American Indian Law Review Volume 18 | Number 2 1-1-1993 Defying Precedent: Can Abenaki Aboriginal Title Be Extinguished by the "Weight of History"? Gene Bergman Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/ailr Part of the Indian and Aboriginal Law Commons, Legal History Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Gene Bergman, Defying Precedent: Can Abenaki Aboriginal Title Be Extinguished by the "Weight of History"?, 18 Am. Indian L. Rev. 447 (2018), https://digitalcommons.law.ou.edu/ailr/vol18/iss2/4 This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in American Indian Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Oklahoma College of Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. DEFYING PRECEDENT: CAN ABENAKI ABORIGINAL TITLE BE EXTINGUISHED BY THE "WEIGHT OF HISTORY"? Gene Bergman* Thus ends the account of the St. FrancisIndians, the remnant of a great tribe.., whose story is closely connected with the hills and valleys, with the rivers and streams of our own town, and especially with the village known long ago as Missisquoi. Of those who gave name to our beautiful river, we are now almost, within a few years we may, alas! be wholly able to say, with literal exactness: "They have all passed away, The noble and the brave; Their light canoes have vanished From off the crested wave. But, their name is on our waters, We may not wash it out."' Introduction The Abenaki supposedly disappeared from Vermont a long time ago.2 Yet reports of their departure were greatly exaggerated.