After the American Revolution it became abundantly clear that a better form of democracy was needed for the new nation than what was supplied by the Articles of Confederation. But what type of democracy would this mean, and what could the framers go by? There was no suitable working model of democracy that could be adapted from Europe as virtually all European countries were monarchies, with or without an elected assembly. Then the founding fathers shifted their attention to a model of democracy that had been right under their noses all along—The Iroquois Confederation.
The Iroquois Confederation: The Iroquois Confederation dates back at least 500 years and perhaps all the way back to the 12th century AD. It began with the union of five northeastern tribes who had been plagued by wars and violence for numerous generations. A sixth tribe joined in the 1700’s, and other tribes were assimilated or conquered. At its highest point in 1711, the territory of the Iroquois covered the eastern seaboard down to Virginia, the Ohio Valley, west through Kentucky to Illinois, and north to Michigan and parts of Ontario. The Iroquois Confederation was governed by a Grand Council that was composed of fifty chiefs—each one representing a clan from one of the nations. The Iroquois society was largely egalitarian with no class distinction, and substantial rights for women. They were able to communicate from tribe to tribe via a common language.
The Great Law of Peace: According to oral traditions, the events that gave way to the “Great Law of Peace” happened in a place known as Kanienkeh. The Great Law of Peace formed the union while accepting the sovereignty of each individual nation, and provided the constitution that was the foundation of the Confederation. Such matters as marriage and divorce would be governed locally, but defense and foreign relations would be managed by all the tribes together. Each tribe would retain its own chief, but the Grand Council would rule the Confederation. Two names loom large during the development of the Great Law of Peace—Hiawatha and Deganawida—they are considered to be the founders of the Iroquois Confederation. Another one is Jigonsaseh, an Iroquois woman who advised Hiawatha and Deganawida on the Great Law of Peace and became known as the “Mother of Nations.”
Relations With Early European Settlers: Early European settlers saw the importance of developing and maintaining good relations with the Iroquois Confederation as the Iroquois represented the many thousands of Native Americans that occupied much of the land to the west of the original European settlements. Trade relations prospered and diplomacy thrived as the Iroquois were successful at brokering disputes that arose over use of the land. This served to create a general peace that prevailed along the borders of the British settlements and the Iroquois. The Alliance remained strong, and good relations with European settlers continued—all except for the French. The French were more allied with tribes to the west of the Confederation that were in conflict with the Iroquois from time to time. In 1754 near the outbreak of the French and Indian War, the British sought to shore up their allegiance with the Iroquois or at least gain their neutrality as they had kept the roadways open from Albany to the Great Lakes.
The Decline of the Confederation: With the advent of the American Revolution, The Iroquois Confederation came down behind the British owing to their long-standing good relationship. With the British defeat, the Iroquois were forced to abandon their homelands in the Mohawk Valley and move north where the British granted other lands in compensation for those lands lost. The Confederation gave way in later times to the Iroquois League that preserved the ceremonial and cultural portion of the Alliance to this day. Although there was no longer any need for the Native American nations in the Confederation to bind together for security, the spirit that formed and maintained the alliance still exists centered around the Grand Council. However, they prefer to be called the Haudenosaunee Confederation rather than the Iroquois.
The 1787 Constitutional Convention: The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention understood that the existing government under the Articles of Confederation would not suffice, but they needed something similar that would delegate certain powers to the overall government, while retaining other powers to each participating state. They then turned to what they had encountered in their own experiences with native Americans, particularly the Iroquois. The Great Law of Peace established a model of federalism that provided certain powers to the supreme Iroquois government, but included a separation of powers and participatory democracy that provided inspiration for the U.S. Constitution.
The 1987 Bicentennial: With the 1987 bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution that formally acknowledged the impact of the Iroquois Confederation of Nations on the development of the U.S. Constitution, and reaffirmed the continuing government-to-government relationship between Native American Nations and the U.S. Government as provided for in the U.S. Constitution. At the time of the Resolution of 1988, the U.S. Government had 370 separate treaties with various Native American Nations.
Conclusions: It’s clear that the Iroquois Confederation was not an exact template for the U.S. Constitution. The extent of the influence of the Iroquois Confederation on the development of democracy in America is still debated, but it did provide a real-life working example of some of the concepts the framers of the U.S. Constitution agreed to adopt.
Sources: How the Iroquois Confederation Was Formed, Tony Tekaroniake Evans, History.com.
The Native American Government That Inspired the U.S. Constitution, Betty Little, History.com
Wikipedia.org
Britannica.com