land of said nations on
the same terms as the Choctaws and Chickasaws, to be
selected on the survey of said land, after the Choctaws and
Chickasaws and Kansas Indians have made their selections as
herein provided; and immediately on the enactment of such
laws, rules, and regulations, the said sum of three hundred
thousand dollars shall be paid to the said Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations in the proportion of three-fourths to the
former and one-fourth to the latter, less such sum, at the
rate of one hundred dollars per capita, as shall be
sufficient to pay such persons of African descent before
referred to as within ninety days after the passage of such
laws, rules, and regulations shall elect to remove and
actually remove from the said nations respectively. And
should the said laws, rules and regulations not be made by
the legislatures of the said nations respectively, within
two years from the ratification of this treaty, then the
said sum of three hundred thousand dollars shall cease to be
held in trust for the said Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations,
and be held for the use and benefit of such of said persons
of African descent as the United States shall remove from
the said Territory in such manner as the United States shall
deem proper,-the United States agreeing, within ninety days
from the expiration of the said two years, to remove from
said nations all such persons of African descent as may be
willing to remove; those remaining or returning after having
been removed from said nations to have no benefit of said
sum of three hundred thousand dollars, or any part thereof,
but shall be upon the same footing as other citizens of the
United States in the said nations.
ARTICLE 4.
The said nations further agree that all Negroes, not
otherwise disqualified or disabled, shall be competent
witnesses in all civil and criminal suits and proceedings in
the Choctaw and Chickasaw courts, any law to the contrary
notwithstanding; and they fully recognize the right of the
freedmen to a fair remuneration on reasonable and equitable
contracts for their labor, which the law should aid them to
enforce. And they agree, on the part of their respective
nations, that all laws shall be equal in their operation
upon Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Negroes, and that no
distinction affecting the latter shall at any time be made,
and that they shall be treated with kindness and be
protected against injury; and they further agree, that while
the said freedmen, now in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation,
remain in said nations, respectively, they shall be entitled
to as much land as they
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may cultivate for the support of themselves and families, in
cases where they do not support themselves and families by
hiring, not interfering with existing improvements without
the consent of the occupant, it being understood that in the
event of the making of the laws, rules, and regulations
aforesaid, the forty acres aforesaid shall stand in place of
the land cultivated as last aforesaid.
ARTICLE 5.
A general amnesty of all past offences against the laws of
the United States, committed before the signing of this
treaty by any member of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nations, is
hereby declared; and the United States will especially
request the States of Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas
to grant the like amnesty as to all offences committed by
any member of the Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation. And the
Choctaws and Chickasaws, anxious for the restoration of kind
and friendly feelings among themselves, do hereby declare an
amnesty for all past offences against their respective
governments, and no Indian or Indians shall be proscribed,
or any act of forfeiture or confiscation passed against
those who may have remained friendly to the United States,
but they shall enjoy equal privileges with other members of
said tribes, and all laws heretofore passed inconsistent
herewith are hereby declared inoperative. The people of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations stipulate and agree to deliver
up to any duly authorized agent of the United States all
public property in their possession which belong to the late
“so-called Confederate States of America,” or the United
States, without any reservation whatever; particularly
ordnance, ordnance stores, and arms of all kinds.
ARTICLE 6.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws hereby grant a right of way
through their lands to any company or companies which shall
be duly authorized by Congress, or by the legislatures of
said nations, respectively, and which shall, with the
express consent and approbation of the Secretary of the
Interior, undertake to construct a railroad through the
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from the north to the south
thereof, and from the east to the west side thereof, in
accordance with the provisions of the 18th article of the
treaty of June twenty-second, one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-five, which provides that for any property taken or
destroyed in the construction thereof full compensation
shall be made to the party or parties injured, to be
ascertained and determined in such manner as the President
of the United States shall direct. But such railroad
company or companies, with all its or their agents and
employees shall be subject to the laws of the United States
relating to intercourse with Indian tribes, and also to such
rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary
of the Interior for that purpose. And it is also stipulated
and agreed that the nation through which the road or roads
aforesaid shall pass may subscribe to the stock of the
particular company or companies such amount or amounts as
they may be able to pay for in alternate sections of
unoccupied lands for a space of six miles on each side of
said road or roads, at a price per acre to be agreed upon
between said Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations and the said
company or companies, subject to the approval of the
President of the United States: Provided, however, That said
land, thus subscribed, shall not be sold, or demised, or
occupied by any one not a citizen of the Choctaw or
Chickasaw Nations, according to their laws and recognized
usages: Provided, that the officers, servants, and
employees of such companies necessary to the construction
and management of said road or roads shall not be excluded
from such occupancy as their respective functions may
require, they being subject to the provisions of the Indian
intercourse law and such rules and regulations as may be
established by the Secretary of the Interior: And provided
also, that the stock thus subscribed by either of said
nations shall have the force and effect of a first-mortgage
bond on all that part of said road, appurtenances, and
[*921]
equipments situated and used within said nations
respectively, and shall be a perpetual lien on the same, and
the said nations shall have the right, from year to year, to
elect to receive their equitable proportion of declared
dividends of profits on their said stock, or interest on the
par value at the rate of six per cent. Per annum.
