Mashpee Wampanoags Federally Recognized 2007
The Mashpee Wampanoags maintains its own health services, police department and education system on a 170-acre reservation in Mashpee.
In 1629 the Mashpee Wampanoag, along with eight other Wampanoag tribes granted “Indian Title” to the King of England to a tract of land that would become Plymouth Colony.
Beginning in 1665, the Wampanoag, petitioned the General Court for Mashpee’s status as a ‘praying town’, a form of government established by Missionary Rev. John Eliot and confirmed by the General Court of the colony. In May 1666, the petition being granted, the Mashpee Wampanoags now governed themselves via the law of ‘praying towns’. Praying Town status afforded tribes protection of the English Crown and a greater chance to remain on their homelands. While this helped to maintain tenure in the land, these new laws also patterned English systems of justice and took away freedoms of the Wampanoag to live traditionally.
Following the Wampanoag defeat in King Philip's War, (1675–1676), those on the mainland were resettled with the Sakonnet in present-day Rhode Island. Other Wampanoags were forced to settle in the praying towns, such as Mashpee. The colonists sold many Wampanoag men into slavery in the Caribbean, and enslaved women and children in New England.
In 1763, the British Crown designated Mashpee as a plantation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, against the will of the Wampanoag. By this designation, the Crown gave the colonial district of Mashpee authority to integrate into its territory the area governed by the Mashpee Wampanoag. The colony gave the natives the "right" to elect their own officials to maintain order in their area, but otherwise subjected them to colonial government. The Wampanoag population of the plantation declined steadily due to social disruption and infectious disease contracted from the colonists. They also suffered from continuing encroachment on their lands by the English.
In 1788 Massachusetts revoked Mashpee Wampanoag self-government, which European-American officials considered a failure. They appointed a committee of overseers, consisting of five European-American members, to supervise the Mashpee. The Mashpee Wampanoag lead a peaceful protest in 1837 against the overseers, who did not protect the Wampanoag from colonists stealing their wood, the governor threatened a military response. Rule by the overseers resulted in the loss of additional Wampanoag lands.
In 1834, the state returned a certain level of self-government to the Wampanoag, although they were not completely autonomous. With the idea that emulating European-American farming would encourage assimilation, in 1842 the state broke up some of the Wampanoag communal land. It distributed 2,000 acres of their 13,000-acre property in allotments of 60-acre parcels to heads of households, so that each family could have individual ownership for subsistence farming. The legislature passed laws prohibiting European Americans from encroaching on Wampanoag land, but the state did not enforce these.
In 1974 the Mashpee Wampanoags petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for federal recognition. Like other tribes of the Atlantic Coast area, they encountered difficulties documenting their continuity. The recognition process required documentation of continued existence since first contact with European arrivals.
In 1976 the tribe filed a land claim lawsuit, suing the Town of Mashpee for the return of ancestral homelands. The US District Court ruled that, lacking federal recognition as a tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag people had no standing to pursue the land claim. The tribe continued to pursue federal recognition for three decades, gaining it on May 23, 2007.
In 2012 The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe purchased 150-acres of land in Taunton. In 2023 after decades of lawsuits by Taunton neighbors, the land was formally added to the Mashpee Wampanoag Reservation. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe had planned to construct a $1 billion destination resort casino in Taunton. But the gambling landscape in the region is much different now.
The Mashpee Wampanoags maintains its own health services, police department and education system on a 170-acre reservation in Mashpee.
In 1629 the Mashpee Wampanoag, along with eight other Wampanoag tribes granted “Indian Title” to the King of England to a tract of land that would become Plymouth Colony.
Beginning in 1665, the Wampanoag, petitioned the General Court for Mashpee’s status as a ‘praying town’, a form of government established by Missionary Rev. John Eliot and confirmed by the General Court of the colony. In May 1666, the petition being granted, the Mashpee Wampanoags now governed themselves via the law of ‘praying towns’. Praying Town status afforded tribes protection of the English Crown and a greater chance to remain on their homelands. While this helped to maintain tenure in the land, these new laws also patterned English systems of justice and took away freedoms of the Wampanoag to live traditionally.
Following the Wampanoag defeat in King Philip's War, (1675–1676), those on the mainland were resettled with the Sakonnet in present-day Rhode Island. Other Wampanoags were forced to settle in the praying towns, such as Mashpee. The colonists sold many Wampanoag men into slavery in the Caribbean, and enslaved women and children in New England.
In 1763, the British Crown designated Mashpee as a plantation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, against the will of the Wampanoag. By this designation, the Crown gave the colonial district of Mashpee authority to integrate into its territory the area governed by the Mashpee Wampanoag. The colony gave the natives the "right" to elect their own officials to maintain order in their area, but otherwise subjected them to colonial government. The Wampanoag population of the plantation declined steadily due to social disruption and infectious disease contracted from the colonists. They also suffered from continuing encroachment on their lands by the English.
In 1788 Massachusetts revoked Mashpee Wampanoag self-government, which European-American officials considered a failure. They appointed a committee of overseers, consisting of five European-American members, to supervise the Mashpee. The Mashpee Wampanoag lead a peaceful protest in 1837 against the overseers, who did not protect the Wampanoag from colonists stealing their wood, the governor threatened a military response. Rule by the overseers resulted in the loss of additional Wampanoag lands.
In 1834, the state returned a certain level of self-government to the Wampanoag, although they were not completely autonomous. With the idea that emulating European-American farming would encourage assimilation, in 1842 the state broke up some of the Wampanoag communal land. It distributed 2,000 acres of their 13,000-acre property in allotments of 60-acre parcels to heads of households, so that each family could have individual ownership for subsistence farming. The legislature passed laws prohibiting European Americans from encroaching on Wampanoag land, but the state did not enforce these.
In 1974 the Mashpee Wampanoags petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for federal recognition. Like other tribes of the Atlantic Coast area, they encountered difficulties documenting their continuity. The recognition process required documentation of continued existence since first contact with European arrivals.
In 1976 the tribe filed a land claim lawsuit, suing the Town of Mashpee for the return of ancestral homelands. The US District Court ruled that, lacking federal recognition as a tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoag people had no standing to pursue the land claim. The tribe continued to pursue federal recognition for three decades, gaining it on May 23, 2007.
In 2012 The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe purchased 150-acres of land in Taunton. In 2023 after decades of lawsuits by Taunton neighbors, the land was formally added to the Mashpee Wampanoag Reservation. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe had planned to construct a $1 billion destination resort casino in Taunton. But the gambling landscape in the region is much different now.