John Wannuaucon Quinney (1797 – July 21, 1855) was a Mahican

Mahican

The Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...

 (also Stockbridge) diplomat, and was nicknamed "The Dish".

Biography

He was a native of the Hudson River Valley in Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 but lived in several different places, notably Norwich, Connecticut

Norwich, Connecticut

Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...

, Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,947 at the 2010 census...

, and Oneida, Wisconsin

Oneida, Wisconsin

Oneida is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place in the town of Oneida, Outagamie County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,070 at the 2000 census. At the census, part of the CDP lay within the town of Hobart, which has since incorporated as a village, in...

. He promoted native rights and integration into modernity as well as arguing from the standpoint of a small northern native population.

Representative

In 1822, Quinney was one of three agents who went to Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

 to purchase land for New York tribe members who wanted to resettle west into Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. They bought land from the Menominee Indians. Members moved west in one group per year until everyone was moved by 1829. In 1827, Menominee members met with United States Government officials to settle their boundary dispute. The Menominee ended up selling their land to the officials, including the land on the Fox River

Fox River (Wisconsin)

The Fox River is a river in eastern and central Wisconsin in the United States. Along the banks is a chain of cities, including Oshkosh, Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Little Chute, Kimberly, Combined Locks, and Kaukauna. Except for Oshkosh, these cities refer to themselves as the Fox Cities...

 that they had sold to the Mahican. Quinney represented the Mahican in 1828 and 1830 by attempting to secure a title for the disputed land. The Menominee disowned their sale to the New York tribes. The Stockbridge and Munsee decided to negotiate a treaty with the United States government in 1831. The negotiations concluded in 1832 with these tribes securing two townships on the east shore of Lake Winnebago

Lake Winnebago

Lake Winnebago is a freshwater lake in eastern Wisconsin, United States. It is the largest lake entirely within the state.-Statistics:...

: Stockbridge

Stockbridge (town), Wisconsin

Stockbridge is a town in Calumet County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,383 at the 2000 census. The Village of Stockbridge, and the unincorporated communities of Saint Catherines Bay, and Kloten are located within the town.-Geography:...

, and Brothertown

Brothertown, Wisconsin

Brothertown is a town in Calumet County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 1,404 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Brothertown, Charlesburg, Eckers Lakeland, Jericho, Maple Heights, and Quinney are located in the town...

.

He drafted a constitution for the tribe in 1837, ratified by over half of the tribe, which gave up their governance by heredity. Some members of the tribe were reluctant to give up their traditional governance, resulting in conflict in the tribe. They decided to sell half of their land so that some members could move farther west. For the next five years, Quinney represented the tribe before the United States Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in attempts to settle losses from the numerous relocations. In 1843, the United States Congress made the tribe members United States citizens. Quinney represented some members who wanted a return to tribal status. He helped negotiate an 1848 treaty that said that the tribe could move west if suitable land was found. This had not occurred by 1852, so he asked Congress to grant him title to his home in Stockbridge, Wisconsin since he was too old and frail. His request was granted in 1854 and he became a United States citizen. Quinney died while living at Stockbridge, Wisconsin

Stockbridge, Wisconsin

Stockbridge is a village in Calumet County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 649 in the 2000 census. The village lies within the Town of Stockbridge.-History:...

 on July 21, 1855. The next year a treaty was negotiated with the Menominee to purchase the land that resulted in the final solution of a Stockbridge-Munsee Community

Stockbridge-Munsee Community

The Stockbridge-Munsee Community is a Federally recognized Indian tribe consisting of the Mahican and Munsee peoples. Their land-base, the Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Reservation, is located at in Shawano County, Wisconsin, in the towns of Bartelme and Red Springs.-In popular culture:In The West...

.

In Quinney's 1852 memorial to the United States Congress, he calls himself "a true Native American", which some scholars believe to be the first use of the term to describe the indigenous people of the Americas.

Fourth of July Address at Reidsville, New York, 1854

In this address he states that as he has gotten older he has witnessed the increase of wealth and power of the Europeans while at the same time a decline of his tribe, he believes that their extinction is inevitable. Quinney also speaks of a prophet who foretold the coming of the palefaces. He states that at first there was an impression of astonishment and pity towards these white men which later turned to admiration for their superior intelligence. He states that promises were ruthlessly broken by the white man, even intentionally broken. He also claims the white man gave the Indians Small Pox and Measles

Measles

Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...

along with other diseases to thin their ranks, in addition to promoting feuds amongst the tribes. He makes a claim that if a piece of land were left by a tribe for purposes of hunting, that land would be said to be abandoned and would be taken. He closes his speech by asking for justice for himself along with his tribe, exclaiming at the end, "may the Great Spirit enable me to die in hope."