Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts Relative to the Marshpee Tribe - Or, the Pretended Riot Explained by William Apes
page 25 of 185 (13%)
page 25 of 185 (13%)
|
Governor and Council, firmly believing that each and every one of the
existing laws concerning the poor Israelites of Marshpee was founded on wrong and misconception. We also forwarded a letter and resolution to Gideon Hawley, to the effect that we were dissatisfied with his proceedings with regard to our affairs and with those of the other officers, that we desired their stay among us no longer, that we were seeking our rights and meant to have them, and we therefore demanded of them all a final settlement, and warned them not to violate our regulations. The resolution was as follows: _Resolved_, That we will no longer accede to your terms after the first day of July next, 1833. Done by the authority of the Marshpee Tribe. DANIEL AMOS, _President_. ISRAEL AMOS, _Secretary_. We also proceeded to discharge the missionary, telling him that he and the white people had occupied our meeting house long enough, and that we now wanted it for our own use. We likewise gave him notice that we had complained against him to the authorities at Harvard. Those who had, as we think unlawfully, ruled us hitherto, now awoke in astonishment, and bestirred themselves in defence of their temporal interests. Mr. Hawley was despatched to the Governor at Worcester, to whom he represented the state of affairs in colors which we cannot acknowledge to have been faithful. He stated that the Indians were in open rebellion, and that blood was likely to be shed. It was reported |
|