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Arkansas as
a Part of the United States.
In 1800
Napoleon secured Louisiana, and in 1803 sold it to the
United States. On Nov. 30, 1803, Spanish authorities
transferred Louisiana to Citizen Laussat of France, who, on
December 20 following, delivered at New Orleans formal
possession to representatives of the United States. On Jan.
16, 1804, French and Spanish commissioners ordered the
transfer of upper Louisiana. Later in the year the Spanish
commandant delivered Arkansas Post to Maj. James B. Many,
who was directed by General Wilkinson to receive it. [House
Docs., I Sess., 15 Cong., Doc. No. 36, p. 10. (Serial No.
6.)]
Arkansas a
Part of Louisiana and Missouri.
On March 26,
1804, Congress organized the newly acquired province into
two territories, one comprising that part of the purchase
south of the 33d degree of north latitude and called by the
act Territory of Orleans, and the other consisting of all of
the purchase north of said line and called the District of
Louisiana. Arkansas formed a part of the latter district,
the government of which was vested in the governor and
judges of Indiana Territory. By act of March 3, 1805, the
District was organized into the Territory of Louisiana. The
governor and judges of the superior court constituted the
legislature. In the early organization Arkansas was made a
part of the District of New Madrid, but in 1806, the
District of Arkansas was established — being about
two-thirds of the present state. The governors of the
Territory of Louisiana were Gen. James Wilkinson. 1805-7;
Capt. Meriwether Lewis, 1807-9, and Gen. Benjamin A. Howard,
1809-12.
As soon as
the purchase was made Jefferson set to work to secure an
inventory of the territory. The famous Lewis-Clark
expedition, exploring the northern part, was started. The
same year William Dim-bar, with Dr. Hunter, was sent to
explore the Ouachita River. In 1806 General Wilkinson
directed Lieut. Zebulon Pike to explore the headwaters of
the Mississippi and the central and lower western Louisiana.
Near its headwaters Lieut. James B. Wilkinson was detached
from the main expedition and sent to explore the Arkansas
River. With Sergeant Bal-linger and two others, in two
canoes, he descended the river to its mouth (Oct. 27, 1806 -
Jan. 9, 1807). He estimated that there were enough buffalo,
elk and deer on the river to feed all the savages of the
United States for a century.
In 1812
Congress admitted the Territory of Orleans into the Union as
the State of Louisiana, and reorganized the Territory of
Louisiana into the Territory of Missouri, of which Arkansas
formed a part. The act made the legislature of Missouri to
consist of a governor, a legislative council and a house of
representatives. Governor Howard fixed December 1 as the
time when the new territory would go into operation, divided
it into five election districts, and called for the election
of thirteen representatives and of a delegate to Congress.
The proclamation made the village (Post) of Arkansas the
seat of justice of a district embracing the larger part of
the present state of Arkansas. William Clark, brother of
George Rogers Clark, was governor of Missouri during her
entire territorial period. In 1813 Arkansas county,
comprising a larger part of the present state, was created.
Largely out of the territory of this county the Missouri
legislature organized Lawrence, Clark, Pulaski and Hempstead
counties. The first representative of Arkansas county was
Alexander Walker. He traveled on horseback from hi? home at
Arkansas Post to the capital at St. Louis, following an old
Indian trail.
Arkansas as
a Territory.
On March 2,
1819, an act of Congress provided a separate territorial
government for Arkansas to go into operation July 4. This
act was the occasion of a prolonged discussion embracing all
phases of the slavery question. On January 30 a petition
from sundry citizens of Arkansas praying for a separate
territorial government was read in the House and committed.
Later a bill was reported, incorporating their prayer with
no stipulations with respect to slavery. On February 17, the
House being in committee of the whole, Mr. Taylor, of New
York, precipitated the debate by offering as an amendment to
the pending measure the famous Talmage amendment to the
Missouri Bill, prohibiting the further introduction of
slaves into Arkansas, and freeing at the age of twenty-five
all children born in the state after her admission into the
Union. In addition to the usual argument against slavery,
Mr. Talmage turned against the Southerner his stock
argument, that the Southern slaveowner should be given an
equal chance in the Federal territory; Mr. Talmage wanted
his New York constituents to be given an opportunity to
settle in Arkansas, which, he insisted, they would virtually
be denied if slaves were not excluded. In a committee of the
whole both propositions were negatived. However, when the
bill came before the House, February 8, Mr. Taylor again
offered his amendments. The first paragraph was defeated by
one vote, and the second adopted by two votes. After a
motion to reconsider had been defeated, Mr. Lowndes came to
the rescue by moving to lay the bill on the table, promising
to call it up the next day. This was agreed to. On the 19th,
when the bill was again considered, by the casting vote of
the speaker, it was sent to a special committee with
instructions to strike out the Taylor amendment. The
committee at once reported the bill amended accordingly. The
House by one majority concurred in the committee amendment.