- And it is further declared, in this connection, that as
fast as section of twenty miles in length are completed,
with the rails laid ready for use, with all water and other
stations necessary to the use thereof, as a first-class
road, the said company or companies shall become entitled to
patents for the alternate sections aforesaid, and may
proceed to dispose thereof in the manner herein provided
for, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the
Interior. - And it is further declared, also, in case of one or more
of said alternate sections being occupied by any member or
members of said nations respectively, so that the same
cannot be transferred to the said company or companies, that
the said nation or nations, respectively, may select any
unoccupied section or sections, as near as circumstances
will permit, to the said width of six miles on each side of
said road or roads, and convey the same as an equivalent for
the section or sections so occupied as aforesaid.
ARTICLE 7.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws agree to such legislation as
Congress and the President of the United States may deem
necessary for the better administration of justice and the
protection of the rights of person and property within the
Indian Territory: Provided, however, Such legislation shall
not in anywise interfere with or annul their present tribal
organization, or their respective legislatures or
judiciaries, or the rights, laws, privileges, or customs of
the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations respectively.
ARTICLE 8.
The Choctaws and Chickasaws also agree that a council,
consisting of delegates elected by each nation or tribe
lawfully resident within the Indian Territory, may be
annually convened in said Territory, to be organized as
follows:
- After the ratification of this treaty, and as
soon as may be deemed practicable by the Secretary of the
Interior, and prior to the first session of said assembly, a
census of each tribe, lawfully resident in said territory,
shall be taken, under the direction of the Superintendent of
Indian Affairs, by competent persons, to be appointed by
him, whose compensation shall be fixed by the Secretary of
the Interior and paid by the United States. - The council shall consist of one member from each
tribe or nation whose population shall exceed five hundred,
and an additional member for each one thousand Indians,
native or adopted, or each fraction of a thousand greater
than five hundred being members of any tribe lawfully
resident in said Territory, and shall be selected by the
tribes or nations respectively who may assent to the
establishment of said general assembly’ and if none should
be thus formally selected by any nation or tribe, it shall
be represented in said general assembly by the chief or
chiefs and head-men of said tribes, to be taken in the order
of their rank as recognized in tribal usage in the number
and proportions above indicated. - After the said census shall have been taken and
completed, the superintendent of Indian affairs shall
publish and declare to each tribe the number of members of
said council to which they shall be entitled under the
provisions of this article; and the persons so to represent
the said tribes shall meet at such time and place as he
shall designate, but thereafter the time and place of the
sessions of the general assembly shall be determined by
itself: Provided, That no session in any one year shall
exceed the term of thirty days, and provided that the
special sessions may be called whenever, in the judgment of
the Secretary of the Interior, the interests of said tribes
shall require it.
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- The general assembly shall have power to legislate
upon all subjects and matters pertaining to the intercourse
and relations of the Indian tribes and nations resident in
the said Territory, the arrest and extradition of criminals
escaping from one tribe to another, the administration of
justice between members of the several tribes of the said
Territory, and persons other than Indians and members of
said tribes or nations, the construction of works of
internal improvement, and the common defense and safety of
the nations of the said Territory. All laws enacted by said
council shall take effect at the times therein provided,
unless suspended by the Secretary of the interior or the
President of the United States. No law shall be enacted
inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States or
the laws of Congress, or existing treaty stipulations with
the United States; nor shall said council legislate upon
matters pertaining to the legislative, judicial, or other
organization, laws, or customs of the several tribes or
nations, except as herein provided for. - Said council shall be presided over by the
superintendent of Indian affairs, or, in case of his absence
from any cause, the duties of the superintendent enumerated
in this article shall be performed by such person, as the
Secretary of the Interior shall indicate. - The Secretary of the Interior shall appoint a
Secretary of said council, whose duty it shall be to keep an
accurate record of all the proceedings of said council, and
to transmit a true copy thereof, duly certified by the
superintendent of Indian affairs, to the Secretary of the
interior immediately after the sessions of said council
shall terminate. He shall be paid five hundred dollars, as
an annual salary, by the United States. - The members of the said council shall be paid by the
United States four dollars per diem while in actual
attendance thereon, and four dollars mileage for every
twenty miles going and returning there from by the most
direct route, to be certified by the secretary of said
council and the presiding officer. - The Choctaws and Chickasaws also agree that a court
or courts may be established in said Territory with such
jurisdiction and organization as Congress may prescribe:
Provided, that the same shall not interfere with the local
judiciary of either of said nations. - Whenever Congress shall authorize the appointment of
a Delegate from said Territory, it shall be the province of
said council to elect one from among the nations represented
in said council.
