A hundred years ago, the people of this territory convened the Constitutional Convention of the state of Sequoyah, seen in this old map.
A statehood convention had been held in Eufaula, I. T., in 1902, which met again in 1903, and organized the Constitutional Convention of 1905, which was held at Muskogee. The delegates chose the chiefs of the 5 sovereign Nations that inhabit what was then known as Indian Territory to be presidents of the Convention.
J. A. Norman had written, “Oklahoma has already thrown down the gauntlet of statehood by holding this summer a convention to form a constitution for Oklahoma and Indian Territories as one state. We, as Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Osage Indians, together with the whites and blacks in our midst, have the same right to call a constitutional convention, to adopt a constitution for the Indian Territory’s new state, called ‘Sequoyah,’ and submit it to the next congress to ratify as it is already duly bound to do so by sacred and solemn treaties. American citizens, the loyal patriotic matter is now us to you.”
By general vote of the people, the state constitution passed by more than 86%, on 7 November 1905.
However, Washington didn’t see it that way, and Indian Territory got tacked onto Oklahoma Territory in 1907, becoming the State of Oklahoma.
I had no idea, with the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, that states were still being formed as recently as that. When did the 48 mainland states finally fall into place?
East Skonsin, which was formerly known simply as Skonsin until West Skonsin broke away in 1848 in a dispute over drilling rights, was absorbed into Michigan in 1917 when it was finally acknowledged that there was nothing there to drill. Michigan, however, was not told about this until the mid-1950s, at which time the Supreme Court decided that there were no “give-backs” allowed.
Yes, It is sad that so few people know the true story of West Skonsin and the heroic Lichtensteinian immigrants who settled there in the early 19th century. Early attempts at tobacco farming failed in the frigid winters, and were it not for the bountiful curling stone harvests, they likely would have perished.
He only asked for the 48 mainland states. We can include Alaska and Hawaii once the land bridges are completed.
Goodness knows what we’ll become. We’re already in a hell of a state…
Walden: US history is complicated, man. How do your school kids cope with it. Do they learn mostly stuff about their local state with a more general overview of the whole US, or does it focus on trying to cover the whole (edited) US history? Even the few bits of info in this thread hint at a daunting whole for anyone studying it.
Most states devote certain grades to state history and others to national and world. For instance, around here 4th grade (9- and 10-year olds) is Wisconsin history, while 5th grade is US history (usually with a heavy focus on the founding and settling of the country and barely a mention of anything in the twentieth century). Sixth grade is mostly world geography, 7th is a mixture of US and European, 8th and 9th are world history. Tenth grade is civics and econ, and eleventh is the US again, this time with a focus on more recent events. This leaves the last year of high school free for electives – my school offered Native American studies, Russian history, and half a dozen others I don’t recall at the moment.
Hey Buddh: You asked Waldi but I thought I would butt in.
American public school students, at least in California, study American history at 5th, 8th and 11th grade levels, much of it re-iteration in increasing detail. Many states mandate their state history to be studied in the 4th grade only. World history is studied in 7th grade as I recall, not sure about high school for world, but in my case, we studied anthropology of various obscure cultures in the 10th grade.
When I was in school, the 5th grade iteration was colonial, Indian history and Rev period up to Civil War. In 8th grade, we had the notorious Constitution test, which everyone feared, but in retrospect was not that big of a deal, but THEY MADE A BIG DEAL OF IT, in THOSE days. You basically had to know the Bill of Rights and other specifics. The test, in a harder form, was redone in 11th grade with a whole lot more social studies thrown in.
I have heard that its much looser now, surprise, surprise. And that the focus is on cultural aspects more than hard historical facts. For example, they study ancient Chinese, Mesopotamiam, Greek and Roman history in 7th and don’t even get close to Enlightenment era by the end of the term.
Another thing to bear in mind is that each state has its own school system. And, beyond that, some states leave quite a bit up to local school districts.
In Oklahoma, a one semester high school course in Oklahoma history is generally mandatory (though the state law requiring it was dropped while I was in high school-- it was still required on a district level), the other semester being a physics class. Other required classes included separate years of world and U.S. history. The public school I attended didn’t require these in any particular order, just so you took them before graduating.
