[Connecticut and the Mohegan] | The first suit by a Native American tribe for restoration of their lands from the colonialists

[Connecticut and the Mohegan]

Connecticut. The Moheagan [sic] Indians Against the Governor and Company of Connecticut and others. [docket headline]. [London?: circa 1770]

Folio, 8 pages (450 x 270 mm, uncut) printed on a bifolium. Letterpress text, woodcut headpiece, 5 numbered pages, recto of p. 5 unnumbered, docketed in type; old folds, minor toning and spotting, split to central fold with some minor marginal loss, small splits to other folds.  

The first suit by a Native American tribe for restoration of their lands from the colonialists.

Prior to the seventeenth century, the Mohegan were part of the Pequot Tribe, located in what is now south-central New England. In the early 1600s, the Mohegan and other tribes were forced to confront the expanding settlements of European colonialists, and the competition for resources this engendered. Within the Pequot, a disagreement arose been Sachem Sassacus, and Uncas, another leader within the tribe. Uncas left with his followers, and became the Sachem of the Mohegan, or “Wolf People.” Ultimately, the Mohegan and Narragansett chose to support the English colonists, while the Pequot rose up against them, and the Pequot War was waged from July 1636 to September 1638. While the Mohegan and other tribes helped the English defeat the Pequot, this alliance was ultimately—perhaps inevitably—fraught. The defeat of the Pequots created a power vacuum of sorts, one in which Connecticut, Massachusetts, the Narragansetts, and the Mohegans all sought to fill by controlling the defeated tribe’s territory. Connecticut beat Massachusetts to the punch, so to speak, through cooperating with the Mohegan Tribe, who then controlled the former territories of the Pequots. This functionally allowed Connecticut (which still lacked a charter) a claim to valuable land to its west. Beyond this, Connecticut remained anxious over the possibility of the Narragansett people gaining access to the former Pequot territory, which would benefit Massachusetts.

In 1659, the Mohegan conveyed the reserved lands to Major John Mason, the future deputy governor, "as their Protector and Guardian In Trust for the whole Moheagan Tribe.” Mason transferred the land to the colonial government in 1660, on the condition that sufficient land be left for the Mohegan to farm. Both the Mohegan and Mason's heirs argued—during the century-long dispute—that this last transfer was invalid, and that Mason’s heirs continued to hold the land in trust for the Mohegan. This already contentious situation was exacerbated in 1699, when Nathaniel Foot—acting as agent on behalf of a company of purchasers—acquired Colchester, Connecticut. The Mohegan claimed that this transaction unfolded in a most dishonorable fashion, as Owaneco, the eldest son of Uncas and his successor, was inebriated at the time. For five or six shillings, Foot purchased nearly all of the Mohegan hunting grounds, and shortly thereafter, the town grant was enlarged, encompassing the land in its entirety. In general, Owaneco’s time as Sachem was not without controversy, as he regularly governed for his personal gain, rather than the good of his people. Despite this, Owaneco campaigned for Mohegan autonomy from colonial control, and in 1704 he took advantage of Nicholas Hallam’s trip to London, and sending a complaint to Queen Anne with him. This initiated the Mohegan’s long-running case against the Colony of Connecticut.

In 1769, just a year before this document was issues, Governor and Company of Connecticut, and Mohegan Indians, by their Guardians was published in a limited edition of approximately 25 copies. Its author, Governor Thomas Fitch, has been described as the most learned lawyer who had ever been an inhabitant of the Colony. The Mohegan land controversy during his tenure as governor was a serious problem for the entire colony. Governor and Company of Connecticut, and Mohegan Indians, by their Guardians outlines the report of the trial determining rights of the Mohegans, and remains one of the most thorough accounts of negotiation between Indians and settlers from the colonial period (see Sotheby's New York, the Frank T. Siebert Library, 21 May 1999, lot 535).

A seemingly unrecorded printing, outlining an important chronology of legal disputes between the Mohegan and the Governor and Company of Connecticut.

REFERNECE:

See: Sabin 15750-2 (no location); De Puy 21.