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Lincoln, Benjamin, 1733-1810 [Speech delivered to the Penobscot Tribe]

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02437.03049 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Benjamin, 1733-1810 Place Written: Maine Type: Manuscript letter Date: 4 September 1784 Pagination: 2 p. : docket ; Height: 32 cm, Width: 20 cm Order a Copy

Written at the Penobscot River, present-day Maine. Lincoln, a commissioner chosen to negotiate land boundaries with the Penobscot Tribe, praises the Penobscots' involvement in the Revolutionary War. Continues, "It is said that in your own Opinion the Lands you occupy far exceed the Quantity necessary for your own Use; and that you have suffered pretended purchases for trifling Considerations, to engross Part of them... the Sovereign Power of this Commonwealth... will not suffer Individuals to purchase those Lands which you are permitted to occupy." Offers the option for the Penobscots to concentrate their land holdings on one side of the river, or on both sides higher up the river. This document is clerically written and signed for both Lincoln and Henry Knox.

Lincoln, Benjamin, 1733-1810
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806

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