I had only heard of Passamaquoddy in the old movie Pete’s Dragon (where, as you may remember, it is the name of the town, and the travelling quack doctor can never say it right), until I came across it the other day in the journals of the Continental Congress. I didn’t know it was a real place, so I looked it up, and sure enough, there’s a Passamaquoddy Bay on the border between the U.S. and Canada: specifically, between Maine and New Brunswick.
However, there’s not actually a town named Passamaquoddy, so I guess the screenwriters made that part up. On the other hand, the journals of the Continental Congress refer simply to “Passamaquaddy” (note the spelling difference), rather than “Passamaquaddy Bay,” so maybe there was a town called Passamaquaddy at the time, but I’m inclined to think that “Passamaquaddy” referred to the area around the bay, rather than a specific town.
At any rate, there were enough people in the area or town of Passamaquaddy (also spelled Passamaquady, or even Pesmocadie) to be politically active, and to send a petition to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Here’s the record from the journal of the Continental Congress on November 2, 1775:
The Inhabitants of Passamaquaddy in Nova Scotia, having chosen a com[mitt]ee of Safety, and having, by their petition, applied to the Congress to be admitted into the association of the North Americans, for the preservation of their rights and liberties,
On motion made, Resolved, That a com[mitt]ee of 5 be appointed to take this matter into consideration, and report what steps, in their opinion, it will be proper to take, in consequence of this application, for the preservation of the liberties of America.
The members chosen, Mr. [Silas] Deane, Mr. [John] Jay, Mr. [Stephen] Hopkins, Mr. [John] Langdon, and Mr. John Adams.
What steps did the congress decide to take regarding the inhabitants of Passamaquaddy? I haven’t found out yet, but if I do, I’ll let you know.
In case you’re wondering why the congress said that Passamaquaddy was in Nova Scotia, when I said that the bay was on the border of Maine and New Brunswick, it’s because the province of New Brunswick hadn’t been created yet, and that territory was considered part of Nova Scotia.
And in case you’re wondering why the Passamaquaddians (I just had to use that word) wanted to be allowed to join “the association of the North Americans,” it was surely at least partly a matter of business. The “association” was an agreement by the First Continental Congress in 1774, and it involved boycotting certain British goods and not shipping certain things to other British territories. Since the Passamaquaddians were out of Maine (which was actually part of Massachusetts at the time), they weren’t included in the association, which meant that they couldn’t do as much business with their New England neighbors as they used to. If the congress would allow them to join the association, then they would be able to go back to doing business as before.
Sources
A Plan of the coast from Cape Anne in north latitude 42⁰42ʹ & 70⁰33ʹ west longitude from Greenwich: … to Isle Scattery in long. 50⁰40ʹ & latitude 46⁰ 0ʹ north, … including the isle of Sable. [?, 1775] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/74694110/.
Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 3, p. 316.