Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts Relative to the Marshpee Tribe: Or, the Pretended Riot ExplainedApess, William
History
Indian Nullification of the Unconstitutional Laws of Massachusetts Relative to the Marshpee Tribe: Or, the Pretended Riot Explained
Apess, William
Indians of North America -- Legal status, laws, etc.; Mashpee Indians -- Land tenure; Mashpee Indians -- Legal status, laws, etc.
1st. We, as a people, have not been benefited by his
preaching; for our moral character has not been built up, and
there has been no improvement in our intellectual powers, and
we know of no Indian that has been converted by his preaching.
2d. We seldom see him upon our plantation to visit us, as a
people. His visits are as follows--To one house, one visit in
one year--to another, two visits in five years--to another one
in seven--and to many, none at all. (We would here remark that
Mr. Fish has not improved, but rather lost ground; for history
informs us that such was the anxiety of the whites, that it
was thought best to visit the Indians twice in one year, and
preach to them, so as to save them.)
3d. We think that twenty years are long enough for one trial.
Another reason is that you and the people think that we are
benefited by that fund, or money paid to him for preaching to
the Indians--and we are not. White people are his visitors
and hearers. We would remark here that we have no objection to
worship with our white neighbors, provided they come as they
ought to come, and not as thieves and robbers, and we would
ask all the world if the Marshpee Indians have not been robbed
of their rights. We wonder how the good citizens of Boston, or
any town would like to have the Indians send them a preacher
and force him into the pulpit and then send other Indians to
crowd the whites out of their own meeting house and not pay
one cent for it. Do you think the white men would like it? We
trow, not; and we hope others will consider, while they read
our distressing tale. It will be perceived that we have no
objection if hundreds of other nations visit our meeting
house. We only want fair play; for we have had foul play
enough.
4th. We do not believe but that we have as good a right to
the table of the Lord as others. We are kept back to the last,
merely because our skins are not so white as the whites', and
we know of no scriptures that justify him in so doing. (The
writer would here observe, that he wonders any person
guilty of a dark skin will submit to such unchristian usage,
especially as the minister is as willing to shear his black
sheep as his white ones. This being the case, ought he not to
pay as much regard to them? Should he turn them loose to shift
for themselves, at the risk of losing them?)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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