The Passamaquoddy Indians

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The Passamaquoddy Indians

For several hundred years people have sought answers to the Indian problems, who are the Indians, and what rights do they have? These questions may seem simple, but the answers themselves present a difficult number of further questions and answers. State and Federal governments have tried to provide some order with a number of laws and policies, sometimes resulting in state and federal conflicts. The Federal Government's attempt to deal with Indian tribes can be easily understood by following the history of Federal Indian Policy. Indians all over the United States fought policies which threatened to destroy their familial bonds and traditions. The Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe of Maine, resisted no less than these other tribes, however, thereby also suffering a hostile anti-Indian environment from the Federal Government and their own State, Maine. But because the Passamaquoddy Tribe was located in such a remote area, they escaped many federal Indian policies.

In order to make more eastern land available for settlement, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This enabled the President of the United States to have power physically to move eastern Indian tribes to land west of the Mississippi River. Indian Title did not grant the Indians the power to sell their own lands. The result of which was that, the Indians went uncompensated for their lands and the Original Indian Title was forsaken. Although more than 70,000 Indians had been forcibly removed in a ten-year journey westward, a trip that became known as the "Trail of Tears," the Passamaquoddy Indians remained in the northeast. This was possibly due to their remoteness and harsh winters of the North Atlantic coast.

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Brooks, Lauren "Native American Political Issues" U.S. Federal Indian policy:

Passamaquoddy Resistance. 17 Feb. 1999.

Bausseron, Sylvie "Passamaqouddy Indians and their Survival as a Distinct Community,"

Diss,. Universite de Metz, 1991.

Chutchian, Kenneth Z. "Bingo hall foes fearful of full-scale casino." The Boston

Globe 12 Oct. 1997: B13.

Hawkins, Steve L. "Land war: Indian vs. Indian" U.S. News & World Report 7 July,

1986; p22.

"Passamaquoddy" Encyclopedia Britannica Online 23 Feb. 1999.

Stuart, Paul. Nations Within A Nation; Historical Statistics of American Indians.

Greenwood Press Inc., 1987.

Walsh, Barbara. "The Team of Journalists Who Produced the Deadliest Drug."

Portland Press Herald 26 Oct. 1997: 14A.

Waldman, Hilary. "Maine Parable." The Hartford Courant 27 May 1994: A1.

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