U & D

I have just today run across this digital archive of Indian treaties, laws and court decisions (up to 1970): http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/index.htm.  There is a pretty good index, but I find browsing through a set of summaries to be fascinating. For example, take a minute to scan down through this encapsulation of federal definition and jurisdiction relating to Indian Lands as of 1913. It is one thing to read a paragraph in a U.S. History text about Manifest Destiny or the Indian Wars, it is another to read the double-speak, and read between the lines, of the actual language of law and legislation.

Although there is little mention of Maine in Kappler’s Indian Affairs, the topics of sovereignty and land use can be richly supplemented by the use of this primary source document. I, for example, downloaded a .pdf file of the “findings” of the Indian Claims Commission about the value of Muckleshoot Tribal lands, which seem to be rich in timber and therefore desired for lumbering going back into the 1850’s. The discussion is really about the Muckleshoot use of the land vs. that of the lumbering and/or settlement needs of the “government.”  It is no surprise that the final valuation of the lands is about a third of that requested by the Tribe.

It is my hope that a similar archive exists in one of Maine’s museums and libraries, and that it can be indexed and made available to our students and educators.