The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-26
MAKING NEW srArEs.

The efforts of the inhabitants of In- dian Territory to form a State of their own will recall to students some almost forgotten Incidents in history. The Territory people held constitutional convention. adopted a constitution, laid of and named the counties. nominated members of Congress. and, in fact, did everything that can be done outside of Congress to add new State to the Union. The State of sequoyah only needs the approval of Congress to con- stitute 1t one of the legal members of the great family of States. Whether that approval can be obtained is doubt full. to say the least of it. There will be determined opposition not only from Oklahoma. but from other quarters. Thers are those in Congress who do not want any new State formed, others
 will only agree to the admission or State formed ,f Indian Territory ana Oklahoma. and still others who want
 Arizona and New Mexico admitted as one State. All these varieties or op-
 posing clements will make it extreme
 iy difficult for Sequoyah to get into Ire
 family.
 Consideration of this case takes us
 back almost a century and a quarter
 to another effort to create State'
 short account of which may be of in terest In 17s4, just after the close or
 the Revolution, the State of North Car
 clina ceded her western lands to .he United States. The people of East Ten nessee. tn en a colony. objected to being thus disposed of. and also complained that the quota of taxation imposed on them was unjust and unfair, and they organized a peaceful revolution. They met at Jonesboro ard organized the State of Frankland in due form. North Carolina, in an effort to placate them. constituted the disputed territory separate military district and made John Sevier Brigadier General to com mand it. This only made matters worsc, for the Franklanders held another con- vention, made Sevier Governor and or ganized a provisional government.
 This was secession, straight and square, and the Governor and General ASS&fnuIy OL ANoi th Sot OAAfs@ to get busy. The former issued a proc lamation and the latter passed an act of oblivion for all who would desert the movement. Jealousies arose among the various factions until finally there was d fight in which the new staters were worsted and Sevier and others sent to prison. That practically wiped out Frankiand and ended the move ment. The histories of the affair are interesting and give us an insight into the characters and manners or the hardy pioneers who took part in the af- fair. If the new State did not exactly die a-bornin" it came very near 1t.
 But that was not the only disturbing incident of those troublous days. Some where about the same period there was a conflict of jurisdiction between Penn sylvania and Connecticut, and for time there were warm disputes and hot proceedings. A new State called Sus- quchanna. with Wyoming as the capf- tai. was contemplated, and consti- tuition drawn up by Oliver Wolcott, of grant of land was made to General Ethan Allen of Vermont, and he came down to fight for his rights. as he had fought with his Green Noun tain boys for the independence of the American colonies, The differences were finally adjusted and the new State movement ''petered out It was a good deal Of tempest in a teapot but for time 1t threatened grave cop- sequences.
 Texas. as we all know, was an in dependent Republic with Government of its own, before it became a State of our Union. Its case differed from the others in the fact that 1t had never formed part of United States territory but had won It's independence from Mexico, and would have maintained its autonomy whether admitted into the Union or not. It presented the singu- lar anomaly of a Republic surrendering It's independence to become State. In this 1t differed from Frankland, Sus- quehanna and Sequoyah. for 1t had the power to come into tbe Union or re- main out. That 1t chose wisely and we'll is not to be doubted. :-.