The Metis Nation:
How The Puritan Theocracy Perfected Racism
In New Haven, Connecticut
The Birth of 'Indian Policy'
Spe: Biwabiko Paddaquahas
By: Iron Thunderhorse
Quiripi Arkeis Kici Sachemau
Long-Water People Nation Grand Sachem
Pinessiwekit Quinne-kommuk Odoodem
Thunder Clan Long-House Family Totem
Wampanooke Powwamanitomp
Dawnland Traditional Shaman (Ceremonial Leader)
ABSTRACT
No other policy in the history of the United States of America has served to discriminate against minorities except for the policies attendant to slavery, and as will be seen in this feature, it was all formed from common roots. The Puritan Theocracy of New Haven, Connecticut enacted the first law which codified racism long before the United States of America was born. This law served as a model for the other thirteen original colonies that led to the formation of the United States. All this served as the impetus for the infamous "Indian Policy" established by President Andrew Jackson. His theories of diluted blood quantum admixtures formed the basis of the Bureau of Indian Affairs criteria that establishes the 'acknowledgment' process of what constitutes a model of "Indian Tribes" in the USA. These racist, ethnocentric laws and policies still remain and must be abolished whereas they violate the very spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Resolution 61/295 – Adopted on 13 September 2007 by the U.N. General Assembly) and is considered binding to all UN Member States who are Signatories to the U.N. Commission To End All Forms of Racism.
INTRODUCTION
The Puritans that landed on our shores had been ousted from England because they formed a sect that was contrary to the state-created faith. They were rejected from living in the Netherlands and so headed for the "New World" in hopes of establishing a paradise. They believed they were all "Saints" in a Special Order.
When they arrived in what would eventually become Boston, Massachusetts they were welcomed by our ancestors of the WAMPANOAG Confederacy who shared with them, gave them provisions so they would not starve to death the first winter and yet these Puritans treated the Aboriginal People as well as other Caucasians with disdain and blatant intolerance. For example, when the Quakers landed in the region and asked their help they were stripped to the waist, flogged, and tied to wooden wagons (both men and women), then herded out of town.
Religious intolerance was prevalent in Europe long before this. The infamous Holy Wars, and Inquisition serves as grim reminders of how religion has fueled wars by targeting enemies against the state- created faiths. Even today the Holy Jihad Wars has developed and spread world wide by extremists of the Muslim Faith. In this paper the premise that racial bigotry and superiority developed in the "New World" (as the following evidence attests) and in fact was created in our wejammoke/homeland of New Haven, Connecticut (formerly known as 'Quinnipiac').
Quinnipiac And Puritans; Culture Shock Is Born
Paul Hughes of the Meriden, CT Record-Journal penned a feature article and wrote how, "The clash of cultures was inevitable. The New Haven Colony was essentially founded as a theocracy, and the orthodox Puritan colonists were deadly serious about the[ir] worship of God."
Hughes goes on to relate how, "The colony's magistrates [had] sentenced a Quinnipiac named Paquash in 1646 to be whipped for blasphemy." Four years earlier there had been another 'incident' that appalled the Puritans. It is encapsulated in "New Haven Colony Records' 1646 at page 262 which states:
"He … came into the Crayne's House … [as they were praying]" Paquash had declared, as Hughes affirms: "that Jesus was dead and buried … and he had saw another Indian once ascend into heaven…"
The New Haven Colony Record added that he had witnessed this event at "Mantowise's plantation … which was witnessed by Mr. Crayne and others." So, to Paquash he was simply defending his own beliefs and what he perceived as some form of bigotry against the Quinnipiac religious beliefs. As Hughes confirms, "The outraged magistrates threatened Paquash with death if he blasphemed again. Blasphemy was one of 15 capital crimes in the colony."
Little was known by the Puritans then of our Algonquian religious beliefs nor did they care. The Quinnipiac "Gods" (as the Puritans dubbed them) were immediately classified as "devils" because they did not abide by the Puritan forms of orthodoxy. Our Quinnipiac culture-hero, essentially a benevolent entity (half human and half supernatural) was also immediately re-classified by the Puritans as a "bogeyman". These forms of religious intolerance not only angered the Quinnipiac, it helped forge a growing resistance to the Puritanical religious intolerance and bigotry. This resistance has set the Quinnipiac apart from all those Algonquian Sachemships that readily converted to this alien faith (mainly to gain their aid as potential allies). Reverend John Eliott, Rev. Abraham Pierson, et. al. developed the infamous system of "Praying Towns" where the Indian 'heathens' and 'savages' were totally converted to "Red-Puritans" as they were systematically stripped of all things "Indian" (i.e. indigenous).
