Compare And Contrast Iroquois Constitution And Us Constitution

If you choose, you can compare or contrast the U.S. Constitution with the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace (the Iroquois Constitution).

United States Americans have always learned about the constitution, but they don’t know everything about it. What most people don’t know is that the U.S Constitution is based off the Iroquois Constitution. The Iroquois is a group of Indians that were having conflict between their five nations; because of this they created a constitution to unite and give structure to their nations. Their constitution is mostly different than the U.S. Constitution, but there are a few similarities between the two.

A constitution is a written document that sets forth the fundamental rules by which a society is governed. Throughout the course of history the United States has lived under two Constitutions since the British-American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. First in line was the Articles of Confederation (1789-1789) followed by the Constitution of United States of America (1789-present). The Articles of Confederation was the first formal written Constitution of America that specified how the national government was to operate. Unfortunately, the Articles did not last long. Under the words of the Article’s power was limited; Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. Also the articles stated

constitution, they did however integrate other principles from the Iroquois Confederacy. Many people who helped with the creation of the U.S. Constitution, would also thoroughly study the Great Law of Peace, and the Iroquois society. Not only was Thomas Jefferson greatly associated with the chiefs of the Confederacy, but also a U.S. delegate, John Rutledge of South Carolina, would read aloud long sections of the Great Law of Peace to the many other drafters of the U.S. Constitution. America’s founding fathers were more directly inspired by listening to stories, visiting with the Iroquois leaders, and being able to witness the government in action. As a matter of fact, a few Iroquois chiefs attended the Continental Congress in 1776 during the drafting of the U.S. Constitution. They would help the founding fathers construct a set of laws and guidelines that would help unite the 13 colonies, which was similar to their own

     The Constitutions of both the Iroquois and the United States have similarities and differences between them. The Iroquois constitution came earlier in history than the U.S one did. Some of the same ideas that were in the Iroquois’ constitution were carried over to some of the ideas that we use in our government today. In this paper I will compare and contrast these ideas as they relate with one another. Ideas like Vito Power, When a Leader Gets Sick, 3 Branches of Government, A Bicameral Legislature, and impeachment are portrayed in both of these constitutions.

“The United States Constitution is the oldest written national constitution still in use” (Confederation and the Constitution, pg. 71). After more than 200 years, the Constitution is still changing to support the next generations needs. This “living document” has many different reasons that allow it to “fit in” with the new generations.

Constitutions have been around for many years. The first ones on record go back as far as the fifteenth century. There are many uses for them, though often enough are used to outline laws and basic rights of the people under that government. Two very different, yet very alike constitutions are the Iroquois and the United States Constitutions. They have many differences, but just as many similarities.

In Chapter 6, Wilkins discusses how the disclaimer clauses. These clauses keep states from exercising authority on Indian land (180). They are an “important but often overlooked tool in the arsenal available to tribes to assert their own sovereignty against state threats” (177). A specific example of a disclaimer clause is Wisconsin’s territorial disclaimer of 1836 which prohibited territories or states from having any authority on Indian land (180). In Native American Church v. Navajo Tribal Council (1959) it was declared that Indian tribes actually have a higher status than states (179). This was a major victory for Indians in their fight for sovereignty. United States v. Rickert (1903) was also a win for sovereignty in that the Court prohibited South Dakota from taxing Indian land (185).After the verdict in Seminole Tribe v. Florida (1996), the balance of power between state and federal government leaned towards the states. Before this, negotiations with tribes had been conducted at the federal level and not with states (187). This was against the idea of sovereignty because now the states had more power over the tribes and could abuse that power for personal gain.

The United States of America is a nation that is structured by the Constitution. The Constitution is fundamental principles that was established by our founding fathers. Our society constantly refers back to the Constitution in order to justify certain actions, regulate societies, and create laws. During the early periods of American history we see that the Constitution disregards African Americans and Native Americans. It does little to address controversial issues that hindered many different ethnic groups from progression.

There are many similarities between the constitution and the principles of the Iroquois. Researchers Vine Deloraia, Bruce Johnson, and Donald Grind have found that the very foundation of both sets of principles mirror each other (Johansen 1998:79):

My house rules are similar to the Iroquois Constitution in many ways. First, they are similar because by abiding to the house rules, my parents and I are in an agreement which is the basic idea of the Iroquois Constitution. Second, by not fighting my sister when we are in the house, we are agreeing to have peace. Both my sister and I are considered equals in the house with equal expectations for justice. Arthur C. Parker, the author who translated “The Iroquois Constitution” into print form stated, “If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace and make known their disposition” (Parker, 28). When people of The Five Nations sit under the Tree of

Thomas Jefferson, the third president and considered to be the founding father, wrote the United States Constitution in September 17,1787. It is very structure and has heading and subheading. The constitution does not use symbols. “No Persons shall be Representative who shall not attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been a seven Years a citizen of the United States in which he shall be chosen” (Article 1 Section 2). It means if the representative is not the age of twenty five and a citizen for seven years the representative can not run.

Power can be viewed as the ability to influence and/or control others. Another flaw about reservations is the fact that they are not totally governed by Native American representatives. The U.S. government actually has tight control over the majority, if not all, reservations (Perry, 2002, p 233). This tight control has left the Native American population powerless in terms of self- regulation. Despite the fact that Native American government do exist,

“The Constitution devotes the national domain to union, to justice, to defense, to welfare and to liberty” (Maier 154). This quote, stated by William Henry Seward, displays the strength and stability that the Constitution had over the nation, and the liberty and justice it supplied for all of its citizens. Although the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation have similarities, they have many differences, which proved that the Articles of Confederation were a weaker document in comparison. It can be said that the Articles were the “rough draft” to the final living document, which significantly influenced and “ruled” our government, as it still does today.

Between The McGillivray Moment in the 18th century, and the surrendering of Chief Joseph in the late 19th century, native american rights changed and remained the same in a variety of ways; For example, throughout this time period native americans were politically given less rights than those of European descent, and were constantly taken advantage of through not only those in positions of high power, but also those who settled in the western frontier. Furthermore, throughout this time period native american’s political rights and social standings slowly began to descend from the time of Washington and Alexander McGillivray during the McGillivray Moment to that of General Miles and the surrendering