The Mashpee Revolt { 1833–1834 }

This chapter focuses on William Apess's involvement in the Mashpee Revolt of 1833–4. While he was preaching in Scituate and Kingston on the South Shore of Massachusetts, Apess heard conflicting accounts of the Mashpee Indians' situation. Some evidently were content with the government-appointed overseers' protection of their tribal rights, while others vehemently opposed the paternalism and corruption that such oversight encouraged. Apess knew of the tribe's various petitions to the Massachusetts legislature. In May 1833, Apess traveled to Cape Cod to learn more about this situation as well as to preach to them. He met Phineas Fish, the minister assigned to the Mashpees. With Apess's assistance, the Mashpees drafted a memorial to Governor Levi Lincoln in which, among other things, they expressed their desire for self-government. The rest of this chapter examines the events leading up to the Mashpee Revolt and the aftermath of the Natives' action, including the trial of Apess and his confederates and his incarceration, along with the Mashpee's eventual incorporation as a state-recognized district.