Chronicles of Oklahoma
Volume 11, No. 1
March, 1933
EDITORIAL
Page 623
The editors of the Chronicles are glad to receive contributions that add to the sum of historical knowledge of Oklahoma and her people. Scholarship in
the preparation of these articles is desirable but will not be insisted upon in contributions that contain distinct additions
to the field in which we are interested. Material that has appeared in print elsewhere is not desired but exceptions will
be made in articles of outstanding interest that may be described as ancient writings and that are not otherwise available
to the readers of the Chronicles. Contributions that appear to be compilations of writings of others are not desired though
articles of distinction where it has been necessary to quote from authorities not otherwise accessible to the readers of the
Chronicles will be excepted from this rule.
THREE HISTORICAL EVENTS
On March 3, 1889, Grover Cleveland, then President of the United States, signed the bill that authorized the opening of the
Unassigned Lands in the Indian Territory to homestead entry. Acting under the authority granted, President Harrison issued his proclamation
on March 23d, which recited the law, and described the boundaries, and declared the said Unassigned Lands, "will at and after
the hour of twelve o'clock noon on the 22d day of April 1889, and not before, be opened to settlement under the homestead
laws of the United States." The whole world knows the result, a new state was born that day, and April 22, 1933, will mark
the 44th birthday of Oklahoma.
The next important historical event was the passage by
Page 624
the Congress of the Organic Act. It was signed by President Harrison and became a law May 2d, 1890. It was indeed the Magna Carta for the newly organized territory. This Act gave the people all of the rights and privileges of American citizens and placed
them under the protection of the law. It provided for a legislature and an organized government and gave our State its legal
name, Oklahoma. The Organic Act also established courts and extended the laws of Arkansas over that part of the Indian Territory not included
in the newly created Oklahoma Territory. May 2d, 1933, will be the 43d anniversary of the passage of the Organic Act.
May 27, 1933, will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Oklahoma Historical Society. It was organized by newspaper
men of the Territory at their annual meeting at Kingfisher, May 27, 1893.
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