Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1893-03-30

the land now occupied by him,
shall be entitled to receive n pat
ent from the United States, in fee
simple, for 800 acres of land to in
clude mis- improvements, and there
upon he and his family shall cease
TO be members of the nation"
do not know how many took
reservations or became citizens of
the states where they resided,
under these two treaties, but there
were a great many that did. | am
unable tosay positively as to wheth-
er Uncle Jack Rogers was of this
number or not, but he says |
call them intruders; that is, we
have no interest here. He, (Adair)
also stated that we drew out every
thing due us here or elsewhere,
calling us reservees." so the pre-
sumption is very strong that Uncle
Jack must be one, as he uses "we"
and Gus" thereby considering
himself as one of the immortal.
If understand or comprehend
the meaning of the foregoing treaty
stipulation, any one that ever took
advantage of the provisions under
any Of them, and became citizens
of any state, they certainly forfeit
ed all rights in the nation, and be-
came citizens of the United States
in the full sense of the word. Our
constitution was adopted in 1889,
and all Cherokees that were here
at that time were taken and DEEM
ed citizens, and no others.
Uncle Jack takes the treaty of
1916 to establish his right. All
who are acquainted with the his
tory of the nation, know that that
treaty was made to adjust animos-
tiles that had arisen between the
"treaty" and Ross party. There
was an effort made to disfranchise
some of the treaty party, but the
United States would not allow it,
so the treaty OF 1916 was made.
Article 1: "That the lands now
occupied by the Cherokee nation
shall be secured to the whole Cher.
okee people for their common use
and benefit"
Article 2: "All difficulties and
differences heretofore existing be.
tween the several parties of the
Cherokee nation are hereby set
tied and adjusted, and shall as far
as possible, be forgotten and for
ever buried in oblivion. A general
amnesty is hereby declared"
So this treaty has nothing to do
with any Cherokee who had with
drawn his interests in the Chero-
kee nation under former treaties,
nor those who withdrew afterward.
The 2nd article of our constitu-
ton says: whenever any citi-
zen shall move with his effects
out of the limits of this nation,
ani become a c''izen of any other
government, a his rights and
privileges as a ,.tizen of this ma
ton shall cease. Provided, never
theless, that the national council
shall have power to re-admit ally
person or persons who may at
any time desire to return to the
nation"
Under the treaties and constitu-
ton, it is not only necessary that
any one in applying for citizenship
to prove that they are Cherokee
by blood" but they must prove
that they or their ancestors were
citizens in 1889 at the time the
constitution was adopted. Under
the constitution our council has no
right to take any cognizance of an
application to citizenship, only for
re-admittance.
Then the constitution says:
1.-THE power of this government
shall be divided into three distinct
departments: The legislative, the
executive and the judicial, " The
constitution makes the admittance
to citizenship of legislative act,
and does not give them the power
of creating a citizenship court, so
all that has been done towards ad.
mitting to citizenship outside of
the treaties and constitution, is a
fraud, and consequently null and
void.
Now, Uncle Jack, which of the
four treaties did you take a reser-
walton under? Although the 18th
article of the treaty Of 1885 was
virtually annulled in order to gel
a great many to move to this coun'
try that were actually unfit for cit.
izenship-but that a great many
who were able to care for them.
selves were permitted to take theil
reservations, which is a matter oI