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Publication Date

10-1-2021

Document Type

Article

First Page

4

Last Page

23

Abstract

Since January 1, 1876, printed copies of the Maine Constitution have not included Article X, Section 5, which contains Maine’s constitutional duty to guarantee and defend Wabanaki treaties made with Massachusetts. This article offers an explanation of how and why the obscuration of Article X, Section 5 happened. It examines steps taken in 1875 to establish the redaction in relation to stages in the process to settle Joseph Granger v. Peter Avery, a Maine Supreme Judicial Court case that hinged upon a 1794 Passamaquoddy treaty. The timetable favored the financial interests of both Maine and Joseph Granger at the expense of the Passamaquoddy Tribe, which lost fifteen treaty islands as a result of the court’s decision and never received compensation from the state in defiance of Article X, Section 5. Maine officials were likely more immediately concerned about an outlay to Granger stemming from the verdict than to the tribe, as his demands would be harder to ignore. Notably, Frederick A. Pike, the constitutional commission member who proposed the redaction while a decision on Granger was still pending, pushed the Maine House to approve paying damages and other compensation to Granger soon after the redaction took effect. In violation of the now unprintable Article X, Section 5, this sum was taken from the Passamaquoddy Trust Fund. The Passamaquoddy Tribe and their allies protested, but Maine officials paid them no heed. Removing Maine’s Native treaty responsibilities from print all but formalized the government’s unofficial policy of ignoring its constitutional obligations.

Catherine M. Burns served as co-curator of “REDACT: Obscuring the Maine Constitution,” an exhibition at the Maine Historical Society. She holds a Ph.D. in United States history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I

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