After 1906 and dissolution of tribal governments under the Dawes Act prior to Oklahoma's annexation and achieving statehood, McCurtain was appointed as chief by Theodore Roosevelt.

[7] By the late nineteenth century, he represented the Tuskahoma, or Progressive party of his tribe, also known as the "Eagles", who began to favor negotiation with the United States over proposals for allotment and statehood of the Choctaw communal lands.

Much like Chief Kiliahote, McCurtain was originally opposed to this, but came to believe he needed to negotiate to try to achieve the best outcome for the Choctaw prior to what he saw was an inevitable annexation.

The nation was violently torn by the prospect of losing their sovereign governance and lands, and being annexed into the United States.

While more than one Progressive was implicated in the assassination, several Choctaw were acquitted and only Jackson Crow, an African American, was convicted and executed for the crime.

In the election that year, Thomas Hunter, a friend of the outgoing Chief Dukes, was McCurtain’s primary opponent.

In October 1902 before the votes were canvassed, in fear of resurgent violence, the Federal Government sent soldiers to Tushka Homma to keep the peace.

Alarmed at this coup, McCurtain and his followers sought to contest the election, but were barred from the Capitol by federal troops.

Soldiers marched on the Capitol, and after the commander consulted for one hour with both the Marshal and the Agent, the army took charge of the building, disarming all occupants, and instructed them to tend to any business necessary.

It was dark when the canvassing was completed, and Green McCurtain was declared elected as Principal Chief of the Choctaw Nation.

[8] He continued to serve until October 1906, despite the fact the tribal governments and institutions were dissolved by the United States under the Dawes Act in March 1906, paving the way for annexation.

Under Theodore Roosevelt, the Bureau of Indian Affairs appointed McCurtain to continue as chief, where he acted under BIA supervision until his death in office in 1910.

[6] Although originally a member of the Democratic Party, which represented a solid block in the states of the former Confederacy, McCurtain came to believe their Congressional delegation was hostile to his people.

In those years, the Democrats had established the Solid South, a block they controlled because of having disenfranchised most blacks, Natives and other minorities at the turn of the century, and retaining full control of the region's congressionally apportioned seats, based on the total population (until 2003, the only Natives elected to the U.S. Congress from Oklahoma were all Democrats with the backing of the party - five in total).

Even if McCurtain influenced many Choctaws to become Republicans, they remained both racial and political minorities in the new Southern state of Oklahoma, and as such they were cast aside by the ruling White Democratic establishment.