Negotiations

The situation was very tense until President Jimmy Carter stepped in and called for negotiations in the White House.  In March 1977 he had appointed retired Georgia Supreme Court Justice William Gunter to study the merits of the Maine Indian land claims and the defenses to them.  The President's appointment of a three-person work group to develop a settlement plan was the result of Justice Gunter's recommendation that the case be settled. Negotiations between this work group and the tribes produced an agreement which was announced in February 1978.  An agreement between the Carter administration and officials of the State of Maine was announced in November 1978. 

During the negotiations, two of the State's strongest concerns were that the federal government pay the entire cost of any settlement and that the State regain jurisdiction over the reservations that it lost when the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Indian Nation were federally recognized.  The tribes wanted enough land and money so they could be economically independent and wanted to retain the sovereign rights that just recently had been recognized.

It was not until March 1980 that an agreement was reached that was supported by all parties, including representatives of the tribes, large land owners, the State of Maine, and the United States government.  Following the March announcement, the agreement was approved by the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and the Houlton Band of Maliseets.  The agreement was then adopted by the Maine Legislature and signed into law by Maine Governor Joseph Brennan on April 2, 1980.  The proposal was submitted to the U.S. Senate in June 1980 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in August 1980 and was passed by Congress later that year.  President Jimmy Carter signed it on October 10, 1980.