Should Massachusetts Indians be Citizens? The Earle Report
Until 1869,
Massachusetts Natives were ‘wards of the Commonwealth”. Through a legislative
Act of 1859, John Milton Earle, Worcester politician and
newspaper publisher, was appointed to investigate the social condition of
Massachusetts Indians and advance recommendations whether they should be placed
on the same legal footing as other residents of the Commonwealth. Specifically,
Earle was named Commissioner "to examine into the
condition of all Indians and the descendants of Indians domiciled in this
Commonwealth, and make report to the governor, for the information of the
general court," dealing with four issues:
[a] "The number of all such persons, their place of abode, their distribution…"
[b] "The social and political condition of all such persons…"
[c] "The economic state of all such persons;" and,
[d] "All such facts in the personal or social condition of the Indians of the Commonwealth, as may enable the general court to judge whether they can, compatibly with their own good and that of the other inhabitants of the State, be placed immediately and completely, or only gradually and partially, on the same legal footing as the other inhabitants of the Commonwealth."
His response, often called the Earle Report is Mass. Senate Report #96 of 1861, or Report to the Governor and Council Concerning the Indians of the Commonwealth Under the Act of April 6, 1859 (Boston: William White, 1861) by John Milton Earle.
The actual document, submitted by Earle in 1861, consists of three sections: a 132 page report; a proposed act to enfranchise Bay State Indians; and an appendix of 78 pages, listing Native families, his so-called "census."
The Earle material is certainly note complete. He was concerned primarily with the so-called Plantation or Reservation Tribes of the 17th & 18th centuries for whom the Commonwealth accepted financial responsibility. As example, for that reason, he does not enumerate Natives of the Connecticut River Valley but Earle does list Indians of Southeastern Mass., Martha Vineyard, Cape Cod and the Nipmucs who lived along the Massachusetts/ Connecticut border in an important appendix enumerating 1,582 Native American men, women, and children living in Massachusetts or connected to Massachusetts Indian families at the time.
[a] "The number of all such persons, their place of abode, their distribution…"
[b] "The social and political condition of all such persons…"
[c] "The economic state of all such persons;" and,
[d] "All such facts in the personal or social condition of the Indians of the Commonwealth, as may enable the general court to judge whether they can, compatibly with their own good and that of the other inhabitants of the State, be placed immediately and completely, or only gradually and partially, on the same legal footing as the other inhabitants of the Commonwealth."
His response, often called the Earle Report is Mass. Senate Report #96 of 1861, or Report to the Governor and Council Concerning the Indians of the Commonwealth Under the Act of April 6, 1859 (Boston: William White, 1861) by John Milton Earle.
The actual document, submitted by Earle in 1861, consists of three sections: a 132 page report; a proposed act to enfranchise Bay State Indians; and an appendix of 78 pages, listing Native families, his so-called "census."
The Earle material is certainly note complete. He was concerned primarily with the so-called Plantation or Reservation Tribes of the 17th & 18th centuries for whom the Commonwealth accepted financial responsibility. As example, for that reason, he does not enumerate Natives of the Connecticut River Valley but Earle does list Indians of Southeastern Mass., Martha Vineyard, Cape Cod and the Nipmucs who lived along the Massachusetts/ Connecticut border in an important appendix enumerating 1,582 Native American men, women, and children living in Massachusetts or connected to Massachusetts Indian families at the time.
Here is the full, actual Earle Report of 1861 recommending that Bay
State Indians be made citizens: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0elHJjc0U2ObWFIWGM5UDdSNGM/view?usp=sharing
Here is the Appendix, Earle Report, Listings of Individuals and “Tribes":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0elHJjc0U2OWlFqbjU4YW9UNkE/view?usp=sharing
Here is the Appendix, Earle Report, Listings of Individuals and “Tribes":
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0elHJjc0U2OWlFqbjU4YW9UNkE/view?usp=sharing
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