The Curtis Act abolished tribal courts and governments in Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1898, prompting the “Five Civilized Tribes” to propose the creation of a state called Sequoyah. Congress merged Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to create Oklahoma in 1907. Other proposed states include Lincoln in Texas, Jefferson between California and Oregon, and Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
In 1898, the Curtis Act abolished tribal courts and governments in Oklahoma Indian Territory, affecting some 90 million acres of land that Native Americans had accumulated through treaties with the United States government. In response, members of the so-called “Five Civilized Tribes” – Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), Cherokee and Seminole – who had held sovereignty in the area joined forces, creating a constitution and taking steps to formally propose the creation of a state called Sequoyah in Congress. This effort failed, but at the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt, Congress merged Indian Territory with Oklahoma Territory to create Oklahoma, the 46th U.S. state, in 1907.
Other aspiring US states:
An 1845 joint resolution of the United States Congress allowed up to four new states to be carved out of the original state of Texas, including what could become the state of Lincoln, located between the Rio Grande and Colorado Rivers in Texas.
In the early 1940s, a state called Jefferson, consisting of excavated land between California and Oregon, was proposed by secessionists seeking independence.
As early as 1858, residents of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula sought to establish Superior status in a constitutional convention in the village of Ontonagon.
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