Green McCurtain, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetGreen McCurtain
Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory
Date of Birth: 
About Green McCurtain
- Greenwood "Green" McCurtain (1848–1910) was a tribal administrator and Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation (1896–1890 and 1902–1906), serving a total of four elected two-year terms.
- He was the third of his brothers to be elected as chief.
- (His older brothers Jackson Frazier McCurtain and Edmund McCurtain had previously been elected as chief, serving a total of three terms.) He was a Progressive in the late 19th century, leaning toward allotment and assimilation when the nation was under pressure by the United States government, as he believed the Choctaw needed to negotiate to secure their best outcome prior to annexation.
- After 1906 and dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Act prior to Oklahoma achieving statehood, McCurtain was appointed as chief by the United States government.
- He served in that capacity until 1910 and his death in office.
- Green McCurtain represented his tribe as a delegate at the Sequoyah Constitutional Convention.
- This was an effort by American Indian nations in Indian Territory to create an Indian-controlled state in what is now Oklahoma.
- They were not successful in getting Congressional support for this proposal.
- European Americans, who had established considerable presence in the Oklahoma Territory, had lobbied strongly for the entire area to be admitted as a regular state.
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