The Osage Nation is a Sioux-speaking Native American tribe in the United States, which originated in the Ohio River Valley in present-day Kentucky . After years of war with the invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas , Missouri , Kansas, and Oklahoma in the mid-17th century. At the height of their power in the 18th century, the Osage had become the dominant power in their region, controlling the area between the Missouri and Red rivers. They are a federally recognized tribe and based primarily in Osage County , Oklahoma, adjacent to the reserve. Members are located throughout the country.
The Osage language is part of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan stock of Native American languages. They originally lived among speakers of the same Dhegihan population , such as the Kansa , Ponca , Omaha , and the Quapaw in the Ohio Valley . The tribes likely differed in languages and cultures after leaving the lower country of Ohio .
Summary
[ hide ]
- 1 History
- 2 Customs
- 3 The first French encounters
- 4 Osage wars with other tribes
- 5 Interactions with the US and relocation
- 6 Federal law involving the Osage
- 7 Natural resources and headrights
- 8 Wealth and Osage Murders India
- 9 Changes in the law
- 10 Mineral Council
- 11 Modern Osage Nation ===== Osage Nation before 1906 =
- 1 Current government
- 2 Judicial Branch
- 3 Executive Branch
- 4 Legislative Branch
- 12 Economic development
- 13 Tribal Museum
- 14 Source
Story
Descendants of indigenous peoples who had been in North America for thousands of years, Osage traditions, and linguistic data show that they were part of a group of Dhegian-Sioux- speaking people who lived in the Ohio River Valley area , stretching into present-day Kentucky . According to their own stories, they migrated west as a result of the war with the Iroquois and / or to get more gambling. Scholars are divided on whether they believe the Osage and other groups on the left before the Beaver Wars. Some believe they began migrating west as early as 1200 CE, and attribute long years of warfare with the invading Iroquois to helping shape their style of government. West of the riverMississippi , the [Osage]] were at times allied with the Illiniwek and at times competing with them, as the tribe was also due west of Illinois by war with the mighty Iroquois. Eventually the Osage and other Dhegian-Sioux peoples reached their historic lands, likely dividing into earlier tribes in the course of migration to the great plains. In 1673, when they were recorded by the French, many of the Osages had settled near the Osage River in modern-day western Missouri. They were engraved in 1690 for adopting the horse. The desire to acquire more horses contributed to their trade with the French. They attacked and defeated the Indian Caddo tribes to establish dominance in the plains region by 1750, with control “over half or more of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas,” which they held for nearly 150 years. They lived near the Missouri River. Along with the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache, they dominated western Oklahoma. They also lived near the Quapaw and Caddo in Arkansas. The Osage in high rank among the old hunting tribes of the Great Plains. From their traditional homes in the forests of present-day Missouri and Arkansas, the Osage would make semi-annual buffalo hunting forays on the great plains of the west. They also hunted deer, rabbits, and other wild animals in the central and eastern parts of their domain. The women grow varieties of corn, squash, and other vegetables near their villages, and wild nuts and berries are harvested. In the transition years, the practices of the Osage had elements of both the American peoples and the Plains Native Forest Kingdom. From their traditional homes in the forests of present-day Missouri and Arkansas, the Osage would make semi-annual buffalo hunting forays on the great plains of the west. They also hunted deer, rabbits, and other wild animals in the central and eastern parts of their domain. The women grow varieties of corn, squash, and other vegetables near their villages, and wild nuts and berries are harvested. In the transition years, the practices of the Osage had elements of both the American peoples and the Plains Native Forest Kingdom. From their traditional homes in the forests of present-day Missouri and Arkansas, the Osage would make semi-annual buffalo hunting forays on the great plains of the west. They also hunted deer, rabbits, and other wild animals in the central and eastern parts of their domain. The women grow varieties of corn, squash, and other vegetables near their villages, and wild nuts and berries are harvested. In the transition years, the practices of the Osage had elements of both the American peoples and the Plains Native Forest Kingdom. squash and other vegetables near their villages, and wild nuts and berries were harvested. In the transition years, the practices of the Osage had elements of both the American peoples and the Plains Native Forest Kingdom. squash and other vegetables near their villages, and wild nuts and berries were harvested. In the transition years, the practices of the Osage had elements of both the American peoples and the Plains Native Forest Kingdom.
