ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a specific policy issue as a case study that illustrates in more detail some interactions and their policy results. The Maine case not only indicates the complex relationships in the formation of major policy but also points up the importance of Indian policy to large segments of the American public. In 1972 the Passamaquoddy tribe asked the United States to sue the state of Maine on the basis that the treaties and agreements had never been approved by the federal government. The tribe went to court to try to force the federal government to sue the state of Maine. Settlement of the Maine land claims involved interactions among Indian tribes, attorneys, outside interest groups, courts, the state, Maine land owners, Interior, Justice, the Office of Management and Budget, the president, an outside consultant and Congress. Many people involved in the Maine claims case undoubtedly thought they should have done better for themselves.
