The Searchlight (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 400, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1906 Page: 1 of 8
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ANTI-HC
ffBUbHED TWICE A WBBK—TUBSDAYS AND HKIDAYS
GUTHRIE, OKLA., FRIDAY, .ll'NE 29, ll. 0(i.
Thumb: 80 Cts. a Year
* ENABLING ACT FOR OKLAHOMA ±
■t *
An act lo unable the people of Ok-
lahoma and the Indian Territory to
form a constitution and a state gov-
ernment and be admitted into the
union on an equal looting with the
original states; and to enable the peo-
ple of New Mexico and of Arizona to
form a constitution and state gov-
ment and bo admitted into the union
ou an equal footing with the origi-
nal states.
[3c it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the
United States or America in Con- I
gresc assembled,
That the inhabitants of all that
part of the an a of the United States
now constituting the Territory of
Oklahoma and the Indian leriit.oi),
a;3 at present described, may adopt
a constitution and become the State
of Oklahoma, as hereinafter provided:
Provided, that nothing contained in
the said constitution shall be con-
strued to limit or impair the rights of
person or property pertaining to the
Indians of said Territories (so long
as such rights shall remain unextin-
guished) or to limit or affect the
authority of the government of the
United States to make any law or
re.-illation respecting such Indians,
their lands, property, or other rights
by treaties, agreement, law, or oth-
erwi e, which it would lia.\o been
competent to make if this act had
never boon passed.
Sec. 2. That all male persons
over the age of twenty-one years,
who are citizens of the United States
or who are mouthers o! any Indian
nation or tribe in said Indian Terri-
tory or Oklahoma, and who have re-
sided within the limits of said pro-
posed state for at least six months
next preceding the election, are here-
by authorized to vote for and choose
delegates to form a constitutional
onvention for said proposed state;
and all persons qualified to vote for
said delegates shall be eligible to
serve as delegates; an.i the delegates
one hundred and twelve in number,
fifty-five of whom shall be elected by
the people of the Territory of Okla-
homa, and fifty-five by the people of
Indian 'territory, and two shall be
elected by ihc electors residing in
the Osage Indian reservation in the
Territory of Oklahoma; and the,gov-
ernor* the chief justice, and Uie sec-
retary of the Territory of Oklahoma
shall apportion the Territory of Ok-
lahoma into ttftyt-slx districts, as
nearly equal in population as may be,
except that such apportionment shall
include as one district the Osage In-
dian reservation, and the governor
and tiie thief justice, and the Secre-
tary o;' the Territory of Oklahoma
shall appoint an election commis-
sioner who shall establish voting
precincts in said Osage Indian reser-
vation, and shall a] point the judges
for election in said Osage Indian res-
ervation; and two delegates shall be
| elected from the said Osage district;
and ilie Commissioner to the Five
Civilized Tribes, and two judges of
Ihe United States courts for the In-
dian Territory, to lie designated by
the President, shall constitute a
hoard, which > hall apportion tho
said Indian Territory into fifty-five
districts, as nearly equal in popula-
tion as may be, and one delegate
shall be elected from each of said
districts; and the governor of Okla-
homa Territory, together with the
judge senior in tlie service of the
United States ourts in the Indian
Territory, shall, by proclamation in
which such apportionment shall be
fully per i lied and announced, order
an election of the delegates aforesaid
in said proposed state at a time des-
ignated by them within six months
after the approval of this act. which
proclamation shall be issued at least
sixty davM prior to the time of hold-
ing su h election of delegates. The
election for delegates in tho Terri-
tory of Oklahoma and in said Indian
Territory shall be conducted, the re-
j t.rirns made, the result ascertained,
I and the certifii <ates of all ipersons
j ijleete l to nueh convention issued in
I the same manner aa-i'3 proscribed by
1 the laws of the Territory of Okla-
homa. regulating elections for dele-
gate to congress. That the election
laws of the Territory of Oklahoma
now in force, as far as applicable and
not in conflict with this act, includ-
ing the penal laws of said Territory
(>i Oklahoma relating to elections and
illegal voting, are hereby extended
to and pat In force in said Indian
j Territory until tho legislature or
said proposed state shall otherwise
provide, and .until all persons of-
fending against said laws in the elec-
tion aforesaid shall havo been dealt
withe in the manner therein provided.
