Alliance and Renewal
The Mi'kmaq people are indigenous to the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada and Northeastern Maine, and today are the largest of the surviving Algonquian language groups in the northeastern part of North America. They are close relatives of the St. Francis Abenaki, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot, who together are referred to as the Wabanaki or "Dawnland" Indians. Most of their reserves are spread throughout New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward's Island, as well as a few in Maine, Quebec, and Newfoundland. They first appeared in their homeland about ten thousand years ago. During the summer months, they hunted, fished and foraged , including forays out to sea to hunt whales and porpoises. In winter, like many other coastal peoples in temperate zones, they moved inland to winter camps along rivers and lakes which allowed them to supplement their hunting by spearing and trapping eels and other aquatic animals.
Mi'kma'ki, as their homeland is called, contains seven districts, with a district chief called a keptin or sagmaw presiding in each jurisdiction, who also functioned as a delegate to the Grand Council, or Sante' Mawiomi, which determined where families might hunt and fish, and set up their camp. Of even greater importance, the Grand Council oversaw relations between the M'ikmaq and other aboriginal nations. Their traditional beliefs, as is true in most human societies, center around their Creation Story, which speaks to the relationship between the Great Spirit Creator and human beings and their environment, and also explains a philosophical view of life which is indigenous to North America, a way of thinking which is evident in Native languages, culture, and spiritual practices. That these have survived for centuries is based on their creation story, as respect for their elders has given them wisdom about life and the world around them. the strength of their youth has given them the will to survive, and the love and trust of their motherhood has given them a special understanding of everyday life.
Situated as they were on the northern Atlantic coast, they were among the first indigenous people in their area to make contact with Europeans, adventurers and fisherman who braved the cold and often stormy seas to explore lands previously unknown to their peoples. A Mi'kmaq legend in which one of their spiritual beings traveled across the Atlantic to "discover " Europe, taught them that blue-eyed people would arrive from the east to disrupt their lives. Another story told of a woman who had a vision of an island floating towards their land which was decked out with tall trees, and inhabited by living beings. Therefore, they were not surprised by the arrival in their homeland of these early visitors in their sailing ships. Rather they welcomed them, establishing trading relationship with them, and set about incorporating the strangers new technologies into their own culture, including firearms, making them one of the earliest American Indian groups to learn to use these new weapons.
Breton fishermen first visited the Mi'kmaq in 1504, followed by some Portuguese who founded a temporary colony in 1525. Shortly thereafter, Europeans began what would become a huge international fur trade. By 1600, a large portion of the Mi'kmaq succumbed to diseases brought by the new settlers, which along with other factors made them more vulnerable to European cultural influences. Although the English made a claim to their area in 1609, it would be nearly 150 years before they attempted to settle there. The French, attracted by the fur trade, made early inroads among the Mi'kmaq, bringing their Catholicism, which the Mi'kmaq adopted willingly, signing a Concordat with the Vatican in 1610, and remain so to this day, although it must be said that they mixed it with many of their traditional beliefs into a form unique to their culture. The French, though, were not as concerned with civilizing Indians as having them as trading partners and military allies against their English rivals, who later invoked the familiar "vanishing race syndrome" saying that as a people they were disappearing and the remainder should be either removed from white communities or be assimilated, educated in the ways of civilized society by missionaries.
Through the 17th and early 18th centuries the easy availability of alcohol, and firearms combined with fierce colonial competition for the declining fur trade, especially beavers, led to a series of conflicts between the Mi'kmaq and their indigenous and colonial neighbors, leading finally to six "Anglo-Wabanaki" wars, culminating with the expulsion of the French Acadians and the change from New France to Nova Scotia, after the British established Halifax with the mass immigration of over 2700 Scots and English settlers. These conflicts continued and drew in more combatants, spreading to other colonies and countries as the "French and Indian Wars," ending with the firm control of Mi'kma'ki by the British, and the fame and fortune of the likes of General Sir Jeffery Amherst, whose innovative use of biological agents opened a new chapter in the history of warfare.
The routing of their patron, France, replaced by a relationship of subordination to and domination by the English made the Mi'kmaq and others of the Wabanaki Confederacy sympathetic to overtures by the rebellious forces in the colonies to their south, whose initial intent was to drive the English entirely out of North America, with Nova Scotia to be the 14th colony of the United Colonies, soon to be States. There began an intense effort between the patriots and loyalist to secure the loyalty of the Confederacy, which still represented a formidable fighting force. English successes with the "western Indians( Iroquois)", combined with early losses of the Continental Army in battles at Montreal and Quebec City led General George Washington to realize what a crucial part indigenous groups might play in the Revolution and in late 1775 sent a letter to the Mi'kmaq and affiliated tribes seeking their help, and requesting that they send some delegates to a treaty conference with the Massachusetts Provincial Council when possible. He later sent a proposal to the Continental Congress.
Following another appeal on May 15, 1776, six delegates of the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, and St. John's Tribes sailed in late June from Machias to Salem , Mass. , and then traveled by carriage to Watertown , where they met in conference with the Massachusetts Provincial Council, headed by Captain James Bowdoin. While they were conferring, the first copy of the newly- penned Declaration of Independence was delivered to the Meetinghouse, and was immediately translated for the Indians who are noted to have said "We like it well". Captain Bowdoin pronounced them "brothers", and presented them with a treaty of alliance and friendship and proclaimed, "the United States now form a long and strong chain, and it is made longer and stronger by our brethren of the Maliseet and Mi'kmaq Tribes joining with us, and may the Almighty God never suffer the chain to be broken." Thus, on July 19th, 1776, just 15 days after the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Watertown (full text) was the first international treaty made on behalf of the new republic of the United States of America, as well as one of the earliest expressions of equality and brotherhood among all peoples.