Traditions
Their culture is of the plains type, but combining agriculture with buffalo hunting. They hunted bears, deer, and beavers. Their dwellings were covered with hides, bark, and reed and earth mats, and irregularly shaped, with an open space for dances and council speeches. Its structure was large and low, domed. But in summer they lived in teepees. Tribal life centered on religious ceremonies where clans belonged to two divisions of legendary origin. The osage believed themselves to be descendants of the fusion of two peoples who appeared when Wah’kon-tah , the spiritual force, ended the ga-nitha (chaos) and separated the land from the water: Tzi-sho (“People of the sky”), from which came 9 clans, and Hun-kah(“People of the earth”), from which 15 clans came, in turn divided into sub-clans. Their social organization was similar to that of the Omaha, with patrilineal clans divided into halves that symbolized heaven and earth. In their traditional dance, I’nlon schkaEach half of the land includes two subdivisions that symbolized the dry or wet land, and each half of the land had a hereditary chief in charge of reinforcing the laxity they had in leadership. They were known for their poetic rituals, and they had a habit of reciting the story from the creation of the universe to each newborn. They were also quite known for their custom of wearing a shaved skull and donning a pair of feathers, which indicated the enemies they had wounded or killed in combat. In the reserve they stood out for their affection for their own culture, wearing furs and not drinking alcohol, and they had the custom of tattooing “the mark of honor” on those who respected the traditions. The Native American Church in 1980, however, only had 150 adherents among them.
The first French encounters
In 1673 French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were some of the first Europeans to find the Osage while exploring the south from present-day Canada on their expedition to the Mississippi River . Joliet and Marquettethey claimed all the land in the Mississippi Valley for France. De Marquette’s 1673 map noted that the Kanza, Osage, and Pawnee tribes control much of modern-day Kansas. The Osage called Europeans-me’n Shta-Je because of their facial hair. As seasoned warriors, the Osage allied with the French, with whom they traded, against the Illiniwek during the 18th century. The first half of the 1720s was a time of increased interaction between the Osage and the French. Tienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont founded Fort Orleans, the first European fortress on the Missouri River. In 1724, the Osage allied with the French rather than the Spanish in their fight for control of the Mississippi region. In 1725, Bourgmont led a delegation from the Osage and other tribal chiefs to Paris. Native Americans were shown the wonders and power of France, including a visit to Versailles, Château de Marly, and Fontainebleau. There they hunted with Louis XV in the royal forest and saw an opera. After the French and Indian War, France was defeated and ceded its lands east of the Mississippi River to England. A separate agreement was reached with Spain, which took control of much of the country from Illinois west of the great river. In the late 18th century, the Osage did extensive business with French Creole fur trader Ren Auguste Chouteau of St. Louis, then part of the territory under Spanish control after the Seven Years’ War. In exchange for the Chouteau brothers “build a fort in the village of Great Osage 350 miles southwest of St. Louis, They were given a six-year monopoly on trade by the Spanish regional government. The Chouteaus named the post Fort Carondelet after the Spanish governor. The Osage were pleased to have a fur trading post nearby, as it gave them access to manufactured goods and increased their prestige among the tribes. Lewis and Clark reported in 1804 that the towns were the Great Osage on the Osage River, the Little Osage upstream, and the Arkansas Band on the Vermillion River, a tributary of the Arkansas River. The tribe then numbered about 5,500. In 1804, after the United States made the Louisiana Purchase, the wealthy French fur merchant Jean Pierre Chouteau, a half-brother of René Auguste Chouteau, was appointed the US agent assigned to the Osage. In 1809 he founded the Santa Louis Missouri Fur Company with his son Pierre Auguste Chouteau and other prominent St. Louis men, most of whom were of Franco-Creole descent. Having lived with the Osage for many years and learned their language, Jean Pierre Chouteau negotiated with them and made his home in present-day Salina, Oklahoma, in the western part of their territory.