Algonquians were forced to live in small square wooden shacks, cut their hair, wear Puritans clothing, abandon their indigenous language/religion/adornments, habits etc. They were also forced to learn the Puritan doctrines and to speak English. This would be known as "ethnic cleansing" today if it were allowed to exist.
It began in southeastern Massachusetts and soon spread to eastern Connecticut where the Pequot and their progeny the Mohegans readily accepted these conditions. Only in eastern Connecticut did these Praying Towns exist and began to be constructed in the year 1646 (The same year Paquash was whipped for blasphemy). By the year 1650, strict policy of rules were fashioned and enforced against our ancestors who converted or not.
For example, the wearing of 'long hair' ("Indian-style") was punishable by a fine of "five shillings". These 'Red-Puritan' Praying-Towns and which existed only in eastern Connecticut were known by their indigenous place-names: Maanexit, Quinnatisset, Wabaquasset and Petahanit. Subsequently, the Paquash dissent was a symbolic act of resistance wherefore, as Hughes noted "the Quinnipiac did not embrace the Calvinist brand of Christianity of the early New Haven colonists…" whereas the majority of other Algonquians did embrace it almost completely.
Our basic Quinnipiac religion is a form of Aboriginal shamanism (as noted by Kathleen Bragdon, infra). The Quinnipiac Powwaus and other medicine societies practiced and believed that the world of the supernatural was accessible to those who were blessed by the spirit world. As a Thunder Clan Shaman who has been trained in all seven societies I speak to our ancestors frequently and they have instructed me to explain to the public how and why all this happened and not to let their sacrifices be forgotten.
Roots Of Racism In Religious Intolerance
In the year 1452 Pope Nicholas V called upon the Portuguese King Alfonzo to "invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens, pagans,.. [etc.]
In the year 1493 (one year after the Voyage of Columbus) Pope Alexander VI executed the now infamous INTER CETERA BULL, a papal edict which set the agenda for the mass exploitation of all indigenous peoples of the world as "enemies of Christ" although not a single one of those "heathens" knew who Christ was. He demanded that all "barbarous nations be overthrown" but in doing so he also confirmed that these aboriginal peoples were in fact "Nations". The theory was that only "good Christian men" and their appointed officers had the right to, own land and its resources.
Once the Puritans began their fraudulent purchases of land the Quinnipiac were the first to be banished to "reserved lands" and the reservation system was born. Next, the Puritans Theocracy began establishing laws targeting our Quinnipiac ancestors. A few examples are provided here.
"[E]very Indian convicted of drunkenness in this Colony [of New Haven] shall forfeit and pay the sum of Five shillings, or else be openly whipped on the naked body…"
"If any Indian or Indians shall labor or play on the Sabbath or Lord's Day within the limits of any town in this colony, and be therefore duly convicted, every such Indian shall forfeit the sum of three shillings, or else be set in the Stocks…"
"That every person in this Colony that bath, or shall hereafter take any Indian children… are hereby ORDERED to use their utmost endeavors to Teach them to read English, and also instruct them in the principles of the Christian Faith by catechizing them…"
In this way Indian children were taken from many of their families (often from indentured slaves who were forced to work as domestic servants) and indoctrinated into the Theocracy, raised by the English. Many did not even know they had Quinnipiac ancestry until the 20th century.
Last, but by no means least the following law was enacted:
"If any Negroes, Indians or Mulatto offenders [in this colony] in the nature to defame, slander [or ridicule by dissent any English Puritan] [they are] to be whipt and sold to defray charges and expenses."
And so we see how Negroes, Indians and Mulattoes (Mixed Blood] people became lumped together into one sub-class of inferior human beings. Indians like Negroes were considered little more than slaves and the English had no laws against taking Indian women as their "country wives" and impregnating them. Their offspring were labeled "mulatto". In any minor offense where the individual could not pay the fine they often became "indentured servants" a fancy name for "slaves".
