According to Abenaki by Colin G. Calloway (1981)
Maine Indians Claims Settlement Act of Oct.10th 1980.The act was signed by president Jimmy Carter. The act set aside $27 million in trust for the 2 people of Penobscot and Passamaqoddy. The act also provides the tribes with an additional $54.5 million to be used in buying back 300,000 acres of land in Maine. When the act is looked at all as once it totaled $81.5 million for the land and the trust all added together.
The settlement was a compromise because the Indian people from these two tribes wanted to have two thirds of the land in the state given back to them. The reason for this was because the tribes claimed the land was taken away from the illegally. This was the biggest land settlement in the history of the U.S government’s dealings with the Indian tribes.

This act was passed and happened because the Abenaki people of the Penobscot, and Passamaqoddy were persistent. Not only that but they did not want to have the opportunity to buy their land back. That is what the state and the Abenaki were able to settle on in the end of the litigation.