Property and Land

The English government and settlers and the Wabanaki People had vastly different concepts of property and land.  This led to many misunderstandings, which, in turn, led to broken treaties. 

The English assumed that when the Wabanaki People gave them rights to land, they had received sole and exclusive possession of it.  In this view, the Wabanaki People had renounced claims to occupy or use the land in any way.  When the Wabanaki People came back to use the land, the English were outraged.   

In the Wabanaki view, the English had received a right to share use of the land.  The English could hunt and fish and farm, but the Wabanaki People expected to continue to do the same in the same area.  The land, in this view, did not have a human master.   It was a sacred, social world.  It had a life in which one could participate, but one could not transfer exclusive title to it in exchange for English cloth or corn.   When the English pushed them off the land and deprived them of the use of it, the Wabanaki People were outraged. 

Even today Indians and non-Indians view property and land quite differently, and there are many misunderstandings and disagreements about land use.