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Letter of Secretary
E.A. Hitchcock, March 17, 1903
Department Of The Interior,
Washington, March 17,1903.
The Commission To The Five Civilized Tribes
Muskogee, Indian Territory
Sirs: I am in receipt, through the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, of a report
of your commission relative to the right to identification as Mississippi
Choctaws of half-blood children of identified full-blood Mississippi Choctaws.
November 21, 1902 the department referred to your commission for consideration
and report a communication from Charles F. Winton, of November 11, 1902,
contending that the children of identified full-blood Mississippi Choctaws are
entitled to identification, though such children are of part white blood. Your
commission made its report of December 9, 1902, that in its opinion:
The identification of Mississippi Choctaws is limited to full-blood Indians
alone, with the exception of those persons who can show proof of compliance on
the part of their ancestors with the provisions of the fourteenth article of the
Choctaw treaty of 1830 or the descendant of any Mississippi Choctaw who received
a patent to land under said fourteenth article.
The provisions of the forty-first section of the act of Congress of July 1, 1902
(32 Slats. 641), can not in the opinion of the commission be construed to confer
upon the children of full-blood Choctaw Indians by white persons the special
benefits therein conferred upon full-blood Choctaws.
Article 2 of the treaty of September 27, 1830 (7 Stat., 333). granted to the
Choctaws en bloc a tract of land in Indian Territory in fee simple. Part only of
these Indians removed to the granted land. By article 14 of the treaty they had
a right to remain and become citizens of the States and there take allotments of
land. By article 16 the others were to be removed to the Indian Territory.
Section 21 of the act of June 28, 1898 (30 Stat., 495, 503), authorized the
commission to determine the identity of Choctaw Indians claiming rights in the
Choctaw lands under the fourteenth article of the treaty of September 27, 1880,
supra, and to make a correct roll of citizens of the several Indian nations, and
directed that-
No person shall be enrolled who has not heretofore removed to and in good
faith settled in the nation in which he claims citizenship: Provided however,
That nothing contained in this act shall be construed as to militate against any
rights or privileges which the Mississippi Choctaws may have under the laws of
or the treaties with, the United States.
Article 41 of the agreement between the United States and the Choctaw and
Chickasaw Nations, made March 21, 1902, ratified on part of the United States
July 1, 1902 (32 Stat., 641. 651), provides on behalf of the Mississippi
Choctaws that all persons identified by the Commission to the Five Civilized
Tribes under section 21 of the act of June 28, 1898, supra, as Mississippi
Choctaws entitled to benefits of article 14 of the treaty of September 27, 1830,
supra, may, within six months from their identification, make bona fide
settlement in the Choctaw-Chickasaw country, and upon proof of such settlement
within a year after their identification be enrolled as Mississippi Choctaws
entitled to allotment, applications for identification as Mississippi Choctaws
being limited, however, to six months from final ratification of the agreement.
Said article prescribed as a rule of evidence that (1) all full-blood
Mississippi Choctaws and (2) the descendants of full or mixed blood Mississippi
Choctaws who received patent to hind under article 14, supra, who had not moved
to the Choctaw-Chickasaw country prior to June 28, 1898, shall be deemed
Mississippi Choctaws entitled to benefit of article 14 of the treaty and to
identification as such by said commission.
But under the further provisions of said article the foregoing clauses 1 and 2
shall not operate to the benefit of one (a) not a Mississippi Choctaw of the
full blood or one (6) not descendant of a Mississippi Choctaw who received
patent to land under the treaty or to one (c) otherwise barred of the right of
citizenship in the Choctaw Nation.
Under these provisions of law the question arises whether children of mixed
white blood of a duly identified full-blood Mississippi Choctaw are entitled to
enrollment as Mississippi Choctaws entitled to allotment in the
Choctaw-Chickasaw country.
It can not be presumed that by clauses 1 and 2 above it was intended to
authorize the enrollment of a person as a citizen of the Indian Nation and at
the same time to exclude that person's descendants. To do so would be contrary
to the law of descent and right of the child to succeed to the civic rights of
membership in the community to which the parent belongs, universally recognized
by all political organizations and differing only in respect to the line of
descent whether confined to the male or female tine or common to both.
To admit to enrollment one because he has been identified as a full-blood
Choctaw and to exclude from that privilege his child, unless such child can show
that a remote ancestor had. in fact, received the benefit of article 14 of the
treaty of 1830 would be absurd. The whole tenor of the legislation relating to
the enrollment of members of the Five Civilized Tribes shows an intention to
avoid such an absurdity and to give to the child the same rights as to
citizenship as are held by the parent. The controlling motive in the enrollment
of Mississippi Choctaws is to exclude all who can not trace their claims to one
who comes within the provisions of said article of the treaty of 1830 and to
enroll all who can thus trace their claims. In the case presented here the
father has, under the rule of evidence prescribed, brought himself within the
provisions of said treaty, and all who can trace their descent from him must be
considered as having brought themselves within the rule of evidence thus
prescribed. The fact of mixed blood can not exclude children of those identified
as entitled to be enrolled as Mississippi Choctaws from right to be enrolled as
such. You will be governed accordingly, and will enroll as Mississippi Choctaws
the children of all persons who are or may be identified by you as full-blood
Mississippi Choctaws entitled to enrollment.
Very respectfully, E. A. Hitchcock.
Notes About the Book:
Source: Five Civilized Tribes In Oklahoma, Reports of the Department of the
Interior and Evidentiary Papers in support of S. 7625, a Bill for the Relief of
Certain Members of the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma, Sixty-second Congress,
Third Session, Published 1913, by the Department of the Interior, United States.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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