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The Peace and Friendship Treaties—Then and Today

The Peace and Friendship Treaties are a number of treaties negotiated between the peoples of the Wabanaki Confederacy and the British Crown between 1725 and 1776.

What is a Treaty?

The European Understanding

In the legal understanding of European nations, a treaty is a formal agreement between two or more nations which recognizes specific rights and obligations. Basically, treaties are meant to define the relationship between the signatory nations. Only nations can sign treaties, and to be a nation, a community must have a territory, a language, a culture, and a government that can act on behalf of the community. (source: CBU website)

The Wabanaki Understanding

The Wabanaki peoples had a long history of treaty-making before the European arrival in North America. As the Wabanaki peoples understand them, treaties, or lakatuwakon in Wolastoqiyik, are solemn agreements between independent nations and with the Creator to make the nations kin and establish ongoing, familial relationships between them. Due to the solemn nature of treaties, the agreement was accompanied by sacred ceremonies, such as smoking the peace pipe, feasting, and the exchange of gifts as signs of respect. The agreements were depicted in wampum belts, which were read out when the members of the treaty alliance met
to renew the relationship. (insert source)

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