Most of us know very little about the Native American history of California or of the United States, save that several California tribes currently own gambling casinos. This column will deal with adding a bit more information to that ledger in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, it remains a curious fact that in the modern school curricula, as we are constantly trying to interest youth in the glories of history and politics, we maintain this stubborn resistance to giving credence to authentic contributions of people we don’t like or do not highly regard. For instance, regarding the idea of the “founding fathers” of American democracy, we tend to focus only on America’s second Constitution, the one we use now. However, there was a first American Constitution, called the Articles of Confederation, and it was the basis of U.S. government from 1777-1788. That first Constitution was heavily influenced in its conception of democratic government by a pre-existing democratic republic in the American territories—the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederation.
Benjamin Franklin’s first draft of the Articles of Confederation was based on the Iroquois Constitution, but that is conveniently ignored in virtually every public school rendition of the birth of American government. The Native Americans deserve more, and in a 1987 U.S. Congressional Resolution, at least the American government finally acknowledged and honored the Native Americans for their contributions to the founding of American government. Why is it still not in the history and civics books our children study from and read?
Here’s the story:
According to the maintained oral tradition of the designated memory keepers of the Iroquois Confederacy, also called ‘The People of the Long House,” and the Iroquois League, the origins of the combined national government of the Five Tribes—the Seneca, Mohawk, the Cayuga, the Oneida, and the Onondaga—was in 1451, based on the remembrance of the solar eclipse that year. A reconsideration of that date now has it at the year 1142, since that aligns with the historical solar eclipse in that vicinity. The two men whose names have been most linked to this foundation are Dekanawida, a Huron living among the Seneca, who worked out a treaty of alliance with Hiawatha, who was an Onondaga living among the Mohawk.
After much discussion, this first alliance brought in the other three independent tribes and a verbal constitution was negotiated and agreed to by all of them. In 1722, the League was joined by the Tuscarora, and was known as the Six Tribes of the Iroquois. The Iroquois League began in the area of northern New York, but eventually expanded through both new alliances and physical conquest to control an area stretching from southern Canada to Kentucky, and from Eastern Pennsylvania to Ohio—a territory of more than 1,000 square miles.
Members of the League took different sides in the American War of Independence, with the Oneida and Tuscarora siding with the American colonists, and the other four nations cooperating with Britain. This was a fatal mistake, and after virtually 750 years of existence, by 1784 the Iroquois League had disbanded.
The constitution of the League or “The Great Binding,” as it was called, was unique among all other Native Americans. That agreement laid out operational principles and patterns for choosing, recalling, and replacing leaders, for conducting all joint business affairs, for declaring war, etc. It was based on mutual respect, unanimity of decision-making, due process, male and female voting, and the like. It was unprecedented on the American continent in its size and scope.
In brief, here is how it worked: each tribal nation of the Iroquois involved their own sovereignty. The League created a Great Council of Sachems who were equal in rank and authority, and who were invested with supreme powers involving all matters pertaining to the League. Unanimity in public acts was essential to the Council of the Confederacy. In the General Council, the sachems deliberated by tribal nation, which gave to each nation a veto over the others. Equality between the sexes had a strong adherence in the confederacy and the women held real power, particularly the power to approve or veto declarations of war. The members of the Grand Council of Sachems were chosen by the clan mothers, and if any leader failed to comply with the wishes of the women and the Great Law of Peace (the constitution), he could be removed by the clan mothers. For every issue at the Grand Council, first the Mohawk and the Seneca Lords (council members) would have to unanimously agree on a course of ation. They then sent this decisions to the Oneida and Cayuga Lords, who would also have to ununimously agree on this decision. If they didn’t agree, they would make a new choice and unanimously agree among themselves on it, then they would send it back to the Seneca and the Mohawk for their approval. The process would continue until both sets of tribal nations agreed on the issue or course of action. Once those four council members agreed, the decision would be sent to the Onondaga, the “Fire-Keepers.” The Onondagas were the keepers of the meeting place and the sacred fire. If the Onondaga members agreed to the decision made by the other four members, then that was it.
If they refused to accept the decision of the other four, they could reformulate it, make a wholly new decision, or just return it to the other four with their objections and ask for the decision to be reconsidered. Once consensus was reached the matter was decided and whatever action was relevant was authorized for implementation.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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