And the United States courts of said
Indian Territory shall have the same
power to enforce the laws of the Ter-
ritory of Oklahoma, hereby extended
to and put in force in saidTerritory
as have the courts of the Territory
of Oklahoma; Provided, however,
That said board to apportion districts
in Indian Territory shall for the pur-
pose of said election, appoint an
election commissioner for each dis-
trict who shall distribute all ballots
and election supplies to the several
precincts in his district, receive tho
election returns from the' judges In
precinets, and deliver the same to
tho canvassing board herein named,
establish and define the necessary
election precincts, and appoint three
judges of election for each precinct,
not more than two of whom shall be
of the same political party, which
judges may .appoint the necessary
clerk or clerks; that said judges of
election, so appointed, shall supervise
the eldt ion in their respective pre-
cincts. and canvass, and make due re-
turn of the vote cast, to the election
commissioner for said district who
shal deliver said returns, poll books,
and ballots to said board, which shall
constitute tho ultimate and final can-
vassing board of said election, and
they shall issue certificates of elec-
tion to all persons elected to such
convention from the various districts
of tho Indian Territory, and their
certificates of election ; hall lie prima
facie evidence as to the election of
delegates; Provided flurtlvei'f That
in said Indian Territory and Osage
Indian reservation, nominations for
delegate to said constitutional con-
vention may be made by convention,
by the Republican, Democratic, and
Peoples party, or by petition in tho
manner provided by the laws of the
Territory of Oklahoma; and certifi-
cates and petitions of nomination in
said Indian Territory shall bo filed
with the districting and canvas-ing
board who shall perform the duties of
election commissioner under said lav/
and shall prepare, print, and distrib-
ute all ballots, poll books, and election
supplies necessary for tho holdi 1 g of
said election under said laws. 'Ihc
capital of said state shall temporar-
ily lie in the city of Guthrie, in the
present Territory of Oklahoma and
shall not be changed therefrom pre-
| vious to anno dominl nineteen hun-
dred and thirteen, but said capital
shall alter said year, he located by
tlio electors of said state at an elec-
tion to be provided for by the legk>-
islature; Provided, however that the
the legislature of said state, except
a- shall be necessary for the con-
venient transaction of tho public busi-
iness of said satto at said capital,
shall not appropriate, any publtomon-
eys of the state for the erection of
buildings for capital purposes during
such period.
Sec. 3. That the delegates to the
convention thus elected shall meet
at the seat of government of said
Oklahoma Territory on tho second
Tuesday after their election, ex
eluding the day of election in case
such day shall bo Tuesday, but they
shall not receive compensation for
more than sixty days of service, and,
after organization, shall declare, on
behalf of the people of said proposed
state that they adopt the Constitution
air the United States, whereupon the
said convention shall, and is hereby
authorized to form a constitution and
state government for said slate.
The constitution shall be republican
in form, and make no distinction in
civil or political rights on account ot
race or color, and shall not bo repug-
nant lo the Constitution e C the United
States and the principles of the Dec-
laration of Independence. And said
convention shall provide in Said con-
stitution—•
First, That perfect toleration of
religious sentiment shall be secured,
and that no inhabitant of said state
shall ever bo molested in person or
propertl on ale count, of his or her
mode of religious worship, and that
polygamous or plural marriages aro
forever prohibited.
Second. That the manufacture,sale,
barter, giving away, or otherwise fur-
nishing, except as hereinafter provid-
ed, of intoxicating liquors within
those parts of said state now known
as the Indian Territory and tho Osage
Indian reservation and within any
other parts of said state which ex-
isted as Indian reservations on the
first day of January, nineteen hun-
dred and six, is prohibited for a po-
riod of twenty-one years from the date
of tho admission of said state into
tho union, and thereafter until tho
people of said state shall otherwise
provide by amendment of constitution
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The Searchlight (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 400, Ed. 1 Friday, June 29, 1906, newspaper, June 29, 1906; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc186510/m1/1/: accessed April 18, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.