Glorious Revolutions, 1678–1699

To its Native signatories, the Casco Bay Treaty of 1678 recognized a post-war order where the Dawnland’s rightful inheritors commanded deference and cooperation from its colonial neighbors. By accepting their status as a dependent community whose presence represented a revocable privilege granted by Native leaders such as Madockawando, outsiders gained access to a newly regenerated northeast and began building new lives alongside its first people. But peace proved ephemeral. The rapid expansion of English colonialism after 1680 reintroduced many of the problems that antagonized Indian-settler relations earlier in the century. New evils compounded the old. Desperately hoping to win back the confidence of its people, especially those employed in the increasingly vital fishing industry, New England authorities implemented an aggressive policy for coastal security by severing Native access to the ocean. Within a decade of its formal recognition in the peace treaty of 1678, Wabanaki sovereignty over land and sea faced threats new and old.