Slavery and Involuntary Servitude of the Quinnipiac
Slavery in this land did not begin with Africans, it began with our own Algonquian ancestors. When Columbus landed he immediately shipped 500 Arawak Indians back to Spain as slaves. Jack Weatherford in his book INDIAN ROOTS, has a chapter devoted to Indian Slavery and confirms how… "Columbus pursued a deliberate policy of using Indian slavery and Indian labor to finance the conquest of the new lands…"
In 1498 Sebastian Cabot landed in the New World off the coast of Labrador and kidnapped Indians and sold them as slaves in Europe. In 1501 Gaspar Corte Real kidnapped over 50 Indians and sold them as slaves on his return to Europe. The famous Walt Disney movie SQUANTO was based on a true story where a Wampanoag Sachem named Tisquantum was kidnapped, enslaved, taken to Europe, taught the language of English, hired on to a fishing fleet and returned to his homeland only to learn that all of his people had died from a plague. By the time the Spanish had begun their explorations they had between 500 to 600 slaves already being sold outside of this land.
During King Philip's War (Metacom's Revolt) those ancestors who were captured were sent as slaves to the English Sugar Plantations of West Indies. So slavery began in this way and on the return trips to America the English purchased ships full of Afrikan slaves from Kings in Afrika that were at war with other Afrikan people. The slave industry was flourishing in both directions by that time and became a lucrative market by which the USA was founded and was not abolished until after The Civil War. Yet, amazingly, even with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude in the USA in the year 1865 it continued to exist in the form of involuntary servitude in the state of Connecticut. One example highlights how it directly affected the Long-Water-Land People.
In Volume 6 of THE DAWNLANDER, devoted to a study of Quinnipiac Treaty-Deed negotiations I showed how John Morris of East Haven had swindled our ancestors out of prime lands in violation of our Treaties and mandates made by Queen Ann and King George. I also noted that Morris owned two slaves, one negro and one Indian boy who was undoubtedly Quinnipiac or from one of our sub-sachemships.
In 1870 when Lucretia Bogue was just seven years old she was "bound- out" (a clever name for being SOLD) to John Carpenter, a Mansfield, CT farmer. Indian girls were bound out until they became of age to marry. Girls were "bound out" for the paltry sum of $50. and the boys for $100. Lucretia was Nehantic and the Nehantics, as I have shown in WE THE PEOPLE CALLED QUINNIPIAC and many other places, were a sub-sachemship of the Quinnipiac Long-Water-Land Sachemdom and this was proven by family names from Guilford, CT West Pond region. The Nehantic inhabited both banks of the Connecticut River after the Pequot moved into eastern Connecticut, when 80% of our ancestors perished from a European-born plague. They had inter-married into our Sachemdom long ago.
Because the Nehantic lived in eastern Connecticut they had gotten caught up in the general religious conversion of Red-Puritanism In one case recorded by Ezra Stiles of Yale College a Nehantic Chief had crossed over the Connecticut River and was observed in our sachemdom meeting with the Puritans and preaching for them. This did not go over well with the Quinnipiac as the following attests.
"[as]noted in the records [of] November 29th, 1641 'It is ordered that Wequash [a Nehantic Chief][sic] shall have a suit of clothes made at the towns charge [as payment for his Preaching]. This Wequash was an Indian living at the mouth of the Connecticut River. He was often at Saybrook with Mr. Fenwick. He became a preacher [of Red Puritanism]…but died suddenly…and the note says "Not without suspicion of poison."'
So, in essence, this man was sentenced to death for practicing and converting and even worse preaching Red-Puritanism by someone of the Wappinger-Mattabesec Confederacy (most likely one of Sowheag's councilors from Mattabesec). This was and eye for an eye — if the Puritans threatened death for blasphemy (which the Quinnipiac was merely speaking out against bigotry and protecting our own faith) then death was the sentence for our own people who converted.
One Drop of Indian Blood Rule
The racist term "mulatto" was of English origin. Its Spanish equivalent was "mestizo", and the
French version was "Metis". All meant "mixed blood" and was based on the racist concept of "racial purity or superiority".
In this doctrine, it was held that if anyone had but one drop of Indian or negro blood that person's superior blood lines to the Caucasian race was tainted to a degree that they could not on land, or hold official titles etc. This was a racist form of human pedigree and the Puritan forms of entitlement, breeding etc.
