Mohegan petition: remove strangers "as well whites as blacks"; mixed members ruled "naturalized" (Connecticut General Assembly, report dated May 22, 1782, endorsed…
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1782 · Places: Northeast
SUMMARYMohegan petition: remove strangers "as well whites as blacks"; mixed members ruled "naturalized" (Connecticut General Assembly, report dated May 22, 1782, endorsed May 1783) [Connections: Northeast & Mid-Atlantic, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDMohegan councilor Zachary Johnson petitioned against "several foreign Indians of different tribes" and tenants, asking that strangers be removed, "as well whites as blacks." The committee (Joseph Spencer, William Williams, Nathaniel Wales) found that many residents were not originally Mohegan. But through long residence, consanguinity and intermarriage they seemed "naturalized," and separating them would be unjust. The committee recommended that no "stranger or tenant, white or black," live on Indian lands without the overseers' consent. Hostile witness: colonial overseers controlled who could live on the land
PATTERNIn 1783 a state committee accepted people joined to the nation by marriage and residence as members. Later states used intermarriage to deny membership
LENS (WW9)Belonging by kinship was the nation's own rule, and the racial blood test came later
OPENFind the holding archive (Connecticut State Library, Indian Papers?) for catalog no. "326a."
SOURCENative Northeast Portal, "Committee Report on Mohegan Petition".