September 5, 1899
This agreement, by and between the Government of the United States, of the first part, entered into in its behalf by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, Henry L. Dawes, Tams Bixby, Archibald S. McKennon, and Thomas B. Needles, duly appointed and authorized thereunto, and the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of lndians, in Indian Territory, of the second part, entered mto m behalf of said tribes by Elias R. Cheadle, commissioner on the part of the Choctaws, and Tandy C. Walker, Peter Maytubby, Robert L. Murray,Edward S. Burney,and William B. Anderson, commissioners on the part of the Chickasaws, duly appointed and authorized thereunto.
Witnesseth, that whereas the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, by agreement entered into with the United States on the twenty-third day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, provided for the allotment of lands to their citizens in severalty, and whereas it has become necessary to fix a date for the closing of the rolls of citizens in order that such allotment may be made, it is therefore stipulated and agreed:
First.
That no child born to any member of the Choctaw or Chickasaw tribes of Indians after the thirty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, shall be enrolled as a Choctaw or Chickasaw citizen; and no person who may intermarry with any member of either of said tribes after the date of this agreement shall be enrolled as an intermarried Choctaw or Chickasaw citizen: Provided, That all children thereafter born to Choctaws or Chickasaws by blood on such rolls shall have the benefit of the school fund provided for in the agreement between the United States and the Choctaws and Chickasaws concluded on the twenty-third day of April, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven.
Second.
If any member of either of said tribes entitled to share in the allotment of lands and distribution of moneys and other tribal property of his tribe shall die after the thirty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and before the final allotment of lands and distribution of moneys and other property of the tribe to which he belongs, the lands, moneys, and other property to which such member would be entitled, if living, shall descend to his heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution of the State of· Arkansas and be allotted and distributed to them accordingly.
Third.
No child born to any Choctaw or Chickasaw freedman after the thirty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, shall be enrolled as a Choctaw or Chickasaw freedman; and if any Choctaw or Chickasaw freedman entitled to any part of the lands of the Choctaws and Chickasaws shall die after the thirty-first day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, the lands to which such freedman would be entitled, if living, shall descend to his heirs according to the laws of descent and distribution of the State of Arkansas: Provided, That the provisions of this agreement shall not be construed so as in any degree to add to or impair the rights of such freedmen as against the Choctaw pr Chickasaw tribes of Indians.
Fourth.
The rolls of Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens and of Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen made by the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes pursuant to the act of Congress approved June twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and the provisions of this agreement, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, as provided by said act of Congress, shall constitute the final rolls of citizenship of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes and of the Choctaw and Chickasaw freedmen, to which the name of no person shall thereafter be added: Provided, That all persons entitled to be so enrolled on said October thirty-first, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, who are then living shall be placed on said rolls.
Fifth.
The rights of Chickasaw freedmen thus enrolled founded upon Article III of the treaty between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians concluded April twenty-eighth, eight-een hundred and sixty-six (14 Stat., 769), and of persons claiming an interest in tribal property by reason of intermarriage with citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes in conformity with tribal laws, prior to the date of this agreement, whose names appear upon the rolls made and approved as aforesaid, may be determined by suit instituted in the Court of Claims of the United States by one or more of such claimants on behalf of all persons of like status, and if no such suit be instituted prior to the first day of April, nineteen hundred, the questions as to the property rights of such intermarried persons and such freedmen shall thereupon be submitted by the Secretary of the Interior, by proper procedure, to said court for adjudication and determination, and said causes shall be advanced upon the docket and tried by the court as early as possible.
Sixth.
This agreement to be ratified by the general council of the Choctaw Nation and the legislature of the Chickasaw Nation and by the Congress of the United States.
In witness whereof the said commissioners hereunto affix their names, at South McAlester, Indian Territory, this fifth day of September, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine.
Henry L. Dawes,
Tams Bixby,
Archibald S. McKennon,
Thos. B. Needles, Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes.
Elias R. Cheadle, Choctaw Commissioner.