Isabella Carter
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, was a union of Native American tribes that governed themselves according to the Great Law of Peace, a doctrine of 117 codicils where individual tribes handled their own affairs but came together to solve issues of common importance. The Iroquois Confederacy dates back several centuries, to when the Great Peacemaker founded it by uniting five nations: the Mohawks, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Seneca. The Iroquois Constitution established an egalitarian society ruled by a council, with each tribe playing a delineated role in the conduct of government. The influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the U.S. Constitution is a subject of debate, with some scholars arguing that it provided a real-life example of political concepts such as federalism and the separation of powers that the framers of the U.S. Constitution sought to adopt.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Multi-state government | Each nation maintained its own leadership |
| Federal structure | Common causes were decided in the Grand Council of Chiefs |
| Democratic principles | Consensus rather than fighting |
| Legislative body that balanced power between several nations | The right to attend council meetings was inherited through the female line |
| Division of powers | The council was supposed to provide spiritual guidance to the people |
| Emphasis on peace |
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What You'll Learn
- The Iroquois Confederacy was a union of six Native American tribes
- The Great Law of Peace was the Iroquois Constitution
- The Iroquois Constitution was represented by symbols on wampum belts
- The Iroquois Constitution established a legislative body that balanced power between nations
- The Iroquois Constitution influenced the US Constitution
The Iroquois Confederacy was a union of six Native American tribes
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, was a union of six Native American tribes. The five original tribes were the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca. In 1722, the sixth nation, the Tuscarora, joined the confederacy. The Iroquois Confederacy dates back several centuries, to when the Great Peacemaker founded it by uniting the five original nations.
The Iroquois Confederacy was a federal union, operating under the Great Law of Peace, also known as the Kaianere'kó:wa or Gayanashagowa. The law was represented by symbols on wampum belts, which functioned as mnemonic devices for storytellers. The Great Law of Peace established the rights, duties, and qualifications for the male lords the tribes would send to the council. Lords were expected to be honest and not gossip. The right to attend council meetings was inherited through the female line, giving mothers significant influence over their sons, who would be the representatives.
The Iroquois Confederacy was a multi-state government, with each nation maintaining its own individual governance while also being part of the confederacy. The constitution established a legislative body that balanced power between the nations. Each nation played a delineated role in the conduct of government. The Iroquois Confederacy was a sophisticated and thriving society of well over 5,000 people when the first European explorers encountered them in the early seventeenth century.
The influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on the U.S. Constitution is disputed. Some scholars argue that the U.S. Constitution was influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy, with its federal structure, notions of individual liberty, and the separation of powers. The constitutional framers sought to borrow aspects of Iroquois government, particularly the unification of multiple states, while also maintaining their sovereignty. The Iroquois Confederacy provided a real-life example of some of the political concepts the framers were interested in adopting. In 1988, Congress passed a resolution formally acknowledging the influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on the U.S. Constitution.
However, other scholars dispute this claim, pointing to a lack of evidence in U.S. constitutional debate records and the existence of European antecedents for democratic institutions. They argue that the Constitution as originally enacted was not like the Great Law of Peace, with key differences in areas such as suffrage and majority rule.
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The Great Law of Peace was the Iroquois Constitution
The Great Law of Peace, also known as the Iroquois Constitution, was the governing document of the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois Confederacy was a union of several Native American tribes, initially consisting of five tribes: the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Oneida, and Seneca. In 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Iroquois, bringing the total number of nations to six.
The Great Law of Peace was conceived by Dekanawidah, known as the Great Peacemaker, and his spokesman Hiawatha, who is also credited as the founder of the Iroquois Confederacy in Native American tradition. The law was represented by symbols on wampum belts, which served as mnemonic devices for storytellers. The original five nations ratified this constitution near modern-day Victor, New York, and the laws were first recorded and transmitted using these wampum shell-bead belts, which encoded messages in a sequence of pictograms. It was not until the 19th century that the Great Law of Peace was translated into English and other languages.
The Great Law of Peace established an egalitarian society ruled by a council, with each nation maintaining its own leadership but coming together to decide on common causes in a Grand Council of Chiefs. The Mohawks were considered the leaders of the Iroquois, and no council occurred without them. The Iroquois constitution established a legislative body that balanced power between the nations, with the Great Law of Peace outlining the rights, duties, and qualifications for the male lords that the tribes would send to the council. These lords were expected to uphold high moral standards, avoiding gossip and dishonesty, and the right to attend council meetings was inherited through the female line, giving mothers significant influence over their sons, who served as representatives.
The council itself was divided into three parties, with two parties debating matters and the third acting as an arbitrator to ensure the accuracy of statements and positions. The constitution also included religious elements, with the Iroquois believing in a Great Creator who established the different tribes, granted them the right to land, and promulgated the importance of peace. The council was meant to provide spiritual guidance to the people, and at the start of each assembly, the Onondaga were responsible for thanking the Great Creator.
The Iroquois Confederacy and the Great Law of Peace have been cited as influences on the U.S. Constitution, with some arguing that the framers of the Constitution sought to borrow aspects of Iroquois government, particularly the concept of a unified multi-state government. However, others dispute the extent of this influence, noting differences between the two forms of government and arguing that the Iroquois Confederacy was not a direct model for the U.S. Constitution.
