Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

ABSENTEE
SHAWNEE TRIBE
OF OKLAHOMA
Above: Absentee Shawnee Tribe Governor
Edwina Butler-Wofle.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
currently has 4,131 enrolled tribal members
who meet the criteria for enrollment this
requires a member to be one-eight or more, as
is set forth by the tribal Constitution. The Tribe
currently has 16,551.52 acres that are allotted
trust land, 595.79 held in trust by the Tribe and
819.53 held in fee status. The Tribe has been
known to have lived in the Eastern United
States and it is documented that they traveled
from Canada to Florida, from the Mississippi
River to the East Coast before being removed to
the area now occupied. Originally, the Shawnee
Indians lived in the northeastern part of the
United States in areas now known as the states
of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Pennsylvania and neighboring states. Treaties
in the late 1700s and throughout the 1800s
established the Shawnee as having a large population
and land holdings in the state of Ohio.
Encroaching colonial settlement persuaded
the Shawnees living in Cape Girardeau,
Missouri, to negotiate the 1825 treaty with
the United States government to cede their
lands in Missouri for a reservation in Kansas.
However, several years before this treaty was
introduced, a group of Shawnees left Missouri
to begin a journey south that would lead them
towards territory now known as the state of
Texas which was under the control of Spain.
This group of Shawnees became known as
the Absentee Shawnees. The term “Absentee
Shawnee” stems from a provisional clause in
an 1854 treaty regarding surplus lands in
the Kansas Reservation which were set aside
for the “absent” Shawnees. The outcome of
the Texas-Mexico War (1846-1848) compelled
many Absentee Shawnees to leave Texas and
move into Indian Territory. It is estimated
that the Absentee Shawnees began to settle in
Oklahoma around 1839.
In the late 1800s, the Indian agent from the
U.S. Government brought soldiers from Fort
Reno in western Oklahoma and forced the traditional
band of Absentee
Shawnees located in Deep
Fork River to leave. They
were brought south to the
area known as Hog Creek
and Little River where
they were to remain. The
group settling here is known as the Big Jim
Band. Another band stayed in Pottawatomie
County near the town of Shawnee, Oklahoma
and is known as the White Turkey Band.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
is a federally recognized independent Indian
Tribe reorganized under the Authority of the
Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
possesses all the inherent powers of sovereignty
they held prior to the Constitution of
the United States. The inherent right of
self-government precedes the United States
Constitution, and the governing body of the
Absentee Shawnee has never relinquished any
part of this sovereign right. Among the power
to adopt and operate a form of government of
their choosing, to define the conditions of
tribal membership, to regulate domestic
relations of members, to levy taxes, to regulate
property within the jurisdiction of the Tribe,
to control the conduct of membership by
legislation and to administer justice.
The Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
is governed by a constitution. The current
form of government evolved over the first half
of the twentieth century. This evolution began
in 1938 when the current government was
formalized under the constitution written to
provide statutory authority. The constitution
was ratified December 5, 1938, and was
amended on August 13, 1988, and was last
amended in November 2010.
The tribal government is composed of two
separate branches, the judicial branch and the
legislative/executive branch. In addition, there
is an independent body, the election commission,
that’s charged with the responsibility of
conducting annual elections.
The legislative/executive branch consist of
five members: governor, lieutenant governor,
secretary, treasurer, and representative, all of
whom are elected through referendum elections.
This committee has both legislative and
executive powers. Each executive committee
member is elected to serve a two-year term.
The executive committee meets on a monthly
basis. It is the executive committee’s responsibility
to set policy, administer government
programs and execute the will of the overall
tribal membership.
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