The chiefs of the League of Five Nations shall be mentors of
the people for all time. The thickness of their skins shall
be seven spans . . . their minds filled with a yearning for
the welfare of the people of the League. . . .
--
The Great Law of Peace, Paragraph 24,
When the Iroquois Confederacy was formed, no Europeans
were present with clocks and a system for telling time
before and after the birth of Christ. Since ideas, unlike
artifacts, cannot be carbon dated or otherwise fixed in
unrecorded time, the exact date that the Senecas,
Onondagas, Oneidas, Mohawks, and Cayugas stopped
battling one another and formed a federal union will never
be known. It is known, however, that around 1714 the
Tuscaroras, a kindred Indian nation, moved northward from
what is presently the Carolinas to become the sixth
national member of the confederacy.
A
wide range of estimates exist for the founding date of
the confederacy. Iroquoian sources, using oral history and
recollections of family ancestries (the traditional methods
for marking time through history), have fixed the origin
date at between 1000 and 1400 A.D.; Euro-American
historians have tended to place the origin of the Iroquois
league at about 1450.
By
an Iroquois account, Cartier made his first appearance
among the Iroquois during the life of the thirty-third
presiding chief of the league. The presiding chief (Atotarho
was the name of the office) held a lifetime appointment
unless he was impeached for violating the Great Law of
Peace. The Iroquois who use this method of tracing the
league's origin place the date at between 1000 and
1100. Arthur C. Parker, a Seneca, used Iroquoian recall of family
lines and lifespans to estimate the founding date at 1390. Paul
A. W. Wallace, a student of the Iroquois who has
written extensively about them, estimated the founding
date of the league at 1450. This is only a sample of the
attempts that have been made to solve an unsolvable riddle.
At
whatever date the confederacy was formed, it came at the
end of several generations of bloody and divisive warfare
between the five nations that joined the league. According
to the Iroquois' traditional account, the idea of a
federal union was introduced through Deganwidah, a Huron
who lived in what is now eastern Ontario. Deganwidah was
unsuited himself to propose the idea not only because of his
non-Iroquoian ancestry, but also because he stuttered so
badly that he could scarcely talk. He would have had the
utmost difficulty in presenting his idea to societies where
oratory was prized. And writing, aside from the pictographs
of the wampum belts, was not used.
Deganwidah,
wandering from tribe to tribe trying to
figure ways to realize his dream of ending war among them
all, met Hiawatha, who agreed to speak for him. Hiawatha
(a man far removed from Longfellow's poetic creation)
undertook long negotiations with leaders of the warring
Indian nations and, in the end, produced a peace along the
lines of Deganwidah's vision.
This
peace was procured, and maintained, through the
constitution of the league, the Great Law of Peace
(untranslated: Kaianerekowa). The story of the Great Law's
creation is no less rich in history and allegory than the
stories of cultural origin handed down by European peoples,
and is only briefly summarized here.
The
Great Law of Peace was not written in English until about
1880 when Seth Newhouse, a Mohawk, transcribed it. By
this time, many of the traditional sachems of the league,
worried that the wampum belts that contained the Great Law's
provisions might be lost or stolen, sought a version written
in English. One such translation was compiled by Arthur
C. Parker. In recent years, the text of the Great Law has
been published in several editions by Akwesasne Notes,
a journal for "native and natural peoples" published on the
Mohawk Nation. The substance of all these written
translations is similar, although wording varies at
some points.
The
text of the Great Law begins with the planting of the
Tree of the Great Peace; the great white pine -- from its
roots to its spreading branches -- serves throughout the
document as a metaphor for the unity of the league. The
tree, and the principal council fire of the confederacy,
were located on land of the Onondaga Nation, at the center
of the confederacy, the present site of Syracuse, New York.
From
the Tree of the Great Peace
This
opening provision complements the adoption laws of
the confederacy, which contained no bars on the basis of
race or national origin. Nor did the Great Law prohibit
dual citizenship; several influential Anglo-Americans,
emissaries from the Colonial governments, including
William Johnson and Conrad Weiser, were given full
citizenship in the confederacy. Both men took part in
the deliberations of the Grand Council at Onondaga.