- And it is further agreed that the superintendent of
Indian affairs shall be the executive of the said Territory,
with the title of “governor of the Territory of Oklahoma,”
and that there shall be a secretary of the said Territory,
to be appointed by the said superintendent; that the duty of
the said governor, in addition to those already imposed on
the superintendent of Indian affairs, shall be such as
properly belong to an executive officer charged with the
execution of the laws, which the said council is authorized
to enact under the provisions of this treaty; and that for
this purpose he shall have authority to appoint a marshal of
said Territory and an interpreter; the said marshal to
appoint such deputies, to be paid by fees, as may be
required to aid him in the execution of his proper
functions, and be the marshal of the principal court of said
Territory that may be established under the provisions of
this treaty. - And the said marshal and the said secretary shall
each be entitled to a salary of five hundred dollars per
annum, to be paid by the United States, and such fees in
addition thereto as shall be established by said governor,
with the approbation of the Secretary of the Interior, it
being understood that the said fee-lists may at any time be
corrected and altered by the Secretary of the Interior, as
the experience of the system proposed herein to be
established shall show to be necessary,
[*923]
and shall in no case exceed the fees paid to marshals of the
United States for similar services.
The salary of the interpreter shall be five hundred dollars,
to be paid in like manner by the United States. - And the United States agree that in the appointment
of marshals and deputies, preference, qualifications being
equal, shall be given to competent members of the said
nations, the object being to create a laudable ambition to
acquire the experience necessary for political offices of
importance in the respective nations. - And whereas it is desired by the said Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations that the said council should consist of an
upper and lower house, it is hereby agreed that whenever a
majority of the tribes or nations represented in said
council shall desire the same, or the Congress of the United
States shall so prescribe, there shall be, in addition to
the council now provided for, and which shall then
constitute the lower house, and upper house, consisting of
one member from each tribe entitled to representation in the
council now provided for-the relations of the two houses to
each other being such as prevail in the States of the United
States; each house being authorized to choose its presiding
officer and clerk to perform the duties appropriate to such
offices; and it being the duty, in addition, of the clerks
of each house to make out and transmit to the territorial
secretary fair copies of the proceedings of the respective
houses immediately after their respective sessions, which
copies shall be dealt with by said secretary as is now
provided in the case of copies of the proceedings of the
council mentioned in this act, and the said clerks shall
each be entitled to the same per diem as members of the
respective houses, and the presiding officers to double that
sum.
ARTICLE 9.
Such sums of money as have, by virtue of treaties existing
in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-one, been invested
for the purposes of education, shall remain so invested, and
the interest thereof shall be applied for the same purposes,
in such manner as shall be designated by the legislative
authorities of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations,
respectively.
ARTICLE 10.
The United States re-affirms all obligations arising out of
treaty stipulations or acts of legislation with regard to
the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, entered into prior to the
late rebellion, and in force at that time, not inconsistent
herewith; and further agrees to renew the payment of all
annuities and other moneys accruing under such treaty
stipulations and acts of legislation, from and after the
close of the fiscal year ending on the thirtieth of June, in
the year eighteen hundred and sixty-six.
ARTICLE 11.
Whereas the land occupied by the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations, and described in the treaty between the United
States and said nations, of June twenty-second, eighteen
hundred and fifty-five, is now held by the members of said
nations in common, under the provisions of the said treaty;
and whereas it is believed that the holding of said land in
severalty will promote the general civilization of said
nations, and tend to advance their permanent welfare and the
best interests of their individual members, it is hereby
agreed that, should the Choctaw and the Chickasaw people,
through their respective legislative councils, agree to the
survey and dividing their land on the system of the United
States, the land aforesaid east of the ninety eighth degree
of west longitude shall be, in view of the arrangements
herein-after mentioned, surveyed and laid off in ranges,
townships, sections, and parts of sections; and that for the
purpose of facilitating such surveys and for the settlement
and distribution of said land as hereinafter provided, there
shall be established at Boggy Depot, in the Choctaw
Territory, a land-office; and that, in making the said
surveys and conducting the business of the said office,
including the appointment of all
[*924]
necessary agents and surveyors, the same system shall be
pursued which has heretofore governed in respect to the
public lands of the United States, it being understood that
the said surveys shall be made at the cost of the United
States and by their agents and surveyors, as in the case of
their own public lands, and that the officers and employees
in the land-offices of the United States in Kansas.