Mr. Taylor offered a number of other amendments concerning
slavery, among which was one to prohibit slavery north of
thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, thus
anticipating the famous Missouri Compromise, but they were
all voted down. On February 20 the bill passed the House. In
the Senate it passed without event.
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The law
making Arkansas a territory provided
that it should embrace that part of the
Territory of Missouri "south of a line
beginning on the Mississippi at
thirty-six degrees north latitude,
running thence west to the river St.
Francois; thence, up the same to
thirty-six thirty north latitude, and
thence west to the western territorial
(Missouri) line." The western line of
the Territory of Missouri here used in
defining the western boundary of
Arkansas was the western line of the
Louisiana purchase. The act organizing
the Territory of Missouri provided that
"the territory heretofore called
Louisiana shall hereafter be called
Missouri." The boundary of the Territory
of Louisiana is defined in Section 12 of
the act of March 26, 1804, as embracing
all of the Louisiana purchase north of
the northern line of the present state
of Louisiana. As Congress had passed no
other act altering the boundaries of
Louisiana and Missouri, the western
boundary of Arkansas in 1819 was
therefore the west line of the province
of Louisiana, which had just been
defined the preceding month in the then
unratified treaty with Spain ceding
Florida to the United States. West of
Arkansas this line was the hundredth
parallel of longitude. This gave
Arkansas a princely domain, including
almost all of the present state of
Oklahoma. It is true that the War
Department had issued an order in 1818
fixing a line from the source of the
Poteau to the source of the Kiamichi as
the limit of western settlements, but
the order did not affect the
boundary-line of the Territory of
Missouri. It was done for administrative
convenience.
However,
this large domain was of no practical
value to the people of Arkansas. They
were allowed to settle only on lands to
which the Federal government had
extinguished the Indian's right of
occupancy, and moreover the civil
jurisdiction of governor and legislature
extended merely over the same area. The
general government, however, was rapidly
extinguishing Indian occupancy rights.
As has been noted, the Osages and the
Quapaws occupied Arkansas at the time of
the Louisiana purchase. The Osages, by
treaties signed in 1808 and 1818, had
ceded all their claims from the
Mississippi west to the Verdigris River
and from the Arkansas north. (7 Stat.,
107, 183; Sen. Docs., Vol. 35, 57 Cong.,
1 Sess., Vol. II, 69, 116.) The Quapaws
in 1818, with the exception of a large
tract south of Little Rock, made a
cession bounded on the north by the
Arkansas and the Canadian rivers to the
west line of Louisiana purchase; on the
west that line to the Red River; on the
south the Red to the Big Raft (near
Shreveport), thence east to the
Mississippi; on the east that stream to
the Arkansas. The treaty really placed
the western line beyond the limits here
described, that is, beyond the bounds of
the United States, doubtless because of
ignorance of the extent of the Canadian
and the Red rivers. In the meantime the
Federal government was undoing its own
work by bestowing upon other Indians the
lands purchased from the Quapaws and the
Osages. In 1817, in exchange for lands
east of the Mississippi, the Cherokees
were given a large tract between the
Arkansas and "White rivers west of a
line running northeast from the mouth of
Point Remove Creek on the Arkansas to
Chataunga Mountain on the White River.
The year after the territory was
organized the government ceded to the
Choctaws all territory embraced in the
Quapaw cession of 1818 west of a line
running from a point on the Arkansas
opposite the mouth of Point Remove
Creek, southwest to the Red River three
miles below the mouth of Little River.
