Committee of Vigilance

After living with the Choctaws for more than a decade, the Chickasaws were ready to terminate their contract. The tribe was frustrated at being outvoted on the Choctaw Council and felt a loss of identity as a separate people. In 1849 a Committee of Vigilance was established by the Chickasaw District council to manage the tribe's external affairs. The members visited Washington to study legislation, examine government management of the Chickasaw national fund, and press for the sale of their remaining land in Mississippi.

Chickasaw leaders began to experiment with constitutional government and drew up a series of documents at Boiling Springs. These documents continued to be modified in 1848, 1849 and again in 1851. As we refined our constitution, our tribe's campaign to separate from the Choctaw received support from federal officials.