Osage wars with other tribes
The Choctaw Chief Pushmataha had a remarkable career as a warrior against the Osage tribe. When the Western Cherokee, who voluntarily wiped out the Arkansas River Valley in the early 19th century, they immediately clashed with the Osage, whose game lands they were encroaching on. The Osage ceded these lands to the federal government in the 1818 treaty called Purchase of Precious after 600 warriors came from the United States, Choctaw and the Cherokee nations carried out the massacre known as the “Battle of the Claremore Mounds,” killing thirty Osage and capture of the horses and worthy commercial goods. Despite its proclaimed goal of creating peace among indigenous peoples, the United States handed over these lands to the Cherokee aggressors, Upon the Osage protest they hoped the land would serve as a buffer zone between them and the Cherokee invaders, in which hunting rights were preserved for the Osages even though other tribes settled there. In 1833, the Osage collided with the Kiowa near the Wichita Mountains in modern south central Oklahoma, in an incident known as the murderous Gap Massacre. The Osage cut off the heads of its victims and arranged them in rows of brass kitchen buckets. Not a single Osage was killed in this attack. Later, Kiowa warriors, allied with the Comanche, raided the Osage and others. In 1836, the Osage prohibited the Kickapoo from entering their Missouri reservation, pushing back to ceded lands in Illinois. In 1867, due to his exploration experience, excellent knowledge of the terrain, and military prowess, Osage Scouts were used by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in his campaign against the Main Black Caldera and his band of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians in western Oklahoma near the Washita River. Custer and his soldiers took Black Cauldron’s main and his gang by surprise at dawn. They killed the main Black caldera, and there were no more deaths on both sides. This incident became known as the Battle of the Washita River.
Interactions with the US and relocation
The Osage began treaty-making with the United States in 1808, through the Treaty of Osage and its first cession of land in Missouri. This treaty created a middle line between the Osage and new European-American settlers in the Missouri Territory and gave 52,480,000 acres to the federal government. This 1808 treaty also provided for the approval of the US President for future land sales and assignments. In 1808, the Osage moved from their homelands on the Osage River to western Missouri. Most of the tribe had moved to the Three Forks region of what would become Oklahoma shortly after the arrival of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This part of the tribe did not participate in the negotiations for the 1808 treaty, but its approval was obtained in 1809. The Osage occupied land in present-day Kansas and into Indian territory, which the US government later promised to the Cherokee and four other southeastern tribes. When the Cherokee arrived to discover that the land was already occupied, many conflicts arose with the Osage over territory and resources. Between the first treaty and 1825, the Osages ceded their traditional lands through Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma to the US in the treaties of 1818 and 1825 – in exchange for which they would receive reserve lands and supplies to help them adapt to agriculture and more settled culture. They were first moved to a southeastern Kansas reservation called the Osage Decline Reservation, where the city of Independence, Kansas is later located. The first Osage reservation was a 50 per 150 mile strip. White invaders were a frequent problem for the Osage. Subsequent treaties and laws through the 1860s further reduced the Osage lands. By a treaty in 1865 they ceded another 4 million acres and are faced with the question of eventual removal from Kansas to Indian Territory. The Drum Creek Treaty was approved by Congress July 15, 1870 and ratified by the Osage at a meeting in Montgomery County, Kansas, on September 10, 1870. It is the condition that the remainder of the Osage land in Kansas be sold and the product used for the location of the tribe to the Indian Territory at the Cherokee Outlet. Because of their delays in accepting removal, the Osage benefited from the change of government, and they sold their lands to the “peace” government of President Ulysses S. Grant, for which they received more money: $ 1.25 per hectare instead of the 19 cents previously offered by the US. The Osage was one of the few American Indian nations to buy its own reserve, and it maintains more rights to the land. and sovereignty as a result. The 1,470,000 hectare reservation adjoins present-day Osage County, Oklahoma, in the north-central part of the state between Tulsa, Oklahoma and Ponca City, Oklahoma. The Osage established three cities, which were the center of the three major gangs at the time of the elimination: Pawhuska, Grits, and Fairfax. Many years passed before the Osage recovered from the hardships it suffered during its final years in Kansas and its early years on the reservation in Indian Territory. Despite