These cessions, however, did not alter
the western boundary of Arkansas. They
were merely Indian reservations within
the territory. When the eastern line of
the Choctaw cession was surveyed in
1821, 375 families were found to be west
of it. The people of the territory
protested against the Choctaw
reservation. Nothing was done, however,
until March 3, 1823, when Congress
authorized negotiations with the
Choctaws to secure as their eastern
boundary "a line due south from the
southwest corner of the state of
Missouri to the Red River." Nothing was
done under the act. Against this
proposed line, however, the people of
Arkansas lodged with Congress a vigorous
protest. This led that body to pass an
act, May 26, 1824, fixing as the western
boundary of Arkansas a line beginning
"at a point forty miles west of the
southwest corner of the state of
Missouri, and run south to the right
bank of the Red River, and thence down
the river and with the Mexican boundary
to the line of the state of Louisiana."
The act appropriated money for
negotiating a treaty with the Choctaws
to secure a relinquishment of their
claims within this area. The act was the
first effective step in reducing the
western limits of Arkansas. The second
soon followed. The Choctaws protested
that such legislation was a violation of
their treaty rights. Under the direction
of the President, the secretary of war,
John C. Calhoun, concluded a treaty with
them Jan. 20, 1825, by which they ceded
to the United States their lands "east
of a line beginning on the Arkansas, one
hundred paces east of Fort Smith, and
running thence due south to Red River,
it being understood that this line shall
constitute and remain the permanent
boundarv between the United States and
the Choctaws." (7 Stat., 234; Sen.
Docs., Vol. 35, 57 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol.
II, 149.) In the meantime the people of
the territory were dissatisfied with the
presence of the Cherokees north of the
river. This fact and the wars between
them and the Osages led the government
to conclude a treaty with them, May 6,
1828, which extended the Choctaw line of
1825 to the southwest corner of
Missouri, thus completing the western
boundary line of Arkansas as it now
stands. (7 Stat., 311; Sen. Docs., Vol.
35, 57 Cong., 1 Sess., Vol. II, 206.)
Thus by two treaties with Indians, not
independent nations, was an act of
Congress set aside and the permanent
boundary of a territory fixed. Senator
Benton, of Missouri, said that this
action was both unconstitutional and
inexpedient ; unconstitutional, because
the proper objects of treaties are
international concerns, which neither
party can regulate by municipal law;
inexpedient, because political
considerations suggest that a frontier
state should be strong. He insisted that
the boundary of a territory was the
subject of legislation, not of treaties,
and that a treaty with Indians is not a
treaty in the sense used in the
supremacy clause of the constitution. He
was severe in his arraignment of
Southern members for fathering and
supporting the measure. [Benton's Thirty
Years' View, I., 107 ff.]
Southwest
Boundary.
Another
phase of the western boundary question
was the line at the southwest corner
between Arkansas and Mexico, later
Texas. The difference grew out of the
failure to run the boundary line between
the possessions of Spain and of the
United States on the west as defined in
the treaty of Feb. 22, 1819, ceding
Florida. In the early 20's, when she won
her independence, Mexico fell heir to
the obligations and rights of Spain with
respect to the boundary question. For
the next ten years the United States
made many vain efforts to secure from
Mexico the territory drained by the Red,
the Canadian and Arkansas rivers. The
efforts of the United States to secure a
joint survey of the boundary met with
indifference and dilatory tactics on the
part of Mexico. A treaty providing for
the survey was signed in 1828, again in
1831, and lastly in 1835, but in each
case was killed by Mexico's unpardonable
delays. In 1836 Texas won her
independence and took Mexico's place in
regard to the boundary affair.
In the
meantime settlers in the disputed area
at the southwest corner of Arkansas were
making the question one of practical
politics. The treaty of 1819 provided
that the boundary should follow the west
side of Sabine River from its mouth to
the 32d degree of north latitude, thence
directly north to Red River, thence up
that stream, etc. The United States
advanced two views with respect to this
line — one that the treaty intended the
Neches instead of the Sabine as the
boundary river on account of its size;
the other, in the event of failure to
secure the Neches, that the Sabine
crossed the 32d degree further west than
it really did. Mexico claimed that the
line north from the 32d degree ran close
to the Red River at the southwest corner
of Arkansas, the United States that it
was much further west. In 1820 the
legislature of Arkansas created Miller
county out of territory now lying in
Texas and Oklahoma. In 1829 a bill
passed the lower house of Congress
fixing as the west line of Arkansas
south of Red River, a line due south to
the 33d degree from a point forty miles
west of the southwest corner of
Missouri. The boundary was a subject of
numerous messages of the governor of
Arkansas to the legislature, and was
fruitful of a prolonged correspondence
between him and authorities at
Washington, as well as between the
United States and Mexico. [Jour. of Gen.
