|
When Maine separated from Massachusetts
and became a state in 1821, it took over Massachusetts’s
treaty obligations and responsibility for the Indian
communities. The state of Maine controlled the tribes’s
money and resources—they held them in “trust.”
“Indian agents” were assigned by the state
to oversee the Native communities and to manage tribal
money. The State of Maine did not allow Native people
to manage their own money and resources. For instance,
whenever money needed to be spent on the reservation
the Indian Agent had to approve the project and give
permission for their money to be spent.
Each week, the Indian agent gave each
family a stipend to buy food, clothing, firewood and
other necessities. This money belonged to the Native
people, not to the State or to the Indian agent, but
they were not allowed to have control over it! Many
times the money given for a family’s necessities
was far less than the necessities cost. For instance,
in 1910, a cord of wood cost between $4 and $9, but
only $3 was given to widows for their winter supply
of wood.
Over the next 150 years, the State of Maine illegally
and without permission from the tribes sold off, leased
and transferred thousands of acres of Native land. The
State also illegally authorized the harvesting and sale
of Native timber and hay—and sold the timber and
firewood back to the Native communities. In some cases,
the State added money to the trust funds for the illegal
sale of land and resources. In other cases, no payments
were made. Interest on the deposits to these funds was
supposed to be paid at six percent per year. From 1859
until 1969 no interest was ever paid to the tribes.
Instead, it went to the Indian agents.
Without control over their
own money and tribal resources, Native people suffered.
Reservations were places of extreme poverty. Native
language was outlawed through an act of the State
Legislature. Sicknesses such as tuberculosis, measles
and whooping cough swept through the communities.
Native people were forced to learn farming and raise
crops. Native children attended convent schools run
by nuns and taught in English. In most cases, the
only buildings recommended by the Indian agents for
repair were the churches, schoolhouses and homes for
nuns and priests. Indian agents remained in control
of tribal resources and money until the mid-1970s.
— Go Back
|
