John Wannuaucon Quinney

John Wannuaucon Quinney (c. 1797 – July 21, 1855) was a Mahican (also Stockbridge) diplomat, and was also referred to as "The Dish", a translation of his middle name, this being "a symbolic term for the Mohican (sic) homelands along the Housatonic River".

Biography He was a native of the Hudson River Valley in Connecticut but lived in several different places, notably Norwich, Connecticut, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and Oneida, Wisconsin. 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 to purchase land for New York tribe members who wanted to resettle west into Wisconsin. 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.

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 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."