TREATY OF WATERTOWN 1776
Preamble
A Treaty of A1liance and Friendship entered to and concluded by and between the governors of the State of Massachusetts Bay, and the Delegates of the St. John's and Micmack Tribes of Indians. Whereas the United States of America in General Congress assembled have in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly published and declared that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved form all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them, and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved and that as free and independent states they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do.
We. the Governors of (The State of Massachusetts Bay) do by virtue hereof. and by the powers vested in us, enter into and conclude the following Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, viz;
Section 1
We, the Governors of the said State of Massachusetts Bay in be half of said States. and the other United States of America on the one part, and Ambrose Var, Newell Wallis, and Francis, Delegates of the St John's Tribe, John Denaquara, Charles, Mattahu Ontrane, Nicholas, John Battis, Peter Andre. and Sabbatis Netobcobwit, Delegates of the Micmack Tribes of Indians. inhabiting within the Province of Nova Scotia for themselves, and in behalf of the said Tribes on the other part do solemnly agree that the people of the said State of Massachusetts Bay and of the other United States of America, and of the said Tribes of Indians shall henceforth be at peace with each other and be considered as friends and brothers united and allied together for their mutual defense, safety and happiness.
This alliance and friendship with the Mi'kmaq ensured the survival of our rebellion against British tyranny, oppression, and persecution because they provided security along our northern New England border. It was the Mi'kmaq warriors, or Sma'knis, who kept the enemies of the United States out of those areas, so that Continental Army troops were free to fight on other fronts. Despite military and political pressure from the British and the Western Tribes, who warned them to withdraw from supporting the United States, "or be treated like an enemy," the Mi'kmaq refused to dissociate themselves from the United States. They were America's first military ally, and after nearly 230 years, Mi'kmaq warriors continue to this day to volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces, as they have fought and died beside our young men and women in every armed conflict in our history. In 1777, the Continental Congress commissioned John Allan, a Scots settler, and former member of the Nova Scotia Provincial Council, at the request of General Washington, as a Colonel in the Continental Army, and Commissioner for Indian Affairs in the Eastern Department. In a report some years later , he recalled, "Their zeal and attention during the war, from the attempt made by the British under Sir George Collier is so well known in that country that it needs no comment. Their uniform conduct both in respect of humanity, as well as submitting with patience under every difficulty was not inferior to the most disciplined troops". The Mi'kmaq were to pay dearly for their support of our cause when at the war's end, they ended up in our enemy's territory, and when by 1782, it became clear that the British could not turn the military tide in the territories south of Passamaquoddy Bay, and Loyalists from Maine to Georgia understood that their cause was lost. Many of them(and their Iroquois allies), some 32,000, went to Nova Scotia, while another 15000 settled in the St. John's River Valley, more than tripling the regions population. This sudden influx overwhelmed the Wabanakis, turning them into a small minority of 5%, with enemies as neighbors.
The Treaty also stipulated that Massachusetts supply a trading post for the Mi'kmaq, part of a network of trading posts.
TREATY OF WATERTOWN 1776
Section 9That the said State of Massachusetts Bay sha1l and will .furnish their truckmaster in Machias soon as may be, the proper articles for the purpose of supplying the Indians of said Tribes with the necessities and conveniences of life.
Truck-wagons were used to cart items for sale or trade, and eventually these trading posts became known as 'Truckhouses." It was the vision of the M'ikmaq forefathers in 1776 to establish a trading agreement with America. Their intentions were to be considered as equal partners in trade and to provide this service, opportunity, and prosperity to the Mi'kmaq.
It is the vision of their ancestors who lit the torch of unity that is being adopted by the Mi'kmaq-American Truckhouse Project. This vision was rekindled by the late Mi'kmaw Sma'knis Wilfred C. Basque (SSgt.US Marines, Vietnam 64-68), who developed the Truckhouse Business Concept using their ancestors' ideals and original intent. Wil had many dear friends and comrades-in-arms among South Boston's Marine Veterans, and served as Massachusetts' first Commissioner for Indian Affairs (1974-76). In 1987, he was the organizer of the re-enactment ceremony of the signing of the Watertown Treaty and supervised the celebrations at the State House.
Letter From Mass House of Representatives to Lt.Governor Evelyn Murphy
Wil's dream was to establish a U.S. business registered as an international brokerage firm that will be able to conduct world trade on behalf of the Mi'kmaq People who reside both in Atlantic Canada, and the United States . The Truckhouse vision is to provide secure trade, trans port, and warehousing for all items purchased and sold by it's members and affiliates.
Letter from Gary on UMass and Mi'kmaq Studies
In 1981, the Massachusetts State Legislature affirmed the special status of the Mi'kmaq by including their children among those American Indians eligible for scholarship, tuition, and fee waivers in public State institutions of higher learning. It is in this spirit, the spirit of the Watertown Treaty of 1776, that we propose the initiation of a student / faculty exchange program between the relevant departments of the University College of Cape Breton with it's Mi'kmaq Studies program and the University of Massachusetts, and any other Colleges or Universities in Massachusetts with such an interest in furthering the vision and goals of the Mi'kmaq-American Truckhouse Project, as sanctioned by the Grand Council of the Mi'kmaq, under the aegis of the Watertown Treaty of 1776.
Wela'lin,
Christopher Groden
cgroden@watertowntreaty.org
Special thanks to Gary Simon of the Elsipogtog Reserve in New Brunswick, author of "Truckhouse Vision" and many other worthy efforts on behalf of his Mi'kmaq Nation and their Alliance with these United States, also to Harald E.L. Prins for his years of dedicated work with and for the Mi'kmaq and other Wabanaki Nations, and for writing "The Mi'kmaq: Resistance, Accommodation, and Cultural Survival."