the fact that the money was held by the US government. For the sale of their lands, for almost five years, during the depression of the 1870s, the Osage did not receive all their rent in cash, as did other Native Americans, who suffered through the reduced rations that the Government presented during this period, and some people were starving. Many adjustments to his new way of life had to be made. During this time, Indian Bureau reports showed a nearly 50 percent decline in Osage’s population. This was due to the inability of the US government to provide adequate medical supplies, food, and clothing. The town suffered greatly during the winters. During this time, he often outlaw whiskey smuggling to the Osage, as well as the Pawnees. The teenage female bandits Little Britches and Cattle Annie were imprisoned for this crime in 1895. In 1879, a delegation from Osage went to Washington, DC and struck a deal to pay all of their annuities in cash; they were the first nation of the Native American to win this. Little by little they began to build their tribe again, but were invaded by white bandits, vagabonds, and thieves. In the early 20th century, the federal government and progressives continued to push for Native American assimilation, believing it was the best policy for them. Congress passed the Curtis Act and Dawes Act, the legislation calls for the dismantling of other reserves, and lands awarded in 160-hectare chunks to individual households, declaring the remainder as “surplus.” and its sale to non-natives. As the Osage owned their lands, they were in a stronger position. The Osage were adamant in their refusal to abandon their lands and lifted Oklahoma’s statehood before signing an Award Act. They were forced to accept the assignment, but they kept the “surplus” land and will distribute to individual members. Each of the 2,228 Osage members registered in 1906 was awarded 657 hectares, nearly four times the amount of land held by most Native Americans in the adjudication process. In addition, the tribe maintained community mineral rights to what was below the surface. As the development of the resources occurred, the tribe members received royalties according to their headrights, paid as a percentage of the land they owned. In 1906, the Osage Allocation Act was passed by the US Congress, as part of its effort to extinguish Native American tribal rights and prepare territories for statehood like Oklahoma. In addition to breaking up communal land, the Act replaced tribal government with the Osage National Council, in which members were to be elected, to deal with politicians, tribal businessmen, and social issues. Although the Osage was recommended to become sedentary farmers, their new land was the poorest in the Indian Territory for agricultural purposes. They existed for subsistence agriculture, later improved by livestock. They discovered that we were fortunate to have lands covered with the rich blue stem grass, which turned out to be the best pasta in the entire country. They lease land to grazing ranchers and the income earned from the resulting quotas. Their royalty income from grazing rights led the Commissioner of India to call them “the richest men in the country.” The Osage had learned about bargaining with the US government. Through the efforts of Chief Chief James Bigheart, in 1907 they negotiated to retain common mining rights to the reservation lands. These were later found to hold large amounts of crude oil, of which tribal members benefited from royalty income from oil exploration and production. The government leased land in his name for oil development,
Federal law involving the Osage
In 1889, the US federal government claimed that they no longer recognized the legitimacy of an Osage National Council government, which the people had created in 1881, with a constitution that adopted some aspects of that of the United States. In 1906, as part of the Osage Allocation Act, the US Congress created the Osage Tribal Council to handle the affairs of the tribe, as part of the decentralization of tribal governments to allow the admission of Indian territory, as part of the state of Oklahoma. According to the law, a principle each Osage male had equal voting rights to elect the members of the Council, and the director and assistant to the main chiefs. Because they owned their Osage lands, they negotiated under the Allotment Act to keep their communal lands, above the common allocation then the government was making 160 hectares per person. These lands were allotted and, so each of the 2,228 Osage members and one non-Indian in the 1906 tribal role received 657 acres. The right to these lands in future generations is divided between the legal heirs, as are the mining headrights over mineral lease rights. Only successful bidders and their descendants who hold headrights could vote in elections or run for office. Members voted for their headrights, creating inequalities among voters. A 1992 district court decision ruled that the Osage could vote in a process to reestablish the Osage National Council as citizen members of the Osage Nation, instead of being forced to vote for headright. However, this decision was reversed in 1997 with the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals that ended the restoration of the government. In 2004, Congress passed a law to restore the sovereignty of the Osage Nation and allow them to make their own decisions about governance and membership requirements for their people. In March 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the Allocation Act 1906 had disestablished the Osage reservation established in 1872. This decision potentially affected the legal status of three of the seven Osage casinos, including the largest in Tulsa as it means the casino was not in land trust,