Following
paragraphs three and four, which outlined
procedural matters such as the calling of meetings and
maintenance of the council fire, the Great Law began to
outline a complex system of checks and balances on the
power of each nation against that of the others. The Great
Law ensured that no measure (such as a declaration of war)
would be enacted by the Council of the League without the
consent of all five represented nations, each of which
would first debate the question internally:
After
a question had been debated by the Mohawks,
Senecas, Oneidas, and Cayugas on both sides of the
"house," it was passed to the Onondagas, the firekeepers,
for their decision. The Great Law provided that every
Onondaga statesman or his deputy be
present in council and that all agree with the majority
"without unwarrantable dissent." Decisions, when made,
had to be unanimous. If Atotarho, or other chiefs among
the Onondaga delegation were absent, the council could
only decide on matters of small importance.
If
the decision of the "older brothers" (Senecas and
Mohawks) disagreed with that of the "younger brothers"
(Cayugas and Oneidas), the Onondagas were charged with
breaking the tie. If the four nations agreed, the Onondagas
were instructed by the Great Law to confirm the decision. The
Onondagas could, however, refuse to confirm a
decision given them by the other four nations, and send it
back for reconsideration. If the four nations rendered the
same decision again, the Onondagas had no other course
but to confirm it. This decision-making process somewhat
resembled that of a two-house congress in one body, with
the "older brothers" and "younger brothers" each comprising
a side of the house. The Onondagas filled something of an
executive role, with a veto that could be overriden by the
older and younger brothers in concert.[1]
Paragraph
14 of the Great Law provided that the speaker
for any particular meeting of the council would be elected
by acclamation from either the Mohawks, Senecas, or
Onondagas. The Great Law also provided for changes to the
Great Law, by way of amendment:
The
next major section of the Great Law concerned the rights,
duties, and qualifications of statesmen. The chiefs who sat
on the council were elected in two ways. Traditionally,
they were nominated by the women of each extended family
holding title (in the form of special wampum strings) to a
chiefship. Increasingly during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, chiefs were elected outside this
hereditary structure on the basis of their leadership
qualities.
In
order to keep his office, a chief had to abide by
several rules, most of which were written into the Great
Law. A chief could not, for example, refuse to attend
meetings of the council. After one warning by the women
who had nominated him, a chief who continued to ignore
council meetings was removed.
More
seriously, a chief could be removed from the council
if it became "apparent . . . [that he] . . . has not in mind
the welfare of the people, or [if he] disobeys the rules
of the Great Law. . . ." Complaints about the conduct of
chiefs could be brought before the council by "the men and
women of the league, or both acting jointly," and
communicated to the accused through the war chiefs who,
in peacetime, often acted as the peoples' monitors on the
other chiefs in council. An erring chief, after three
warnings, would be removed by the war chiefs if
complaints continued and the erring chief did not mend his
ways.
One
of the most serious offenses of which a chief could
be accused was murder. The sanctions against this crime
may have been made as stringent as they were because
blood feuds were a major problem before Deganwidah
united the Iroquois.
The reference to burial was figurative; the law provided
that a chief guilty of murder would not only lose his own
title, but deprive his entire extended family of the right to
be represented on the council. In addition, a chief guilty of
murder was banished from the confederacy.
Certain
physical and mental defects, such as idiocy,
blindness, deafness, dumbness, or impotency could also
cause a chief's dismissal from office, although the Great
Law provided that "in cases of extreme necessity," the
chief could continue to exercise his rights in council.
While
holding membership on the confederate council,
the Great Law provided that a chief should be tolerant and
attentive to constituent criticism:
Paragraph
35 of the Great Law outlined provisions for
election of "pine-tree chiefs" -- those who held membership
in the council because of their special abilities, rather than
the hereditary titles of their extended families. The name
"pine-tree chief" was given to such individuals because
they were said to have sprung, like the
Great White Pine under which the council met. While the
pine sprang from the earth, the pine-tree chiefs sprang from
the body of the people. The nomination to the council came
directly from the chiefs sitting on it.
