Petition of the Mashpee Indians to the Massachusetts General Court

To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Mashpee, July 1788     

The address and petition of the Mashpee Indians humbly sheweth that they are proprietors of ample possessions, which they inherit by deeds of ancient date from their sachems, and confirmed to them by the acts of the Colony of New Plymouth, and often recognized by this government.  That by the address of Richard Bourne, who propagated Christianity here and by Shearjashub Bourne Esq., these deeds and acts were obtained above a century ago, as appears by authentic records. That it hath been the great object of our ancestors and of the best men in this country and vicinage to secure to the aboriginal the enjoyment of their lands.  And commissioners, guardians, and overseers have been appointed for this purpose under the authority of government down to these days.  The last act allowed us to choose annually overseers consisting of three Indians and two white men and empowered the Governor and Council to appoint commissioners to secure our rights.  In the late unhappy day, notwithstanding the said regulation, trespasses, owing to many causes, have been made upon our lands and territories, which consist of meadow and uplands, cultivated fields and wild woods, fish ponds, bays, creeks, and rivers; all the invaluable gift of our ancestors to our forefathers to us and to our children forever, which possessions we humbly petition Your Honors may be secured to our children, (by some fresh act of the government),1 and to their children forever.  And we beg leave to shew, that Your Honors, for want of information, have put us under a very disagreeable constitution.  It is sufficiently mortifying to be under guardianship and considered as minors, but in case we must submit to it, we humbly petition, that we may have men of the first characters for religion and learning, abilities, integrity, and honor; gentlemen that we can confide in and look up to with respect.  Your Honors will not suffer us to be deprived of liberty and property, which we are in danger of, lest we lose our spirits and become more debased, and our young men, who are employed in the whale fishery, in which foreigners labor to rival you, wander into foreign parts, as some of them have done, and, having no attachments or interest to call them home, become aliens.  Nova Scotia is in our neighborhood and vessels from Halifax annually take from this shore hands to man their whale fishermen, and unless the government does not truly protect, but cherish, and consider us, as useful members of society, and us having a right to this territory, which we wish may be secured to us while we live and to our children after us, it cannot be expected that we shall be contented here.  We are tenants in common, all our lands being undivided, but our improvements are in allotments; and we conceive that it never was designed that these lands should be alienated from the praying Indians as long as any of them are alive.  And therefore, the coming of negroes and English who, unhappily have planted themselves here, hath wronged us.  And it is to be feared, that they and their children, unless they are removed, will get away our lands and all our privileges in a short time.                                                                                                                           

We therefore humbly petition, that Your Honors would take this address in your consideration, and as shall seem meet, provide for our safety and tranquility,

And as in duty bound we shall always pray,2                 

Mashpee, July 30, 1788

• 1. The phrase "in case it is agreeable to you" was crossed out here in the original.
• 2. The following text was crossed out in the original: (Nota Bene: We desire Your Honors to take notice that Messrs. John Percival and Reuben Fish, the major part of our guardians and who have undertaken to officiate without our minister, as far as we hear, were never in any office in their own town or any other place before Your Honors appointed them).