Natural resources and headrights
The Osage discovered oil on their reservation lands, a resource that allowed them to prosper economically but put their people at risk of fraud and murder. In 1894 large quantities of oil were discovered to lie beneath the vast prairie owned by the tribe. Due to his recent work on oil in Kansas, Henry Foster, an oil developer, approached the Bureau of Indian Affairs to request exclusive privileges to explore Oklahoma’s Osage Reservation for oil and natural gas. The BIA granted his request in 1896, with the stipulation that Foster went to pay the Osage tribe a 10% duty on all sales of oil produced on the reservation. Foster found large amounts of oil, and the Ossages benefited greatly monetarily. The “black gold” over time it led to more difficulties. In preparation for statehood, the US government lobbied the Osage to accept the assignment and end tribal rule. Before being put to a vote within the tribe on the allocation issue, the Osage demanded that the government purge its tribal scrolls of people who were not legally Osage. The Indian agent has been adding names that were not approved by the tribe and the Osage submitted a list of more than 400 people to be investigated. Because the government removed some of the fraudulent people, the Osage had to share its land and oil rights with the people who did not belong. The U.S. Congress passed the Osage Allotment Act on June 28, 1906 – Because Osage’s ownership of their land, Unlike other tribes that had to undergo cast, they kept control of everything. The government made land allocation very complicated, in a way that prevented most of the Osage property from contiguous parcels. This increased the incentive to sell or lease portions of land. In addition, they negotiated to maintain communal control of mining rights. The law declared that all people who appear in tribal scrolls prior to January 1, 1906 or born before July 1907 are assigned a proportion of the natural resources of the subsoil of the reserve, regardless of quantum blood. The headright could be inherited by legal heirs. This community demand for mineral resources was to expire in 1926 – After that, individual owners would control the mining rights to their parcels, increasing the incentive for those who want to obtain Osage land before the deadline. Although the Osage Allocation Act protected the tribe’s mining rights for two decades, any adult “of sound mind” can sell the surface land. In the period between 1907 and 1923, the Osage people sold or leased thousands of acres of land that was previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. This increased the incentive for those who want to obtain Osage lands before the deadline. Although the Osage Allocation Act protected the tribe’s mining rights for two decades, any adult “of sound mind” can sell the surface land. In the period between 1907 and 1923, the Osage people sold or leased thousands of acres of land that was previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. This increased the incentive for those who want to obtain Osage lands before the deadline. Although the Osage Allocation Act protected the tribe’s mining rights for two decades, any adult “of sound mind” can sell the surface land. In the period between 1907 and 1923, the Osage people sold or leased thousands of acres of land that was previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. Although the Osage Allocation Act protected the tribe’s mining rights for two decades, any adult “of sound mind” can sell the surface land. In the period between 1907 and 1923, the Osage people sold or leased thousands of acres of land that was previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. Although the Osage Allocation Act protected the tribe’s mining rights for two decades, any adult “of sound mind” can sell the surface land. In the period between 1907 and 1923, the Osage people sold or leased thousands of acres of land that was previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. Osage people sell or lease thousands of acres of land previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights. Osage people sell or lease thousands of acres of land previously restricted to non-Indians. At the time, many Osages did not understand the value of these contracts, and they were often taken advantage of by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, scammers and others trying to seize a portion of their wealth. Non-Native Americans tried to capitalize on the new Osage wealth by marrying and starting families with headrights.
