Citizenship to town to land loss (Massachusetts, June 1869 / May 28, 1870)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1869 · Places: Northeast
SUMMARYCitizenship to town to land loss (Massachusetts, June 1869 / May 28, 1870) [Connections: Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe 1869 act changed Native people from "wards of the state" to "citizens of the commonwealth." Mashpee was incorporated as a town on May 28, 1870. Before incorporation, selling Mashpee land to outsiders needed legislative approval. Incorporation removed that restriction, and over the following decades land passed to nontribal owners. At the time, Rev. Joseph "Blind Joe" Amos said: "we are not ready for it now."
PATTERNThis is the same move as Rhode Island in 1880: citizenship that takes the land away. In 1978 the jury used 1869 and 1870 as the dates the Mashpee "stopped" being a tribe
LENS (WW9)The renaming of a nation into a town, by statute
OPENGet the text and chapter number of the 1869 act and of the 1870 incorporation act
SOURCEWhen and Where in Boston, "Enfranchisement Act Is Adopted"; Cape Cod News, "Mashpee, once an Indian district, was incorporated as a town 150 years ago".