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- ABOUT THE IROQUOIS CONSTITUTION:
-
- During the bi-centennial year of The Constitution of the
- United States, a number of books were written concerning the
- origin of that long-revered document. One of these, The Genius
- of the People, alleged that after the many weeks of debate a
- committee sat to combine the many agreements into one formal
- document. The chairman of the committee was John Rutledge of
- South Carolina. He had served in an earlier time, along with
- Ben Franklin and others, at the Stamp Act Congress, held in
- Albany, New York. This Committee of Detail was having trouble
- deciding just how to formalize the many items of discussion
- into one document that would satisfy one and all. Rutledge
- proposed they model the new government they were forming into
- something along the lines of the Iroquois League of Nations,
- which had been functioning as a democratic government for
- hundreds of years, and which he had observed in Albany. While
- there were many desirable, as well as undesirable, models
- from ancient and modern histories in Europe and what we know
- now as the Middle East, only the Iroquois had a system that
- seemed to meet most of the demands espoused by the many parties
- to the debates. The Genius of the People alleged that the
- Iroquois had a Constitution which began: "We the people,
- to form a union. . ."
-
- That one sentence was enough to light a fire under me,
- and cause me to do some deep research into ancient Iroquoian
- lore. I never did find that one sentence backed up in what
- writings there are concerning the ancient Iroquois. But I DID
- find sufficient data and evidence to convince me that the
- Iroquois most certainly did have a considerable influence on
- the drafting of our own Constitution, and we present-day
- Americans owe them a very large debt. At the time of the
- founding of the Iroquois League of Nations, no written language
- existed; we have only the early stories which were passed down
- from generation to generation, until such time as there was a
- written language, and interpreters available, to record that
- early history. One such document is listed below.
-
- There are several other documents now available in various
- places which refer to the original founding of the Iroquois,
- and they seem to substantiate this document as probably
- truthful and accurate. This version was prepared by Arthur
- C. Parker, Archeologist of the State Museum in New York in
- 1915, and published by the University of the State of New York
- as Bulletin 184 on April 1, 1916. It is entitled: The
- Constitution of the Five Nations - or - The Iroquois Book of
- the Great Law. In it, you will find close parallels to our
- Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches of government
- as originally described in our U. S. Constitution.
-
- You will find it very difficult to keep in mind that it
- survives after some 500 or 600 years, and was originated by
- people that our ancestors mistakenly considered as "savages".
- Some sources place the origin of the Five Nation Confederacy as
- early as 1390 AD, but others insist it was prepared about
- 1450-1500 AD; in any case, it was well before any possible
- contamination by European invaders. Early explorers and
- colonists found the Iroquois well established, as they had been
- for many generations: with a democratic government; with a form
- of religion that acknowledged a Creator in heaven; with a
- strong sense of family which was based on, and controlled by,
- their women; and many other surprises you will soon discover.
-
- It must also be pointed out that this document refers to
- to the "Five" Nations, while other references to the Confederacy
- speak of the "Six" nations. From the inception, there were the
- Five Nations discussed in this Constitution. In about 1715,
- the Tuscarora Nation, once part of the Iroquois peoples in a
- much earlier period of their history, moved up from North
- Carolina to avoid warfare with the invading white settlers,
- and were adopted into the Confederacy. At this point in time,
- the Iroquois controlled many parts of our now eastern states
- from their homelands in what is now New York state. The
- original Five Nations were:
-
- Mohawk: People Possessors of the Flint
- Onondaga: People on the Hills
- Seneca: Great Hill People
- Oneida: Granite People
- Cayuga: People at the Mucky Land
-
- Tuscarora: Shirt Wearing People became the Sixth Nation.
-
- The founder of the Confederacy of the Five Nations is
- generally acknowledged to be Dekanawida, born near the Bay of
- Quinte, in southeastern Ontario, Canada. During his travels,
- he associated himself with a Mohawk tribal lord in what is now
- New York, and named him Hahyonhwatha (Hiawatha) (He who has
- misplaced something, but knows where to find it). Hiawatha
- left his family and friends, and joined Dekanawida in his
- travels, becoming his chief spokesman. One legend has it
- that Dekanawida, while brilliant, had a speech impediment,
- and depended on Hiawatha to do his public speaking for him.
- Together, they traveled the length and breadth of the lands
- on the south shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario, as well as the
- river to the sea, now known as the St. Lawrence. These were
- the homelands of tribes with a common heritage, but who had
- been warring with one another for many years. Dekanawida
- united them into a League of Nations that we now call the
- Iroquois League. Centuries later, Longfellow "borrowed" the
- name of Hiawatha to be his hero in a fictional legend; there
- is no other connection between the two Hiawathas nor their
- stories.
-
- Here is their original Constitution, as best it can be
- recontructed from legend and spoken history. Read it and be
- amazed...keep in mind it is over 500 years old!
-
- ------------------------------------
-
- Prepared by Gerald Murphy (The Cleveland Free-Net - aa300)
- Distributed by the Cybercasting Services Division of the
- National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN).
-
- Permission is hereby granted to download, reprint, and/or otherwise
- redistribute this file, provided appropriate point of origin
- credit is given to the preparer(s) and the National Public
- Telecomputing Network.
-
-