United States History

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United States History

The Iroquois Nation, spanning from 1400 or even 1100 A.D. to 1831, was

the longest lasting native empire in history. The Iroquois were the

only North American native civilization, and the only group of natives

in North America to incorporate multiple tribes into a democratic

state, and without influence of outside parties. The Six Nations, as

they were called, were a true democracy and one of the only ones since

Athens in Ancient Greece. Like any great democracy, the Iroquois

Nation had a legislative government consisting of fifty

representatives from the five nations; (the sixth was the Tuscarora, a

native group of North Carolina, driven out by English settlers and

incorporated into the nation; however, they were disenfranchised

because they were not part of the original five.)(Bial, 14) The

Iroquois also had a written constitution called the Great Binding Law,

or Gayanashagowa. (Page) "The way the Iroquois governed their great

nation would later be reflected in the American Articles of

Confederacy and the Constitution." (Sultzman) The Iroquois Nation was

the greatest North American civilization and it was a major power in

colonial history, as well as culturally being an example of a true

democracy.

The history of the Iroquois is one of supreme dominance and great

diplomacy. The League of Iroquois dominated the area of the

northernmost part of Pennsylvania to the St. Lawrence River in

northern New York. (Bial, 12) The League consisted of five tribes: the

Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and the Seneca, the most powerful of

the tribes being the Mohawks. (Weeks, 52) "The Onondaga were the first

of the I...

... middle of paper ...

...itution of The Iroquois Nation. Ed. Page, Melvin E.. June

2001. East Tennessee University, Department of History. 17 September

2002

Hoxie, Fredrick E.. Indians in American History. Arlington Heights,

IL: Harlan Davidson, Inc.: 1988

Iroquois. Ed. Lee Sultzman. 17 September 2002

http://www.tolatsga.org/iro.html

Iroquois Confederacy and the U.S. Constitution. Ed. Micki M. Caskey,

Ph.D. 1 October 2001. Portland State University, Mark O. Hatfield

School of Government 21 September 2002

Pearce, Roy Harvey. Savagism and Civilization: A Study of the Indian

and the American Mind. Berkeley: California UP, 1988

Weeks, Philip. The American Experience, A Profile: 1524 to the Present.

Arlington Heights, IL: Forum Press, 1988.

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