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The Iroquois Constitution was represented by symbols on wampum belts
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, was a union of Native American tribes that initially consisted of an alliance between five tribes: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. In 1722, the Tuscarora nation joined the Iroquois, and together, these six nations formed a multi-state government while maintaining their own individual governance. The Iroquois Confederacy was governed by the Iroquois Constitution, also known as the Great Law of Peace, which established an egalitarian society ruled by a council.
One example of the symbolism on the wampum belts is the emblem of the unity of the Five Nations. It consists of a broad dark belt of wampum with thirty-eight rows and a white heart in the center, with two white squares on either side, all connected to the heart by white rows of beads. Each square and the heart represent one of the five nations and their territories, with the heart also symbolizing the loyalty of the Five Nations to the Great Peace and the authority given to advance the cause of peace.
Another symbol mentioned in the Iroquois Constitution is a bunch of wampum shells on strings, with the upper half being white and the lower half black, formed from equal contributions of the men of the Five Nations. This symbolized the unity of the men, with the white portion representing the women and the black portion representing the power and authority vested in the men. This string of wampum also represented the people's right to correct their erring lords, with a specified process to address situations where the lords did not heed warnings and pursued an unwanted course of action.
The wampum belts played a crucial role in preserving and transmitting the laws and narratives of the Great Law of Peace, serving as visual reminders and mnemonic devices for the storytellers and members of the Iroquois Confederacy. The symbols on the belts helped unify the nations, promote peace, and establish the rights and duties of the members of the confederacy.
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The Iroquois Constitution established a legislative body that balanced power between nations
The Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, was a union of Native American tribes present in the modern-day state of New York and beyond. The Iroquois Constitution, also known as the Great Law of Peace, established a legislative body that balanced power between several nations.
The legislative process consisted of two bodies. The first body consisted of the Mohawk and the Seneca, and the second body was made up of the Oneida and the Cayuga. Both bodies deliberated on proposals, although the Mohawk-Seneca house had greater authority and prestige. If a proposal was approved by the Mohawk and the Seneca, it would then go to the Oneida and the Cayuga for further deliberation. The Onondaga would then find a balance between the two bodies. If the other four tribes disagreed with the Onondaga, they could reassert their proposal if unanimous, and the Onondaga would have to agree.
The Mohawks were considered the leaders of the Iroquois as they were the first to follow the Great Prophet. No council occurred without them. The Iroquois Constitution established the rights, duties, and qualifications for the male lords that the tribes would send to the council. Lords were expected to uphold high moral standards and were not supposed to gossip or be dishonest. The right to attend council meetings was inherited through the female line, giving mothers significant influence over their sons, who were the representatives.
The legislative process of the Iroquois Confederacy has been noted by some to bear similarities to the U.S. legislative process, with its two deliberative bodies, the House and the Senate, and the president as the mediator. Indeed, historians have argued that the Iroquois Constitution influenced the U.S. Constitution. In 1988, the U.S. Congress passed Concurrent Resolution 331, formally acknowledging the influence of the Iroquois Constitution upon the American Constitution and Bill of Rights. However, the extent of this influence is disputed by scholars, who have pointed out several differences between the two forms of government.
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The Iroquois Constitution influenced the US Constitution
The Iroquois Constitution, also known as the Great Law of Peace, is an oral constitution consisting of 117 articles. It served as a social organisation for the Iroquois Confederacy, a union of several Native American tribes. The Iroquois Confederacy was a multi-state government, with each tribe maintaining its individual governance and freedoms.
When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in 1787, they sought to form a government for the United States. However, there were no contemporary democracies in Europe that they could emulate. Instead, they looked to the democratic forms of government of Native American nations, particularly the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois Confederacy's structure, with its multi-state government and individual tribal governance, impressed the Founders, who sought to emulate certain aspects in the US Constitution.
The Iroquois Constitution's legislative body, which balanced power between several nations, was of particular interest to the Founders. The Iroquois Confederacy's model of unification through mutual defence and its handling of foreign affairs also influenced the constitutional framers' thinking. Additionally, the democratic ideals of the Iroquois Constitution, known as Kaianere'kó:wa, provided inspiration to Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and other framers of the US Constitution. The federal structure of the US Constitution, as well as notions of individual liberty and the separation of powers, were influenced by the Iroquois example.
In 1987, Oren Lyons, a Faithkeeper for the Iroquois Confederacy, brought this influence to light before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. This led to Congress passing Concurrent Resolution 331 in 1988, formally acknowledging the impact of the Iroquois Confederacy on the US Constitution. The resolution also reaffirmed the continuing government-to-government relationship between Indian tribes and the United States, recognising the sovereignty and legitimacy of Native nations and their governments.
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Frequently asked questions
The Iroquois were influenced by nature in their constitution, the Great Law of Peace, because they believed that the Great Creator established the different tribes, granted the Iroquois nation the right to land, and promulgated the importance of peace.
The Great Law of Peace is the oral constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, which was founded by the Great Peacemaker to unite five nations: the Mohawks, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Seneca. In 1722, the sixth nation, the Tuscarora, joined the Iroquois Confederacy.
The Iroquois Confederacy provided a real-life example of some of the political concepts that the framers of the US Constitution were interested in adopting. For example, the Iroquois Confederacy was a multi-state government with a federal structure, which influenced the framers' thinking about how to assert the people's sovereignty over vast geographic expanses.
