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Chickasaw Freedmen Memorial Part 4
Citizenship in the Nation By Adoptions and Intermarriage
By the two modes of making citizens in the nations, one by legislative adoption and then other by intermarriage with Chickasaws, there is but little, if any chance for a person of “African descent” to become citizens of the nation. Because
1. The rule upon which they as this legislative adoption reads thus:
“The legislature shall have power by law to admit or adopt as citizens of this nation such persons as may be acceptable to the people at large.
2. The intermarriage of persons of African Descent with Chickasaws is very rare; there may be a few of such cases, but as a general rule, we of African descent do not intermarry with Chickasaws; we intermarry amongst ourselves, and we do not wish to be either forced or induced by any custom, law or power to abandon our social habits of life and fall into new ways.
The Equality of the Laws
In the fourth article of said treaty of 1866, it was stipulated on the part of the 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 treaded with kindness and protected against injury.”
We acknowledge with gratitude and pleasure that at the hands of the Chickasaws we have been treated with kindness and protected against injury; nor do we complain that, since the ratification of the treaty, any special law has been made affecting us differently and unequally with the Choctaws and Chickasaws; but at the same time, we repeat here the steady and determined refusal of the Chickasaws to pass the laws rules and regulations heretofore referred to, as stipulated in the third article of the treaty, and it is plain that without such laws, rules and regulations, we cannot enjoy and equality of the laws as they exist amongst the tribes.
Many persons of African descent in the Chickasaw Nation in the late war, who still reside there and on whose behalf we are now appealing, were volunteer soldiers in the late war between the States, and such, did good and honorable service for the Union, and bear upon them to this day the practical marks and scars of war; and we are at liberty at the same time to state that no one of the Chickasaw freedmen took part in the war against the Union.
In thus appealing to the Congress of the United States we disclaim any disposition on our part, as well as on the part of those we represent, to force the tribe into any measures which may be disagreeable to them or violative of their peculiar customs and usages, and we express, the wish earnestly that whatever should be done in the premises may be such as can carried out so as not in any manner to disturb the harmony which has so long existed and which now exits between us and the tribes.
In the seventh article of said treaty “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. Provide, however, such legislation shall not in any wise interfere with or annul their present tribal organization or their respective legislatures and judiciaries, or the rights, laws privileges and customs of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, respectively.”
Therefore, we pray that the Congress pass such an act as will place us on a footing with the persons, other than the Chickasaws, as are referred to in the following seventh clause of the general provisions of the constitution of the Chickasaw Nation. That is to say:
Section 7:. All persons, other than Chickasaws, who have become citizens of this nation, by marriage or adoption, and have been confirmed in all their rights as such, by former conventions and all such persons as aforesaid, who have become citizens by adoption by the legislature, or by intermarriage with the Chickasaws, since the adoption of the constitution of August 18, AD 1856,s hall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of native citizens. All who may hereafter become citizens, either by marriage or adoption, shall be entitled to all the privileges of native born citizens, without being eligible to the office of governor.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
King Blue
Isaac Alexander
We the undersigned, are members of the Chickasaw tribe, and we hereby cheerfully endorse the foregoing memorial and recommend that the prayers of the petitioners be granted of consistent with the powers that exist under the said treaty; and we sign this paper as delegates appointed by such of the Chickasaw tribe as are friendly to the prayer of the petitioners.
Fletcher Frazier
John Dyer
Citizenship in the Nation By Adoptions and Intermarriage
By the two modes of making citizens in the nations, one by legislative adoption and then other by intermarriage with Chickasaws, there is but little, if any chance for a person of “African descent” to become citizens of the nation. Because
1. The rule upon which they as this legislative adoption reads thus:
“The legislature shall have power by law to admit or adopt as citizens of this nation such persons as may be acceptable to the people at large.
2. The intermarriage of persons of African Descent with Chickasaws is very rare; there may be a few of such cases, but as a general rule, we of African descent do not intermarry with Chickasaws; we intermarry amongst ourselves, and we do not wish to be either forced or induced by any custom, law or power to abandon our social habits of life and fall into new ways.
The Equality of the Laws
In the fourth article of said treaty of 1866, it was stipulated on the part of the 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 treaded with kindness and protected against injury.”
We acknowledge with gratitude and pleasure that at the hands of the Chickasaws we have been treated with kindness and protected against injury; nor do we complain that, since the ratification of the treaty, any special law has been made affecting us differently and unequally with the Choctaws and Chickasaws; but at the same time, we repeat here the steady and determined refusal of the Chickasaws to pass the laws rules and regulations heretofore referred to, as stipulated in the third article of the treaty, and it is plain that without such laws, rules and regulations, we cannot enjoy and equality of the laws as they exist amongst the tribes.
Many persons of African descent in the Chickasaw Nation in the late war, who still reside there and on whose behalf we are now appealing, were volunteer soldiers in the late war between the States, and such, did good and honorable service for the Union, and bear upon them to this day the practical marks and scars of war; and we are at liberty at the same time to state that no one of the Chickasaw freedmen took part in the war against the Union.
In thus appealing to the Congress of the United States we disclaim any disposition on our part, as well as on the part of those we represent, to force the tribe into any measures which may be disagreeable to them or violative of their peculiar customs and usages, and we express, the wish earnestly that whatever should be done in the premises may be such as can carried out so as not in any manner to disturb the harmony which has so long existed and which now exits between us and the tribes.
In the seventh article of said treaty “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. Provide, however, such legislation shall not in any wise interfere with or annul their present tribal organization or their respective legislatures and judiciaries, or the rights, laws privileges and customs of the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, respectively.”
Therefore, we pray that the Congress pass such an act as will place us on a footing with the persons, other than the Chickasaws, as are referred to in the following seventh clause of the general provisions of the constitution of the Chickasaw Nation. That is to say:
Section 7:. All persons, other than Chickasaws, who have become citizens of this nation, by marriage or adoption, and have been confirmed in all their rights as such, by former conventions and all such persons as aforesaid, who have become citizens by adoption by the legislature, or by intermarriage with the Chickasaws, since the adoption of the constitution of August 18, AD 1856,s hall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities of native citizens. All who may hereafter become citizens, either by marriage or adoption, shall be entitled to all the privileges of native born citizens, without being eligible to the office of governor.
And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
King Blue
Isaac Alexander
We the undersigned, are members of the Chickasaw tribe, and we hereby cheerfully endorse the foregoing memorial and recommend that the prayers of the petitioners be granted of consistent with the powers that exist under the said treaty; and we sign this paper as delegates appointed by such of the Chickasaw tribe as are friendly to the prayer of the petitioners.
Fletcher Frazier
John Dyer