Andrew Jackson was one of the first to develop and implement the new "Indian Policy" as a means of addressing the so-called "Indian Problem". He surmised that each new generation of offspring from the indigenous people, after inevitably inter-marrying with other races, would have diluted blood lines and so their "degree of Indianness" became less and less with each generation. Henceforth the USA Indian Policy focused on genetics and the infamous blood quantum as an official yardstick in measuring indigenous identity. Add to this the mandate that Indians could no longer accept any new members among them (as they had done previously) and all the ancient traditions of Algonquian heritage went straight out the window.
The tradition of inter-marrying between sub-sachemships to strengthen our confederacies, the tradition of adopting outsiders in tribute wars and accepting them as members and introducing them to our ways were all cast aside and a new "Indian Policy" was developed.
The USA set up internment-style "Indian schools" (such as Carlisle Indian School) and here the same principles of the Red-Puritan Praying Towns were established and religious conversion as well as a systematic and complete ethnic cleansing program was maintained.
Few people outside of Indian Country realize that it was against US Federal Law to practice indigenous religions until 1978 and it was against US Federal Law to speak our indigenous languages until 1990 as well.
THE METIS UPRISING
All the above occurred in the USA. In Canada, however, the Metis became a fact of life, as the product of marriages between French fur-trappers and Indian women whose offspring were dubbed 'Metis' for 'half-blood° or 'mixed blood'. They were also expert horsemen, traders etc. which fueled the Canadian economy. The Metis Nation became so large and strong it initiated a major uprising that led to many changes in the Canadian Parliament. The Canadian Constitution has provisions that recognizes METIS with equal rights to the indigenous Algonquian groups.
In Canada - ACQTC has over 1,000 members, at two Canadian Provinces (Quebec and Nova Scotia). Most have existed there since the infamous Trail of Heartaches began. Our Canadian members have subsisted there since 1700 as fishermen, trappers, hunters and boat-builders etc.
One of our members in Nova Scotia is Jack Hatfield. In 2003 he filed a lawsuit on behalf of his band for the aboriginal rights of the Metis to hunt, fish and trap for subsistence. The entire band has been classified as Metis for generations.
This case was based on a landmark ruling in Canada, In R.V. Crowley (2003) 2.S.C.R. 202 (S.C.C.) this case addressed the rights of the Metis under Section 35(1) of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982.
That decision unanimously upheld the RIGHT of "a Metis community to hunt for food." The Crowley case also "provided the Court[s] with an opportunity to address the need for a fresh conceptual framework when assessing claims based on aboriginal rights to Metis persons…The inclusion of the Metis in S. 35 represents Canada's commitment to recognize and value the distinctive Metis cultures." (Ibid.)
This case guaranteed the survival of the Metis on a equal basis with the Algonquian nations they are descended from. No such policy has been implemented in the USA, and the fact that CT Law supposedly recognizes persons from recognized tribes of Canadian provinces is inapplicable for one reason. The term "tribe" is far too vague and ambiguous as well as inapplicable. All that changed, however in late 2007 and throughout 2008. That is when the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 61/295 entitled Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2008 the Algonquian First Nation of Canada executed a Declaration of Sovereignty adopting the UN Resolution. In October Of 2008 ACQTC executed the Reaffirmation Of The Sacred Bond of the Covenant and reestablished our own sovereignty and autonomy listing condensed RIGHTS that were sanctioned by this Resolution. The United Nations also held that all UN Member States who are signatories to the UN Convention On Elimination of All Forms of Racism are bound by this Declaration. The USA is a UN Member State and Signatory to that convention.
Only one state (and it just happens to be one of the six New England states) New Hampshire has enacted a state law that emulates this UN Declaration and thus codifies the protection of its aboriginal inhabitants (who are in about the same situation as ACOTC).
Abolish Racist and Ethnocentric Criterion
ACQTC calls for the abolition of all state and federal criterion that conflicts with this UN Declaration and deprives the aboriginal cultures from the enjoyment of inalienable rights. These rights are CHILLED and FORECLOSED because these antiquated ethnocentric policies remain and stand as a barrier between indigenous peoples and their traditional forms of self-identity. ACQTC has submitted proposals to both Congress and state of CT Commission on Indian Affairs to abolish these ethnocentric standards and replace it with a 3-level progressive system that provides for individuals as well as groups under their own terms. No response from state or federal authorities has been received.
These forms of racism and ethnocentricity will continue to exist unless and until YOU - THE GENERAL PUBLIC join us in demanding the abolition of all forms of racism including these archaic policies of blood quantum.
Endnotes
