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Mashantucket Pequot leaders urge Connecticut to condemn 1638 Treaty of Hartford, seek new Capitol statue process
Summary
Latoya Clough, vice chairwoman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, told the Government Administration and Elections Committee she supports Senate Joint Resolution 16 condemning the 1638 Treaty of Hartford and asked lawmakers to adopt House Bill 6040 to create a formal process for adding or relocating statues at the Connecticut State Capitol.
Latoya Clough, vice chairwoman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, testified in support of Senate Joint Resolution 16 and House Bill 6040 before the Government Administration and Elections Committee, asking the state to condemn the 1638 Treaty of Hartford and to adopt a formal, inclusive process for placing statues at the Connecticut State Capitol.
Clough said the treaty followed the Pequot War and “formalized the attempt…to erase the very existence of our people,” describing how survivors were enslaved, exiled or forced to assimilate and how “even the reference of the name Pequot was outlawed.” She thanked the committee and Senator Austin for advancing the resolution.
Committee members questioned why a 1638 treaty should be the subject of a state resolution today; Representative Massie Francesco and Senator Sampson raised concerns that the events predated U.S. independence and said members needed more historical context. Clough replied that Pequot history is part of Connecticut’s history and urged committee members to visit the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center to learn more.
Clough also addressed HB 6040, which would establish a process for adding statues and create a historical commission to guide memorialization at the Capitol. She said the tribe supports a process “for adding new statues to the Connecticut State Capitol and creating a historical commission to guide memorization effort,” and suggested relocating the John Mason statue to the Old State House Museum as an interpretive exhibit rather than a place of honor.
Supporters who spoke later, including Senator Kathy Austin and Jennifer Kiku Langford McDonald, framed the resolution as an acknowledgement of historical harms and a step toward reconciliation. Opponents and some committee members emphasized competing historical narratives and warned against erasing history; Representative Massie Francesco said moving a statue does not remove it from the historical record and argued that educational context could be preserved in other ways.
The testimony left the committee with several open questions: how the state should balance contested historical narratives, whether a public or expert-driven historical review is required before formal action, and what process HB 6040 should adopt for reviewing existing and proposed memorials. No formal vote or committee decision on SJ 16 or HB 6040 was recorded in the hearing transcript.
The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation urged the committee to view the measures as steps toward historical truth and reconciliation and to use a formal process to determine what is memorialized at the Capitol and how.
