BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - An Abenaki debate took place on this day in 1987.

About 40 members of Vermont’s Abenaki tribe gathered on the banks of the Missisquoi River to go fishing.

The Abenaki were casting their lines without state fishing licenses, protesting the state’s refusal to grant them aboriginal land, hunting and fishing rights.

Game wardens issued citations, but the act of civil disobedience gave the tribe broader exposure of their claims.

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