Assembly (Ark.), 1832, 20: H. J., 1836,
24: H. J , Spec. Sess., 1837, 184; H J .
1838, 160; H. J. 1840. 257; Ex. Doc.,
25th Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. XII., Doc. No.
351, pp 67-69. 650 ff. 659 f.] The
President promised protection, directed
the governor to maintain jurisdiction
over the disputed area and tried to
adjust the matter with Mexico. The
governor experienced difficulties in
carrying out the President's
instructions, because the people in the
disputed territory were hostile to
Arkansas, especially after Texas won her
independence, and would not, as
officers, exercise authority in her
name. The United States concluded a
treaty with Texas, April 25, 1838,
providing for a joint commission to run
the boundary line as defined in the
Florida treaty of 1819. The commission
finished its work at Red River, June 24,
1841. The established line showed that
the United States was decidedly in error
in claiming so far west. [Sen Docs.,
25th Cong., 3 Sess., Vol. I . Doc. No.
1, 74 f; Sen. Doc., 27th Cong. 2 Sess.,
Vol. III., Doc. No. 199, PP. 1 ff, 19
ff, 50 ff, 67 ff.] |
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Arkansas
Becomes a State.
Meanwhile
the territory had been growing in
population and wealth. In 1833 the
population was 40,327, of whom 6,081
were colored — 173 being free — and in
1835 it had grown to 52,241, of whom
about 9,838 were negroes. As early as
1831 Ambrose H. Sevier, a descendent of
John Sevier, of Tennessee, delegate from
Arkansas in Congress, began to agitate
the question of statehood. In 1833 he
offered a resolution instructing the
committee on territories to inquire into
and report on the expediency of
admitting Arkansas state. The committee
in 1834 reported a bill to admit
Arkansas and Michigan, but the bill did
not become a law. In the territory the
question was taken up, newspapers
discussed it, speakers presented it, and
the people in mass-meetings passed
resolutions. By 1835 the territory was
thoroughly aroused. That year, without
authority from Congress, the legislature
submitted the question to the people;
they voted for statehood, and the
legislature ordered the election of
delegates to a constitutional
convention. This body met Jan. 4, 1836,
framed a constitution and dispatched it
to Washington with a prayer to be
admitted into the Union. Bills to admit
the territory were introduced into both
houses. Michigan was before Congress at
the same time. In the Senate, Benton
took care of Michigan, and Buchanan of
Arkansas. The Senate bill passed that
body April 4 without event. In the House
it was opposed because the state
constitution legalized slavery and
because the people had taken the
initiative in framing a constitution
before Congress passed an enabling act.
The usual anti-slavery arguments were
made. With respect to procedure it was
urged that the people's action was
revolutionary. However, the view that
Arkansas was south of Missouri, a slave
state, and that the constitution was in
the nature of a petition, prevailed, and
the House passed the bills admitting
Arkansas and Michigan the same day, June
13. The arguments of the opposition were
rather ostensible than real. The true
ground of opposition was political. The
Whigs opposed admitting both states
because they would probably give
Democratic majorities in the coming
presidential election. [Roosevelt, Life
of Benton, Standard Library Edition,
152.]
The people
of Arkansas in the meantime had
anticipated the action of Congress.
April 12 the Democrats held their first
convention in the territory and
nominated for governor James S. Conway,
who had come to Arkansas from Tennessee
in 1820, and for Congress Archibald
Yell, a North Carolinian who had come to
Arkansas in 1832. The Whigs met seven
days later and put forward for governor
Absolom Fowler, and for, Congress
William Cummings, both able lawyers.
After a heated campaign Conway and Yell
were elected. The legislature under the
new constitution met Sept. 12, 1836, in
the unfinished statehouse, organized the
new state government, elected William S.
Fulton and A. H. Sevier United States
Senators and inaugurated a wildcat
banking policy. |
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