Note 70 — Chapter III

This constitution was adopted in 1838; later it was amended, and brought more into harmony with the Cherokee constitution, which was modelled upon that of Mississippi. The modified document provided for a single executive, called the principal chief, elected for two years, and ineligible for more than four years in six; two houses of legislature; courts of judiciary, etc. After the War of Secession this constitution was further amended, slavery being then abolished. In 1897 the Choctaw entered into the Atoka agreement with the commission to the Five Civilized Tribes, whereby the judicial functions of their tribal government have passed to the United States courts erected in the territory. Tribal government itself was to have ceased March 6, 1906; at that time, all lands being allotted, it was expected that the Choctaw became full-fledged American citizens. But owing to complications involved in settling the estates, an act of postponement was passed by Congress in the spring of that year, providing that "tribal existence and present tribal governments are continued in full force until otherwise provided by law." See article, "The End of the Civilized Tribes," in The Independent (New York, 1906), lx, pp. 1110, 1111.—Ed.