ARTICLE 12.
The maps of said surveys shall exhibit, as far as
practicable, the outlines of the actual occupancy of members
of the said nations, respectively; and when they are
completed, shall be returned to the said land-office at
Boggy Depot for inspection by all parties interested, when
notice for ninety days shall be given of such return, in
such manner as the legislative authorities of the said
nations, respectively, shall prescribe, or, in the event of
said authorities failing to give such notice in a reasonable
time, in such manner as the register of said land-office
shall prescribe, calling upon all parties interested to
examine said maps to the end that errors, if any, in the
location of such occupancies, may be corrected.
ARTICLE 13.
The notice required in the above article shall be given, not
only in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, but by
publication in newspapers printed in the States of
Mississippi and Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and
Alabama, to the end that such Choctaws and Chickasaws as yet
remain outside of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, may be
informed and have opportunity to exercise the rights hereby
given to resident Choctaws and Chickasaws: Provided, That
before any such absent Choctaw or Chickasaw shall be
permitted to select for him or herself, or others, as
hereinafter provided, he or she shall satisfy the register
of the land-office of his or her intention, or the intention
of the party for whom the selection is to be made, to become
bona-fide resident in the said nation within five years from
the time of selection; and should the said absentee fail to
remove into said nation, and occupy and commence an
improvement on the land selected within the time aforesaid,
the said selection shall be cancelled, and the land shall
thereafter be discharged from all claim on account thereof.
ARTICLE 14.
At the expiration of the ninety days aforesaid the
legislative authorities of the said nations, respectively,
in trust for the establishment of seats of justice therein,
and also as many quarter-sections as the said legislative
councils may deem proper for the permanent endowment of
schools, seminaries, and colleges in said nation, provided
such selection shall not embrace or interfere with any
improvement in the actual occupation of any member of the
particular nation without his consent; and provided the
proceeds of sale of the quarter-sections selected for seats
of justice shall be appropriated for the erection or
improvement of public buildings in the county in which it is
located.
ARTICLE 15.
At the expiration of the ninety days’ notice aforesaid, the
selection which is to change the tenure of the land in the
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from a holding in common to a
holding in severalty shall take place, when every Choctaw
and Chickasaw shall have the right to one quarter-section of
land, whether male or female, adult or minor, and if in
actual possession or occupancy of land improved or
cultivated by him or her, shall have a prior right to the
quarter-section in which his or her improvement lies; and
every infant shall have selected for him or her a quarter-
section of land in such location as the father of such
infant, if there be a father living, and if no father
living, then the mother or guardian, and should there be
neither father, mother, nor guardian, then as the probate
judge of the county, acting for the best interest of such
infant, shall select.
[*925]
ARTICLE 16.
Should an actual occupant of land desire, at any time prior
to the commencement of the surveys aforesaid, to abandon his
improvement, and select and improve other land, so as to
obtain the prior right of selection thereof, he or she shall
be at liberty to do so; in which event the improvement so
abandoned shall be open to selection by other parties:
Provided, That nothing herein contained shall authorize the
multiplication of improvements so as to increase the
quantity of land beyond what a party would be entitled to at
the date of this treaty.
ARTICLE 17.
No selection to be made under this treaty shall be permitted
to deprive or interfere with the continued occupation, by
the missionaries established in the respective nations, of
their several missionary establishments; it being the wish
of the parties hereto to promote and foster an influence so
largely conducive to civilization and refinement. Should
any missionary who has been engaged in missionary labor for
five consecutive years before the date of this treaty in the
said nations, or either of them, or three consecutive years
prior to the late rebellion, and who, if absent from the
said nations, may desire to return, wish to select a
quarter-section of land with a view to a permanent home for
himself and family, he shall have the privilege of doing so,
provided no selection shall include any public buildings,
schools or seminary; and a quantity of land not exceeding
six hundred and forty acres, to be selected according to
legal subdivisions in one body, and to include their
improvements, is hereby granted to every religious society
or denomination which has erected, or which, with the
consent of the Indians, may hereafter erect buildings within
the Choctaw and Chickasaw country for missionary or
educational purposes; but no land thus granted, nor the
buildings which have been or may be erected thereon, shall
ever be sold or otherwise disposed of, except with the
consent of the legislatures of said nations respectively and
approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to the support
and maintenance of other similar establishments for the
benefit of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, and such other
persons as may hereafter become members of their nations,
according to their laws, customs, and usages.
