Wabanaki Relations
This collection documents of the relationship between the State of Maine government and the Maine Indian tribes: Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot, known collectively as the Wabanaki, as told through treaty documents, tribal petitions, and letters. Native Americans have lived in this region for thousands of years, and since the arrival of European settlers they have struggled for survival, enduring the loss of land and livelihood as the non-Native communities stripped the land of timber, fish, and other resources essential to the tribes. Today, most of Maine's Native people reside on tribal lands, where they maintain their own tribal governments, natural resources, and schools. They also traditionally sent representatives to the Maine legislature, where the tribal representatives can sponsor legislation, but cannot vote. In 2015, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation withdrew their legislative representatives amid growing tension between the tribes and State of Maine government, regarding mutual issues of respect and sovereignty. The Maliseets did not withdraw their representative. This collection is dynamic an will be updated periodically.
- An undated letter discussing the death of United States Representative Jonathan Cilley from Thomaston. The author is unknown, but they may have been J.A. Chandler, the clerk of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Before his election to Congress, Cilley served as the Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. He was the son-in-law of Hezekiah Prince, a merchant from Thomaston. Jonathan Cilley, an abolitionist, was challenged to a duel by James Watson Webb, a newspaper editor from New York, after Cilley accused him of corruption. William Graves, a legislator from Kentucky, served as Webb's stand-in and killed Cilley on February 24, 1838.