The Iroquois Confederacy to Six Nations

The Iroquois Constitution purposes and principles reflect with the sociological function and rules of my household which will influence me when I become a parent. The Iroquois constitution is seen as a way to promote peace within the five nations. They demonstrated principles and purpose through always speaking the truth to a fellow nation, to not be easily hurt by criticism or angered, through always praising their Gods for the things they have, and to include anyone who agrees to the constitution, which connects to the sociological function. The rules of my household are similar in that we are to always be truthful, to always show appreciation for what we have, and to never let others affect one 's values. This will inspire me for when I become a parent. We will see how the purposes and principles of the Iroquois connect with the sociological function.

A general history of Native Americans has been a part of my education for as long as I can remember. I remember how during the week before Thanksgiving, my 1st grade class did a skit about the “First Thanksgiving”. In order to look like Indians we made vests out of paper grocery bags and crumpled them up to look like leather and drew on them with crayons. When I think of my education of Native American culture, I think of going to North Pacific Reservations and seeing 10-12 ft tall totem poles with the shapes of animals carved into them. Most of the Native American tribes that I have learned about have been Western United States tribes because I grew up in California. When I read the list of Wisconsin Native

One difference is the structure, or how the constitution’s were wrote. The Iroquois Constitution is not near as structured as the U.S. Constitution. For example, the Iroquois’s is like somebody talking and the U.S. has articles which are broken down

The Iroquois Confederacy composed six nations: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas and the Tuscarora . These nations shared similar languages and cultures, however that did not stop them from fighting one another. Seeing the conflict, Dekanawida, a Iroquois, seeked for

Before 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, there were many tribes living in North America. Two equally similar and different ones were the Iroquois tribe and the Cherokee tribe. On one hand, they are similar because of their geographies and their economies. On the other hand, they are different because of their cultures and religious beliefs.

The Iroquois nations, one of the oldest and most prestigious tribes in the history of all Native Americans. In this paper I will be showing why the Iroquois ended up siding with the English through the French and Indian, and Revolutionary wars through factors of colonization. I will also be showing some features of their culture, considering the iroquois are not well known in the western United States, and discussing the fall of the once great tribes. The main reason I 've chosen the Iroquois is because of my own prior knowledge of the Iroquois, and their relationship to lacrosse. I started playing lacrosse my freshman year of highschool. The very first thing I learned, before any stick skills or any basics of the game, was the history of it. Our coach insisted that we knew the history and the culture of the game, and that we respected it. I was intrigued by how interesting the game was. The game was made as a form of war. Lacrosse was sometimes even referred to as “Little brother of war”. It would be called this because injury, even death were common during a lacrosse game. When two tribes had a disagreement, but didn 't feel the need to have a legitimate war, the opposing tribes would send their best warriors to the battlefield and play a lacrosse game. Games would be played to a score of 5-7, but considering how long the fields could be, these games could take hours, days even, however long it took for one of the tribes to win,

Just as the Greeks, the Romans and any other great civilization, Native Americans had their own gods with certain values. These values are a sharp contrast to the current european expansionist mindset and give great insight into understanding Native American’s actions and behavior. These documents are about Native American culture and are written around the arrival of European settlers. These documents show the conflicts that many Native Americans had were due to many miscommunications and conflicts in values. The two Native American values that the Europeans most tread on were their very philosophy and honor, which leads to some of the most brutal acts of war and massacres.

The Cherokee nation had a difficult time with accepting the new style of governing. It took three conventions in order to instill this new management, but it stuck for the next sixty six years (Baird 93). The Creeks have no past experience with constitutional government when arriving to the Indian Territory (Baird 93). The government weren’t centrally run, however, it was sectioned off. It took until 1859, to produce the nation’s first constitution (Baird 93). The Seminole nation had a difficult time getting a central government, as they were run by towns with different leaders. They made their independence law in a treaty in 1856 (Baird

Five tribes made up the confederation called the Iroquois. The Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida and Cayuga tribes

The United States Constitution was heavily influenced by the Iroquois Confederacy’s political theory, though Eurocentric history lessons often teach about the French and Greek influence. In 1988, the House Concurrent Resolution 331 passed which recognized the Iroquois Confederacy’s contribution to the U.S. Constitution. Even after H.Con.Res 331 was passed, the Iroquois Confederacy’s influence continues to be disregarded, most people have to wait until specific classes in higher education to learn about the connection. With the whitewashing of history, many Native American influences have been overlooked that directly correlate to the creation of the U.S. Constitution, though the ‘Founding Fathers’ did revise the Iroquois’ political theory to better match the ‘freedom’ of the U.S.

Because of that alliance, the Iroquois joined with the British to place their own claim on the Ohio Country

The Cherokees provided the best example of Native Americans who understood their rights most clearly as they demonstrated in their plight objecting the Cherokee removal and as they exhibited in the construction of a constitution strikingly similar to the United States constitution as well as those of the states, carefully outlining their rights in an organized coherent manner. Consistent with the federal and state constitutions, the Cherokee constitution reflected a profound belief in republicanism, a representative form of government in which those eligible to vote elected individuals to make laws to protect their life, liberty, and property.

From these various sources Johansen formulates the theory that tenets of the Iroquois Confederation directly influenced Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in their drafting of the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. There are vague mentions of the Articles of Confederation and Declaration of Independence, but it is left up to the reader to connect the dots and figure for themselves the connections between the Iroquois Confederation and American democracy. American Indians, particularly those of the Iroquois Confederation, provided the founding fathers with many of the principles upon which American democracy is based. The Iroquois and their example of confederation

The beginnings of the Iroquois confederacy were triggered by the prevalent ethnic tensions between the many nations in the North American region. Established prior to European contact in the 1450s, the idea of a confederacy was masterminded by the Peacemaker, commonly known as Dekadawina.

1). The reason for the construction of the Iroquois confederacy, or the league of the Iroquois, (Haudenosaunee) was the impeding factor of disunity between the tribes. Hienwatha, a Mohawk Iroquois, lived in Ontario and observed the disunity between the Iroquois tribes. In an attempt to unify the nations, he approached rival tribes and argued the benefits of unification. Initially, his idea is shut down by the elders of each tribe. The changing climate that started to occur, however, increased confrontations between tribes. Hienwatha yet again tries to explain to the Iroquois people about the possibility of peace and is rejected again. He then alludes the nations to a weaved belt of wampum shells which supposedly illustrated the connectedness of the five Iroquois nations. He traveled among the nations, of which all then supported the idea of unity, and was able to form a seemingly impenetrable force.