ARTICLE 18.
In making a selection for children the parent shall have
prior right to select land adjacent to his own improvements
or selection, provided such selection shall be made within
thirty days from the time at which selections under this
treaty commence.
ARTICLE 19.
The manner of selecting as aforesaid shall be by an entry
with the register of the land-office, and all selections
shall be made to conform to the legal subdivisions of the
said lands as shown by the surveys aforesaid on the maps
aforesaid; it being understood that nothing herein contained
is to be construed to confine a party selecting to one
section, but he may take contiguous parts of sections by
legal subdivisions in different sections, not exceeding
together a quarter-section.
ARTICLE 20.
Prior to any entries being made under the foregoing
provisions, proof of improvements, or actual cultivation, as
well as the number of persons for whom a parent or guardian,
or probate judge of the county proposes to select, and of
their right to select, and of his or her authority to
select, for them, shall be made to the register and receiver
of the land-office, under regulations to be prescribed by
the Secretary of the Interior.
ARTICLE 21.
In every township the sections of land numbered sixteen and
thirty-six shall be reserved for the support of schools in
said township: Provided, That if the same has been already
occupied bya party or parties having the right to select it,
or it shall be so sterile as
[*926]
to be unavailable, the legislative authorities of the
particular nations shall have the right to select such other
unoccupied sections as they think proper.
ARTICLE 22.
The right of selection hereby given shall not authorize the
selection of any land required by the United States as a
military post, or Indian agency, not exceeding one mile
square, which, when abandoned, shall revert to the nation in
which the land lies.
ARTICLE 23.
The register of the land-office shall inscribe in a suitable
book or books, in alphabetical order, the name of every
individual for whom a selection shall be made, his or her
age, and a description of the land selected.
ARTICLE 24
Whereas it may be difficult to give to each occupant of an
improvement a quarter-section of land, or even a smaller
subdivision, which shall include such improvement, in
consequence of such improvements lying in towns, villages,
or hamlets, the legislative authorities of the respective
nations shall have power, where, in their discretion, they
think it expedient, to lay off into town lots any section or
part of a section so occupied, they think it expedient, to
lay off into town lots any section or part of a section so
occupied, to which lots the actual occupants, being citizens
of the respective nations, shall have pre-emptive right,
and, upon paying into the treasury of the particular nation
the price of the land, as fixed by the respective
legislatures, exclusive of the value of said improvement,
shall receive a conveyance thereof. Such occupant shall not
be prejudiced thereby in his right to his selection
elsewhere. The town lots, which may be unoccupied, shall be
disposed of for the benefit of the particular nation, as the
legislative authorities may direct from time to time. When
the number of occupants of the same quarter-section shall
not be such as to authorize the legislative authorities to
lay out the same, or any part thereof, into town lots, they
may make such regulations for the disposition thereof as
they may deem proper, either by subdivision of the same, so
as to accommodate the actual occupants, or by giving the
right of prior choice to the first occupant in point of
time, upon paying the others for their improvements, to be
valued in such way as the legislative authorities shall
prescribe, or otherwise. All occupants retaining their lots
under this section, and desiring, in addition, to make a
selection, must pay for the lots so retained, as in the case
of town lots. And any Choctaw or Chickasaw who may desire
to select a sectional division other than that on which his
homestead is, without abandoning the latter, shall have the
right to purchase the homestead sectional division at such
price as the respective legislatures may prescribe.
ARTICLE 25.
During ninety days from the expiration of the ninety days’
notice aforesaid, the Choctaws and Chickasaws shall have the
exclusive right to make selections, as aforesaid, and at the
end of that time the several parties shall be entitled to
patents for their respective selections, to be issued by the
President of the United States, and countersigned by the
chief executive officer of the nation in which the land
lies, and recorded in the records of the executive office of
the particular nation; and copies of the said patents, under
seal, shall be evidence in any court of law or equity.
ARTICLE 26.
The right here given to the Choctaws and Chickasaws,
respectively, shall extend to all persons who have become
citizens by adoption or intermarriage of either of said
nations, or who may here-after become such.
ARTICLE 27.
In the event of disputes arising in regard to the rights of
parties to select particular quarter-sections or other
divisions of said land, or in regard to the adjustment of
boundaries, so as to make them conform to legal divisions
and subdivisions such disputes shall be settled by the
register of the land-office and the chief executive officer
of the nation in which the land lies, in a summary way,
after hearing the
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parties; and if said register and chief officer cannot
agree, the two to call in a third party, who shall
constitute a third referee, the decision of any two of whom
shall be final, without appeal.