Wealth and Osage Murders India
Alarmed by the way the Osage were using their wealth and, in part, trying to protect them, in 1921 the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring any Osage of half or more Indian descent to be appointed a guardian. until you try “the competition”. Minors with less than half Osage ancestry were required to have designated guardians, even when their parents were alive. This system has not been administered by the federal courts, but rather the local courts appointed guardians of the white lawyers and businessmen. By law, custodians provided a $ 1000 allocation to their positions, but the government required little record keeping of what they did with the difference, since the annual royalties were higher. The stewardship program created an incentive for corruption, and many Osages were “legally” deprived of their lands, headrights, and / or royalties. Others were killed, in cases where the police generally did not investigate, the coroner’s office colluded by falsifying death certificates, claiming suicides when people had been poisoned, for example. The Osage Allocation Act does not entitle indigenous people to autopsies, so many deaths were unexamined. The tribe auctioned millions of dollar mineral resource development rights. According to the Indian Affairs Commissioner, in 1924 the Osage’s total income from mineral leases was $ 24,670,483. After the tribe auctioned off mineral leases and more land was explored, the oil business on the Osage reservation grew. Tens of thousands of oil workers arrived, more than 30 boom cities sprang up, and almost overnight, Osage headright holders became the “richest people in the world.” When royalties peaked in 1925, the annual headright earnings were $ 13,000. A family of four who were all on the award roll earned $ 52,800, comparable to roughly $ 600,000 in today’s economy. The wealth was accompanied in the 1920s by an increase in murders and suspicious deaths from the Osage, called the “Reign of Terror,” and the Osage Indian murders. In one of the plots, in 1921 the white man Ernest Burkhart married Molly Kyle, an Osage woman with headrights. Your uncle William “King of Osage Hills” Hale, a powerful businessman who ran the plot, and his brother Byron hired heirs to the Kyle family’s assassination accomplices. They organized the murder of Molly Kyle’s mother, two sisters and a brother-in-law, and a cousin, in the poisoning, bombing and shooting cases. With local and state officials unsuccessful in solving the murders, in 1925 the Osage enlisted the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was the office’s first murder case, and by the time they began to investigate, Molly Kyle was already being poisoned. The FBI obtained the conviction of the directors in the murders of the family of Kyle. From 1921-1925, however, an estimated 60 Osage died, and most of the murders were unsolved. John Joseph Mathews, an Osage,
Changes in the law
As a result of the assassinations and growing problems with trying to protect the Osage oil wealth, Congress passed a law in 1925 limiting the inheritance of headrights to only the heirs of half or more Osage ancestry. In addition, they extended tribal control of mining rights for another 20 years; Later legislation gave the tribe to continue communal control indefinitely. Today, headrights have been passed down among the descendants of the Osage who originally owned them. The Bureau of Indian Affairs has estimated that 25% of headrights are owned by non-Osage people, such as other American Indians, non-Indians, churches, and community organizations. It continues to pay royalties on mining revenues on a quarterly basis. Beginning in 1999 the Osage Nation sued the United States in Federal Claims Court for mismanagement of trust funds and their mineral roots. The litigation finally includes claims that arrive as early as the 19th century. In February 2011, the Court of Federal Claims awarded $ 330.7 million in damages in partial compensation for the mismanagement claims spanning the 1972 period. -2000. On October 14, 2011, the United States settled the litigation for a total of $ 380 million. The agreement includes a commitment by the United States to cooperate with the Osage to institute new procedures to protect tribal trust funds. The Osage tribe of Oklahoma, for example – because of its extensive oil and gas reserves – will receive $ 380 million.
