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Maine is the Only State to Have Tribal Representatives Seated in Their Legislature

By: Style Desk

Start Date and Time:
June 15, 2007 - 12:00pm
End Date and Time:
June 29, 2007 - 5:00pm

Maine is the only State in the United States to have Tribal Representatives seated in its legislative body. These Tribal Representatives represent their respective Tribal Governments, not districts. Two Tribal Governments are represented, the Penobscot Nation, and the Passamaquoddy Tribe. The Tribal Representatives have been seated in the House since Maine became a State.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN
LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVES IN
THE MAINE LEGISLATURE
BY
S. GLENN STARBIRD, JR., 1983
UPDATED BY DONALD SOCTOMAH,1999
DONNA M LORING 2001,2007
The earliest record of Representatives being sent from the Penobscots is in 1823 and of the Passamaquoddy in 1842. At that time there was no State law regarding election of Indian Delegates or Representatives to the Legislature and the choice of this person or persons was determined by tribal law or custom only. Massachusetts records show that the practice of the two tribes sending Representatives to the State Legislature was not new with the formation of the new State of Maine in 1820 but probably had been going on since before the Revolutionary War.
The differences between the old and New Parties in the Penobscot Tribe in the 1830