ARTICLE 28.
Nothing contained in any law of either of the said nations
shall prevent parties entitled to make selections contiguous
to each other; and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations hereby
agree to repeal all laws inconsistent with this provision.
ARTICLE 29.
Selections made under this treaty shall, to the extent of
one quarter-section, including the homestead or dwelling, be
inalienable for the period of twenty-one years from the date
of such selection, and upon the death of the party in
possession shall descend according to the laws of the nation
where the land lies; and in the event of his or her death
without heirs, the said quarter-section shall escheat to and
become the property of the nation.
ARTICLE 30.
The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations will receive into their
respective districts east of the ninety-eighth degree of
west longitude, in the proportion of one-fourth in the
Chickasaw and three-fourths in the Choctaw Nation, civilized
Indians from the tribes known by the general name of the
Kansas Indians, being Indians to the north of the Indian
Territory, not exceeding ten thousand in number, who shall
have in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, respectively, the
same rights as the Choctaws and Chickasaws, of whom they
shall be the fellow-citizens, governed by the same laws, and
enjoying the same privileges, with the exception of the
right to participate in the Choctaw and Chickasaw annuities
and other moneys, and in the public domain, should the same,
or the proceeds thereof, be divided per capita among the
Choctaws and Chickasaws, and among others the right to
select land as herein provided for Choctaws and Chickasaws,
after the expiration of the ninety days during which the
selections of land are to be made, as aforesaid, by said
Choctaws and Chickasaws; and the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations pledge themselves to treat the said Kansas Indians
in all respects with kindness and forbearance, aiding them
in good faith to establish themselves in their new homes,
and to respect all their customs and usages not inconsistent
with the constitution and laws of the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations respectively. In making selections after the advent
of the Indians and the actual occupancy of land in said
nation, such occupancy shall have the same effect in their
behalf as the occupancies of Choctaws and Chickasaws; and
after the said Choctaws and Chickasaws have made their
selections as aforesaid, the said persons of African descent
mentioned in the third article of the treaty, shall make
their selections as therein provided, in the event of the
making of the laws, rules, and regulations aforesaid, after
the expiration of ninety days from the date at which the
Kansas Indians are to make their selections as therein
provided, and the actual occupancy of such persons of
African descent shall have the same effect in their behalf
as the occupancies of the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
ARTICLE 31.
And whereas some time must necessarily elapse before the
surveys, maps, and selections herein provided for can be
completed so as to permit the said Kansas Indians to make
their selections in their order, during which time the
United States may desire to remove the said Indians from
their present abiding places, it is hereby agreed that the
said Indians may at once come into the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations, settling themselves temporarily as citizens of the
said nations, respectively, upon such land as suits them and
is not already occupied.
ARTICLE 32.
At the expiration of two years, or sooner, if the President
of the United States shall so direct, from the completion of
the surveys and maps aforesaid, the officers of the land-
offices aforesaid
[*928]
shall deliver to the executive departments of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw Nations, respectively, all such documents as
may be necessary to elucidate the land-title as settled
according to this treaty, and forward copies thereof, with
the field-notes, records, and other papers pertaining to
said titles, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office;
and thereafter grants of land and patents therefore shall be
issued in such manner as the legislative authorities of said
nations may provide for all the unselected portions of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw districts as defined by the treaty of
June twenty-second, eighteen hundred and fifty-five.
ARTICLE 33.
All lands selected as herein provided shall thereafter be
held in severalty by the respective parties, and the
unselected land shall be the common property of the Choctaw
and Chickasaw Nations, in their corporate capacities,
subject to the joint control of their legislative
authorities.
ARTICLE 34.
Should any Choctaw or Chickasaw be prevented from selecting
for him or herself during the ninety days aforesaid, the
failure to do so shall not authorize another to select the
quarter-section containing his improvement, but he may at
any time make his selection thereof, subject to having his
boundaries made to conform to legal divisions as aforesaid.
ARTICLE 35.
Should the selections aforesaid not be made before the
transfer of the land records to the executive authorities of
said nations, respectively, they shall be made according to
such regulations as the legislative authorities of the two
nations, respectively, may prescribe, to the end that full
justice and equity may be done to the citizens of the
respective territories.
ARTICLE 36.
