Letter from Attorneys Mansfield, McMurray, and Cornish R. C. Adams
This item is a letter regarding the 1896 Dawes Act passed by Congress and the appeal by the Choctaws and Chickasaws applying for citizenship. Also included is a copy of the original letter.
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OCR Page 1 of 9WASHINGTON, D.C., ,
February 20, 1903.
Hon. R. C. Adams,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
As you are more or less familiar with the affairs of
the Chootaws and Chickasaws and have a general interest in
matters pertaining to Indians and their rights and more es-
pecially the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes, I ventume
to write you in regard to some matters of interest concerning
the Choctaws and the Chickasaws.
In 1896 Congress passed an Act providing that claimants
in the Choctaw Chickasaw country, applying for citizenship
before the Dawes Commission if aggrieved at the decision of said
Commission, might appeal their cases to the United States
courts for the Indian Territory, and that the judgment of that
court upon this matters should be final. A mad rush was
made from the Commission to the Courts, the result being when
the smoke cleared a way, the Choctaws and Chickasaws realized
that they had upon their rolls about 3500 white people who
had never before claimed citizenship in their tribes and
whom they knew to be white persons and not entitled to any
rights of citizenship, but as the Act of Congress provided
that the judgment of the Court should be final, it was thought
by the Indians and by every one else that there was no possible
way of escape from these frauds, so the matter rocked along
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