THE COMPLETION of the work of the Dawes Commission left
the Indian Territory ready for statehood. Proposals to make
it a state had arisen far earlier, but they had never received
serious consideration since the Five Civilized Tribes had their
own governments and held all lands in common ownership. As
early as 1889, however, a bill had been introduced in Congress
providing for the admission of a portion of the Indian Territory
as the state of Columbia. It was clear to most people, however,
even after the Dawes Commission had been created and had
gone far with its work, that statehood would be impossible until
the land had been allotted in severalty and the tribal govern-
ments abolished.

No such complications existed with respect to the Territory
of Oklahoma. In consequence, its people began to ask for
statehood soon after the passage of the Organic Act establishing
a territorial form of government. In December, 1891, a con-
vention was held at Oklahoma City and a memorial was ad-
dressed to Congress asking that the Territory be admitted to
the Union as a state. Not long after this, David A. Harvey,
the first delegate from Oklahoma Territory to Congress, in-
troduced a bill providing for statehood, and about the same time
A. J. Seay, second territorial governor, reported that the Ter-
ritory would soon be ready for admission as a state.

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