Each village was divided into Tzi-Sho (sky people) and Hunkah (land people) and each group had a chief, meaning at any one time the Osage would have about 10 chiefs.
[1] When the last hereditary chief died in 1869, the Osage Nation was in need of a new government.
In 1878, the Osage Nation held its first democratic election for a tribal leader.
Joseph Pawnee-no-pashe was elected the first "governor" of the Osage Nation and won re-election in 1880.
[2] Due to various issues, the tribe reconvened in 1881 and created the 1881 Osage Nation Constitution.