A
pine-tree chief could not be officially deposed, as
could the hereditary chiefs, for violating the Great Law. If
such a chief lost the confidence of the people, however,
the Great Law told them to "be deaf to his voice and his
advice." Like other civil chiefs, the pine-tree chiefs could
not name their successors; nor could they carry their titles
to the grave. The Great Law provided a ceremony for
removing the title from a dying chief.
One
war chief from each of the five represented nations
also sat on the confederate council along with the
hereditary and pine-tree chiefs. These chiefs were elected
from the eligible sons of the female families holding title to
the head chieftainship in each of the five nations. The war
chiefs in peacetime acted as the peoples' eyes and ears in
the council, carrying messages to and from the council and
constituents. In wartime, these chiefs raised fighting forces,
a task that often took no small amount of eloquence, since
there was no enforced draft, and warriors had to be
convinced that a cause was worth fighting for. It was also
the duty of the war chief to lay questions of the people
(other societies might call them petitions) before the
Council of the League. War chiefs, like civil chiefs, could
be recalled from office if they violated the Great Law's
standards of leadership.
To
prevent factions within the confederacy, Deganwidah and
his confederates built into it a system of clans that
overlapped each nations' political boundaries. The clans
bore such names as Great Bear, Turtle, Deer Pigeon, Hawk,
and Wild Potatoes. Each member of a particular clan
recognized as a relative others of the same clan, even if
they lived in different nations of the league. The clan
structure and the system of checks and balances kept one
nation from seeking to dominate others and helped to insure
that consensus would arise from decisions of the
council. Checks and balances were evident between the
sexes, as well. Although the members of the Grand Council
were men, most of them had been nominated by the women of
their respective extended families. Women also were
considered to be the allocators of resources, and descent
was matrilineal.
Surely
the first reference to a "United Nations" in
American history occurred in paragraph 61 of the Great
Law. A concept of national self-determination is expressed
in paragraph 84, which allowed conquered non-Iroquoian
nations, or those which peacefully accepted the Great Law,
to continue their own system of internal government as long
as it refrained from making war on other nations. Paragraph
98 confirmed the people's right to seek redress from the
Grand Council through their respective war chiefs. Paragraph
99 guaranteed freedom of religion. Paragraph 107
denied entry to the home by those not authorized to do so
by its occupants.
The
Great Law was not wholly unwritten before its
transcription into English during the late nineteenth
century. Its provisions were recorded on wampum belts that
were used during council meetings whenever disputes arose
over procedure, or over the provisions of the law
itself. Wampum was also used to record many other important
events, such as contracts and other agreements. A
contemporary source credits the belts with use "to assist
the memory."[2]
"When
a subject is of very great importance the belt is
very wide and so on -- if a Mohawk makes a promise to
another, he gives him one of these belts -- his word is
irrevocable & they do not consider anything a greater
reproach [than a] . . . word not binding," the same source
recorded. Contrary to popular assumption many Indian
cultures, the Iroquois among them, used some forms of
written communication. These forms were only rarely
appreciated by eighteenth-century Euro-American
observers.
In
addition to its use as an archive (usually kept by senior
sachems), wampum also served as a medium of exchange. It
had a definite value among the Iroquois and other Indians
in relation to deerskins, beaver pelts, and (after extensive
contact with Euro-Americans) British coins. Fashioned
from conch and clam shells in the shape of beads, wampum
was sewn into intricate patterns on hides. Each design
had a different meaning, and understanding of
the designs' meaning was indispensable to the conduct of
Iroquoian diplomacy, as it was the lingua franca
for conduct between nations (Indian to Indian and Indian
to European) in North America for more than a century.
To
do diplomatic business with the Iroquois, the British and
French envoys had to learn how wampum was used. When the
occasion called for giving, they should expect to get a
string (often called a "strand" in treaty accounts) or a
belt of wampum. A strand -- beads strung on yard-long
leather strips tied at one end -- signified agreement on
items of small importance, but still worth noting. Belts,
often six feet long and up to two feet wide, were reserved
for important items. The Iroquois dealt with the English and
French only under their own diplomatic code, a way of
reminding the Europeans that they were guests on the Indians'
continent, which they called "Turtle Island." Euro-American
diplomats who came to council without a sufficient supply
of wampum strands and belts to give, or one who failed to
understand the message of one or more belts, could make or
break alliances at a time when the Iroquois' powerful
confederacy and its Indian allies constituted the balance
of power between the English and French in North America.