Should any land that has been selected under the provisions
of this treaty be abandoned and left uncultivated for the
space of seven years by the party selecting the same, or his
heirs, except in the case of infants under the age of
twenty-one years, or married women, or persons non compos
mentis, the legislative authorities of the nation where such
land lies may either rent the same for the benefit of those
interested, or dispose of the same otherwise for their
benefit, and may pass all laws necessary to give effect to
this provision.
ARTICLE 37.
In consideration of selection hereinbefore accorded to
certain Indians other than the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the
United States agree to pay to the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations, out of the funds of Indians removing into said
nations respectively, under the provisions of this treaty,
such sum as may be fixed by the legislatures of said
nations, not exceeding one dollar per acre, to be divided
between the said nations in the proportion of one-fourth to
the Chickasaw Nation and three-fourths to the Choctaw
Nation, with the understanding that at the expiration of
twelve months the actual number of said immigrating Indians
shall be ascertained, and the amount paid that may be
actually due at the rate aforesaid; and should still further
immigrations take place from among said Kansas Indians,
still further payments shall be made accordingly from time
to time.
ARTICLE 38.
Every white person who, having married a Choctaw or
Chickasaw, resides in the said Choctaw or Chickasaw Nation,
or who has been adopted by the legislative authorities, is
to be deemed a member of said nation, and shall be subject
to the laws of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations according
to his domicile, and to prosecution and trial before their
tribunals, and to punishment according to their laws in all
respects as though he was a native Choctaw or Chickasaw.
ARTICLE 39.
No person shall expose goods or other articles for sale as a
trader without a permit of the legislative authorities of
the nation he may propose to trade in; but no license shall
be required to authorize any member of the Choctaw or
Chickasaw Nations to trade in the
[*929]
Choctaw or Chickasaw country who is authorized by the proper
authority of the nation, nor to authorize Choctaws or
Chickasaws to sell flour, meal, meat, fruit, and other
provisions, stock, wagons, agricultural implements, or tools
brought from the United States into the said country.
ARTICLE 40.
All restrictions contained in any treaty heretofore made, or
in any regulation of the United States upon the sale or
other disposition of personal chattel property by Choctaws
or Chickasaws are hereby removed.
ARTICLE 41.
All persons who are members of the Choctaw or Chickasaw
Nations, and are not otherwise disqualified or disabled,
shall hereafter be competent witnesses in all civil and
criminal suits and proceedings in any courts of the United
States, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
ARTICLE 42.
The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations shall deliver up persons
accused of crimes against the United States who may be found
within their respective limits on the requisition of the
governor of any State for a crime committed against the laws
of said State, and upon the requisition of the judge of the
district court of the United States for the district within
which the crime was committed.
ARTICLE 43.
The United States promise and agree that no white person,
except officers, agents, and employees of the Government,
and of any internal improvement company, or persons
traveling through, or temporarily sojourning in, the said
nations, or either of them, shall be permitted to go into
said Territory, unless formally incorporated and naturalized
by the joint action of the authorities of both nations into
one of the said nations of Choctaws and Chickasaws,
according to their laws, customs, or usages; but this
article is not to be construed to affect parties heretofore
adopted, or to prevent the employment temporarily of white
persons who are teachers, mechanics, or skilled in
agriculture, or to prevent the legislative authorities of
the respective nations from authorizing such works of
internal improvement as they may deem essential to the
welfare and prosperity of the community, or be taken to
interfere with or invalidate any action which has heretofore
been had in this connection by either of the said nations.
ARTICLE 44.
Post-offices shall be established and maintained by the
United States at convenient places in the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations, to and from which the mails shall be
carried at reasonable intervals, at the rates of postage
prevailing in the United States.
ARTICLE 45.
All the rights, privileges, and immunities heretofore
possessed by said nations or individuals thereof, or to
which they were entitled under the treaties and legislation
heretofore made and had in connection with them, shall be,
and are hereby declared to be, in full force, so far as they
are consistent with the provisions of this treaty.
ARTICLE 46.
Of the moneys stipulated to be paid to the Choctaws and
Chickasaws under this treaty for the cession of the leased
district, and the admission of the Kansas Indians among
them, the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
shall be advanced and paid to the Choctaws, and fifty
thousand dollars to the Chickasaws, through their respective
treasurers, as soon as practicable after the ratification of
this treaty, to be repaid out of said moneys or any other
moneys of said nations in the hands of the United States;
the residue, not affected by any provisions of this treaty,
to remain in the Treasury of the United States at an annual
interest of five per cent., no part of which shall be paid
out as annuity, but shall be annually paid to the treasurer
of said nations, respectively, to be regularly and
judiciously applied, under the direction of their respective
legislative councils, to the support of their government,
the purposes of education, and such other objects as may be
best calculated to promote and advance the welfare and
happiness of said nations and their people respectively.
