Choctaw & Chickasaw Descendants Black History Day 11, Part 3, Act of 1896 Application for Citizenship

Choctaw & Chickasaw Descendants Black History Day 11, #BlackHistory365

Hearings Before the Committee on Indian Affairs House of Representatives (61-2)

H.R. 192789, H.R. 19552 & H.R. 22830 pp 58-59

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Argument & Brief Part 3

Argument by Harry J. Cantwell, esq.

Now, in 1896, when the commission was directed to make up its first roll-and mark you, in 1896  the Creek negroes had been accorded without dispute the full rights of the Indians-in 1896, when the act of 1896 was passed, the Court of Claims had just decided the rights of the Cherokee freedmen, and had given the Cherokee freedmen, under the Cherokee treaty, full rights with the full-blood Cherokees, so that the distinction between freedmen and Indians and people mixed of blood of any kind in the  Cherokee tribe was absolutely immaterial.

Now, there is no act of Congress between 1866 and 1896 which at all applies or refers in any way, shape, form, or manner to this especial right which was given to the particular individual who had been a slave. But in the act of 1896 there was a direct and positive direction to that commission to make up the roll of the members of the tribe and make up the rolls of freedmen entitled to citizenship, and to add them to the list of members to be certified to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs

There is an irresistible conclusion to be drawn from that, when considered in connection with the history of the tribes and in connection with the history of the freedmen litigation, confining the word “freedman” to him who had been formerly a slave-an irresistible conclusion that the United States intended to confer upon all freedmen of all the tribes at that time the full and equal right of membership.

Mr. Campbell. Now, here, conceding that all of that is true, and that upon it is based the legal rights of the claimants, why do you come to Congress with that claim in behalf of some three or four thousand people who on an argument of law with a disputed question of fact relating to every one of your claimants, upon which there is no evidence before the committee?

Mr. Cantwell. Of course Congress can not pass upon the disputed point of fact.

Mr. Campbell. That is what you are asking us to pass upon, is it not?

Mr. Cantwell. No.

Mr. Campbell. You are asking us to enroll these people?

Mr. Cantwell. No; not asking you enroll these people, except as this provides. The language of it puts upon Congress no burden of disputed facts whatever. This bill is to this effect-the Bartholdt bill and the Maguire bill are practically to the same effect-

Department of the Interior, Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes,
Muskogee, Indian Territory, Nov. 20, 1899
Argument of Melven Cornish Esq., before the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes p27

Western History Collection, Melven Cornish Collection

Senate Report 5013 (59th Congress, 2nd Session) part 2, p1546