On
a continent still very lightly settled with
Europeans -- islands of settlement in a sea of Indian
nations -- it behooved diplomatic suitors to know the
difference between a peace and a war belt. It also helped
to have Indian allies as guides through what Europeans
regarded as a limitless and trackless wilderness. Without
Indian help (on both sides) the Colonial wars in North
America might have taken a great deal longer than they
did. Without Indian guides, the armies would have had a
much harder time finding one another, except by accident.
During
the 1730s and 1740s, the British Crown decided that
if it was to stem the French advance down the western side
of the Appalachians, alliance with the Iroquois was
imperative. The French advance south from the Saint
Lawrence Valley and north from Louisiana threatened to
hem the English between the mountains and the Atlantic. And
so the peace belt went out in a diplomatic offensive
that would end in France's defeat two decades later.
To
win the Iroquois, the British envoys had to deal with
the Iroquois on their own terms, as distasteful as this may
have been to some of the more effete diplomats. They
would find themselves sitting cross-legged around council
fires many miles from the coastal cities, which Indian
sachems refused to visit except on the most compelling
business, fearing disease and the temptations of alcohol,
as well as possible attacks by settlers along the way.
In
order to cement the alliance, the British sent Colonial
envoys who usually reported directly to the various
provincial governors, one of whom was Benjamin Franklin,
to the frontier and beyond. This decision helped win North
America for the British -- but only for a time. In the end,
it still cost them the continent, or at least the better
part of it. The Colonial delegates passed more than wampum
over the council fires of the treaty summits. They also came
home with an appetite for something that many proper
colonials, and most proper British subjects, found little
short of heresy. They returned with a taste for natural
rights -- life, liberty, and happiness -- that they saw
operating on the other side of the frontier. These
observations would help mold the political life of the
colonies, and much of the world, in the years to come.
The Pre-Columbian Republic
Akwesasne Notes version, 1977
Mohawk Nation, New York
Roots have spread out . . . one to the north, one to the west,
one to the east and one to the south. These are the Great
White Roots and their nature is peace and strength. If any
man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the
laws of the Great Peace and shall make this known to the
statesmen of the League, they may trace back the roots to
the tree. If their minds are clean and they are obedient
and promise to obey the wishes of the Council of the League,
they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the
Tree of the Long Leaves.
The council of the Mohawks shall be divided into three
parties . . . the first party shall listen only to the
discussion of the second and third parties and if an
error is made, or the proceeding irregular, they are to
call attention to it, and when the case is right and
properly decided by the two parties, they shall confirm
the decision and refer the case to the Seneca
statesmen for their decision. When the Seneca
statesmen have decided in accord with the Mohawk
statesmen, the case or question shall be referred to
the Cayuga and Oneida statesmen on the opposite side of
the house.
If the conditions which arise at any future time call for
an addition to or a change of this law, the case shall be
carefully considered and if a new beam seems necessary or
beneficial, the proposed change shall be decided upon and,
if adopted, shall be called "added to the rafters."
If a chief of the League of Five Nations should commit
murder, the other chiefs of the nation shall assemble at
the place where the corpse lies and prepare to depose the
criminal chief. If it is impossible to meet at the scene
of the crime the chiefs shall discuss the matter at the
next council of their nation and request their war chief
to depose the chief guilty of the crime, to "bury" his
women relatives and to transfer the chieftanship title to
a sister family.
The chiefs of the League of Five Nations shall be
mentors of the people for all time. The thickness of
their skins shall be seven spans, which is to say that
they shall be proof against anger, offensive action and
criticism. Their hearts shall be full of peace and good
will and their minds filled with a yearning for the
welfare of the people of the League. With endless
patience, they shall carry out their duty. Their
firmness shall be tempered with a tenderness for their
people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodging in
their minds and all their words and actions shall be
marked by calm deliberation.