[*930]
ARTICLE 47.
As soon as practicable after the lands shall have been
surveyed and assigned to the Choctaws and Chickasaws in
severalty as herein provided, upon application of their
respective legislative councils, and with the assent of the
President of the United States, all the annuities and funds
invested and held in trust by the United States for the
benefit of said nations respectively shall be capitalized or
converted into money, as the case may be; and the aggregate
amounts thereof belonging to each nation shall be equally
divided and paid per capita to the individuals thereof
respectively, to aid and assist them in improving their
homesteads and increasing or acquiring flocks and herds, and
thus encourage them to make proper efforts to maintain
successfully the new relations which the holding of their
lands in severalty will involve: Provided, nevertheless,
that there shall be retained by the United States such sum
as the President shall deem sufficient of the said moneys to
be invested, that the interest thereon may be sufficient to
defray the expenses of the government of said nations
respectively, together with a judicious system of education,
until these objects can be provided for by a proper system
of taxation; and whenever this shall be done to the
satisfaction of the President of the United States, the
moneys so retained shall be divided in the manner and for
the purpose above mentioned.
ARTICLE 48.
Immediately after the ratification of this treaty there
shall be paid, out of the funds of the Choctaws and
Chickasaws in the hands of the United States, twenty-five
thousand dollars to the Chickasaw commissioners, to enable
them to discharge obligations incurred by them for various
incidental and other expenses to which they have been
subjected, and for which they are now indebted.
ARTICLE 49.
And it is further agreed that a commission, to consist of a
person or persons to be appointed by the President of the
United States, not exceeding three, shall be appointed
immediately on the ratification of this treaty, who shall
take into consideration and determine the claim of such
Choctaws and Chickasaws as allege that they have been driven
during the late rebellion from their homes in the Choctaw
[and Chickasaw] Nations on account of their adhesion to the
United States, for damages, with power to make such award as
may be consistent with equity and good conscience, taking in
to view all circumstances, whose report, when ratified by
the Secretary of the Interior, shall be final, and authorize
the payment of the amount from any moneys of said nations in
the hands of the United States as the said commission may
award.
ARTICLE 50.
Whereas Joseph G. Heald and Reuben Wright, of Massachusetts,
were licensed traders in the Choctaw country at the
commencement of the rebellion, and claim to have sustained
large losses on account of said rebellion, by the use of
their property by said nation, and that large sums of money
are due them for goods and property taken, or sold to the
members of said nation, and money advanced to said nation;
and whereas other loyal citizens of the United States may
have just claims of the character: It is hereby agreed and
stipulated that the commission provided for in the preceding
article shall investigate said claims, and fully examine the
same; and such sum or sums of money as shall by the report
of said commission, approved by the Secretary of the
Interior, be found due to such persons, not exceeding ninety
thousand dollars, shall be paid by the United States to the
persons entitled thereto, out of any money belonging to said
nation in the possession of the United States: Provided,
that no claim for goods or property of any kind shall be
allowed or paid, in whole or part, which shall have been
used by said nation or any member thereof in aid of the
rebellion, with the consent of said claimants: Provided
also, that if the aggregate of said claims thus
[*931]
allowed and approved shall exceed said sum of ninety
thousand dollars, then that sum shall be applied pro rata in
payment of the claims so allowed.
ARTICLE 51.
It is further agreed that all treaties and parts of treaties
inconsistent herewith be, and the same are hereby, declared
null and void.
In testimony whereof, the said Dennis N. Cooley, Elijah
Sells, and E. S. Parker, commissioners in behalf of the
United States, and the said commissioners on behalf of the
Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, have hereunto set their hands
and seals the day and year first above written.
D. N. Cooley, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, [SEAL]
Elijah Sells, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, [SEAL]
E. S. Parker, Special Commissioner, [SEAL]
Commissioners for the United States.
Alfred Wade, [SEAL]
Allen Wright, [SEAL]
James Riley, [SEAL]
John Page, [SEAL]
Choctaw Commissioners.
Winchester Colbert, [SEAL]
Edmund (his x mark) Pickens, [SEAL]
Holmes Colbert, [SEAL]
Colbert Carter, [SEAL]
Robert H. Love, [SEAL]
Chickasaw Commissioners.
Campbell Leflore,
Secretary of Choctaw delegation.
E. S. Mitchell,
Secretary of Chickasaw delegation.
In presence of-
Jno. H. B. Latrobe,
P. P. Pitchlynn,
Principal Chief Choctaws.
Douglas H. Cooper.
J. Harlan
Charles E. Mix.
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