Charles Nathaniel Haskell (March 13, 1860 – July 5, 1933) was an American lawyer, oilman, and politician who was the first governor of Oklahoma. As a delegate to Oklahoma's constitutional convention in 1906, he played a crucial role in drafting the Oklahoma Constitution and gaining Oklahoma's admission into the United States as the 46th state in 1907. A prominent businessman in Muskogee, he helped the city grow in importance. He represented the city as a delegate in both the 1906 Oklahoma convention and an earlier convention in 1905 that was a failed attempt to create a U.S. state of Sequoyah.
During Oklahoma's constitutional convention, Haskell succeeded in pushing for the inclusion of prohibition and blocking the inclusion of women's suffrage in the Oklahoma Constitution. As governor, he was responsible for moving the state capital to Oklahoma City, establishing schools and state agencies, reforming the territorial prison system, and enforcing prohibition. The constitution prohibited persons from having successive terms in the governor's office. Lee Cruce succeeded Haskell, who returned to his law practice and related business activities. Haskell died of a stroke in 1933.
Early life and education
Born in West Leipsic, Ohio on March 13, 1860, Charles Haskell was the son of George R. Haskell who died when the boy was three years old. His widowed mother, Jane H. Haskell ( Reeves), worked for the local Methodist church as a bell ringer and custodian to support her six children.
At the age of 10, Haskell started working as a farm boy for a farmer named Miller in Putnam County, Ohio. He lived and worked there for eight years as he grew into adulthood. Miller was a school teacher, but the young Haskell did not have time to attend school because of his work. Instead, Miller's wife taught him at home, and Haskell earned a teaching certificate at age 17.
Private career
Haskell became a schoolteacher at age 18 and taught for three years in Putnam County. After "reading the law" as an apprentice with an established firm, on December 6, 1880, he passed the bar exam. He became a practicing attorney at age 20, setting up his practice in the village of Ottawa, Ohio. In his work as an attorney in Ottawa, he became one of the most successful lawyers in the county seat. He also became prominent in the Democratic Party in northwestern Ohio. In 1888, Haskell started work as a general contractor; for the next 16 years, his business career gave him an understanding of American industrialism. During this time, he lived part of the time in New York City and in San Antonio, Texas. including laws regulating banking in the state, while the old territorial prison system was reformed and the public protected from exploitative railroads, public utilities, trusts and monopolies. Haskell also initiated a law insuring deposits in case of a bank failure, a landmark piece of legislation in the nation. Haskell also rigidly enforced prohibition through the Alcohol Control Act. Though following progressive dogma at every turn, such as the introduction of child labor laws, factory inspection codes, safety codes for mines, health and sanitary laws, and employer's liability for workers, Haskell's legislative schedule also included Jim Crow laws for Oklahoma. Haskell's other significant contributions while governor included establishing the Oklahoma Geological Survey, the Oklahoma School for the Blind, the Oklahoma College for Women and the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In addition, he helped to create the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in 1908. Haskell selected the first judges of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
Prior to statehood, Kansas officials imprisoned individuals convicted of crimes in Oklahoma Territory. Oklahoma Commissioner of Charities and Corrections Kate Barnard, Oklahoma's first female state official, visited the Kansas prisons and reported to Governor Haskell on the horrible conditions. In response, in 1908, Haskell pushed a bill through the state legislature that transferred 50 Oklahoma prisoners detained in the Kansas penitentiary at Lansing to McAlester, Oklahoma. When the Oklahoma state militia marched the prisoners down to McAlester, they found no prison. Under military supervision, the prisoners built Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the state's first correctional facility (still in use today). The militia housed the prisoners in a tent city and were authorized by Haskell to use lethal force against any prisoner that tried to escape.
A grandfather clause was also enacted by the 2nd Oklahoma Legislature by the state's Democratic leaders, effectively excluding blacks from voting. Haskell would spend the remainder of his term enforcing prohibition, regulation of railroads and other trusts, and the moving of the state capital to Oklahoma City. Haskell's dream came true on June 11, 1910, when Oklahoma City became the state's official capital.
In 1909, Haskell was indicted in federal court as part of the Town Lot Fraud scandal, which involved the mass filing of fraudulent real estate documents to steal Muscogee Nation surplus land. The indictment was dismissed on September 29, 1910. Critics of Haskell, particularly in the Tulsa World used the term "Haskellism" to refer to allegations of political corruption during his tenure.
National politics
Not only a powerful figure in Oklahoma politics, Haskell's progressive roots and populist nature granted him national clout. In 1908, Haskell headed the Oklahoma delegation to the National Democratic Convention at Denver where he was appointed treasurer of the Democratic National Committee. He was the spokesman for William Jennings Bryan in writing the platform of the convention. Two months later, he was forced to resign his treasurer position after allegations were leveled against him of taking illegal contributions from the Standard Oil Company. In 1920, he again headed the Oklahoma delegation at the National Convention, which in that year met at San Francisco, and was committed to and faithfully labored for United States Senator Robert Latham Owen, of Oklahoma, for the United States presidential nomination. Haskell would serve in this post two more times: a third in 1928 to the National Democratic Convention at Houston, and a fourth time in 1932 to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago.
At each convention and in his speeches and in articles appearing in the public press he disclosed an intimate understanding of the big money masters of America and ruthlessly exposed many of their venal practices and their corrupt usage of the public funds in their own interest to the detriment of the people.
Later life, death and legacy
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|left|200px|Grave stone in Muskogee -->Haskell entered the oil business after finishing his term as governor, a profession he would stay in until the end of his life. In 1933, Haskell suffered a major stroke, from which he would never recover. Three months later, Haskell would die from pneumonia. Haskell lost consciousness on July 4th that same year, and died the next day, in the Skirvin Hotel in Oklahoma City at the age of 73. He is buried in Muskogee, Oklahoma.