Mineral Council
The Osage Tribal Council was created under the Osage Assignment Act of 1906 – It consisted of a chief chief, an assistant director to the director, and eight council members from the Osage tribe. The mineral estate made up of more than natural gas and oil. Although these two resources have been most profitable, the osages have also earned income from mining lead, zinc, limestone, and coal deposits. Water could be considered a mineral and could soon be applicable in the reserve. The first elections to this council were held in 1908 on the first Monday in June. The officers were elected for a two-year term, which made it difficult for them to achieve long-term goals. If for any reason the chief director’s office becomes vacant, a replacement is elected by the remaining councilors. Later, the tribe increased the term of office to four years. In 1994, by referendum the tribe voted in favor of a new constitution that separates the Mineral Council, or Mineral Estate, from the tribal government. It was determined that only Osage who are headright holders can vote for the board members, as if they were shareholders of a limited company.
Modern Osage Nation ===== Osage Nation before 1906 =
The Osage wrote a constitution in 1881, modeling some parts of it after the United States Constitution.
current government
The Osage Allocation Act of 1906, is mentioned in more detail in the section above and Natural Resources Headrights, intended for a chief chief, assistant chief director, and member of the council of the tribe of eight as the recognized governing body of the Osage tribe. . Each winner receives 657 hectares of surface rights and the mineral rights were reserved to the Osage tribe. Only the successful bidders and their descendants with headrights could vote or run for office in the tribe, and from generation to generation, the votes became split with headrights. Today, the Osage Nation has 13,307 enrolled tribal members, with 6,747 living in the state of Oklahoma. You have established membership based on a person’s linear ancestry from a country listed in the Osage Rolls at the time of the Osage Assignment Act 1906 – A minimum of quantum blood is not required. But, as the Bureau of Indian Affairs restricts federal scholarships to people who have 25% or more quantum blood in a tribe, the Osage Nation tries to support students who do not meet this requirement. In its new constitution in 1994, the Osage voted that the original awardees and their direct descendants, regardless of quantum blood, were members of the Nation. Due to judicial problems, this constitution was repealed. In 2004, President George W. Bush signed Public Law 108-431, Act to reiterate the inherent sovereign rights of the Osage tribe to determine its composition and form a government. After this, the Osage Government Reform Commission was created to develop a new government. The Reform Commission held weekly meetings to develop a referendum that Osage members could vote on in order to develop and reform the government of the Osage Nation and its policies. On March 11, 2006, the Constitution was ratified in a second referendum. By a 2/3 majority vote, the Osage Nation adopted the new constitutional form of government. He also ratified the definition of belonging to the Nation. The tribal government is headquartered in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and has jurisdiction in Osage County, Oklahoma. The current governing body of the Osage Nation contains three separate branches, an executive, a judicial and legislative. These three parallel branches of the United States government in many ways. It also has a monthly newspaper, Osage Inside. The Osage Nation has an official website and uses a variety of media and technology.
Power of attorney
The Judiciary maintains courts interpret the laws of the Osage Nation. It has the power to judge civil and criminal matters, resolve disputes, and judicial review. The highest court is the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has a Chief Justice, currently Charles Lohah, and two additional justices, currently Jeanine Logan and Meredith Drent. There is also a Court of First Instance and lower courts lower than those allowed by the tribal constitution.
Executive power
The Executive Branch is headed by a main chief, followed by a Chief of Assistance. The current senior boss is John D. Red Eagle, who is serving a four-year term. Administrative offices are also included in this executive branch.
Legislative power
The legislative branch is made up of a Congress that works to create and maintain the Osage laws. In addition to this role, its mission is to preserve checks and balances within the Osage government, perform oversight functions, support trial revenue, and preserve and protect the nation’s environment. This Congress is comprised of twelve people who are elected by the Osage constituency and serve four-year terms. They hold two regular sessions of Congress and are based in Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Economic development
The Osage Nation issues its own tribal vehicle labels and operates its own housing authority. The tribe owns a truck stop, a gas station, ten tobacco shops, and seven casinos. Casinos are located in Tulsa, Sand Springs, Bartlesville, Skiatook, Ponca City, Grits and Pawhuska. Its annual economic impact in 2010 was estimated at $ 222 million.
Tribal museum
The Osage Tribal Museum in Pawhuska, opened in 1938 as the first tribal-owned museum in the country, documents and interprets its history.
