Politics
Nov. 19—President Theodore Roosevelt signed the official proclamation declaring Oklahoma the 46th state in the Union one hundred and sixteen years ago this past week.
The merger of Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory played out in ceremony with the mock wedding of a cowboy and an Indian.
The "wedding" took place in front of Guthrie's Carnegie Library. Afterwards, Charles N. Haskell took the oath of office and the twin territories were no more.
----A year earlier, in the last weeks of 1906 and early into 1907, delegates from the two territories met in Guthrie to draft a proposed constitution. It was a time of progressivism in America where farmers and ordinary citizens had developed a distrust of banks, railroads, corporate America and utilities.
At the turn of the century, businesses changed from small and locally owned to corporate giants. "Suddenly business meant the International Harvester Corporation, General Electric, American Tobacco Company or United States Steel Corporation," writes W. David Baird and Danney Goble in "The Story of Oklahoma."
----Before statehood the territory was Republican dominated. For 13 of the state's 17 years as a territory, Republicans lived in the White House with all the office's patronage. All of the appointed Oklahoma territorial governors, save for Norman resident William C. Renfrow, were Republican.
Renfrow, a banker and entrepreneur and former Confederate officer, was not well liked by the state's true progressives when he took office on May 7, 1893. He served longer than any of his predecessors, primarily because he spent his time pushing for statehood and the opening of more territorial lands to settlement. When William McKinley was elected in 1896, Renfrow was replaced by Republican Cassius M. Barnes.
----As the Constitutional Convention neared, the GOP had a dilemma, according to the book. "If they opposed Jim Crow, many of their white followers might vote Democratic, if they voted at all. If they supported segregation, their black followers surely would not vote Democratic, but they might not vote at all," according to "The Story of Oklahoma" authors.
----The voters spoke loudly. One hundred of the 112 delegates elected were Democrats. They had met in Tulsa before the convention and enumerated their demands for the Constitution. Many of them were part of the proposed state of Sequoyah constitution which fell apart earlier.
The Constitution crafted became known nationwide for its length and details. There was fierce opposition to corporate influence but also a few individual zingers that cause modern-day scholars to scratch their heads.
One article specified the flash point for all kerosene must be 115 degrees Fahrenheit. It turns out oil companies were mixing gasoline with kerosene for illumination. (Since there were few cars then, there was little use for gasoline). The oil giants made a few extra dollars but the low flash point triggered explosions when ignited.