The attention of the media, and most of Washington, DC, has been on the budget talks. Like me, you have probably had more than enough of that! So, let us have a little fun by departing from current events for a brief history lesson. Jeopardy! fans, take note, this may come up in a trivia contest someday:
What is "Gayanashagowa"?
When Europeans arrived, there were existing political powers in the New World as in the Old. The major power in the northeast was the "Haudenosaunee" – literally, "Long House People," later called "Iroquois" by the French. This union of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk tribes – later called the Iroquois League – was inspired by a philosopher, Dekanawidah, his spokesman, Hayowentha, and a clan headwoman, Jingosaseh.
The date of their philosophical revolution is uncertain. Conventional archeological wisdom says sometime between 1450 and 1600, but recent research suggests their league may have formed as early as AD 1100. Dekanawidah had seen peace conferences effectively (but only temporarily) end numerous inter-tribal wars and he proposed that a permanent council, the "Kanononsonnionwe" or "Federation" be established to prevent war. Their argument was simple: The tribes were closely related by language and culture and, therefore, really were one nation. They should act as brothers, not sibling rivals.
It wasn't an immediate success; like later geniuses, the trio was considered insane by some, but the idea caught on. Eventually, a constitution was created, "Gayanashogawa" – the "Great Binding Law" or "Great Law of Peace." In 1720, the Tuscarora tribe was added to the League.
The League was well known to the Founding Fathers. Certain Federation Lords visited the Continental Congress on 11 June 1776. The Lords were called brothers and assured that the delegates' hoped for a friendship between them to "continue as long as the sun shall shine" and the "waters run." One Onondaga Lord requested permission to give John Hancock, President of Congress, a Tribal name – Hancock was called 'Karanduawn,' or the "Great Tree." [See paragraph 67.]
Possible Influences from the Great Binding Law on the US Constitution:
Paragraph 9: All the business of the Five Nations Confederate Council shall be conducted by the two combined bodies of Confederate Lords. First the question shall be passed upon by the Mohawk and Seneca Lords, then it shall be discussed and passed by the Oneida and Cayuga Lords. Their decisions shall then be referred to the Onondaga Lords, for final judgment. The same process shall obtain when a question is brought before the council by an individual or a War Chief.
Paragraph 11: If through any misunderstanding or obstinacy on the part of the Fire Keepers, they render a decision at variance with that of the Two Sides, the Two Sides shall reconsider the matter and if their decisions are jointly the same as before they shall report to the Fire Keepers who are then compelled to confirm their joint decision. [See also paragraph 12.]
Reads like Article I Section 7, in which laws must be passed by both chambers, the Senate and the House, then by the President to become law – it even includes both veto and override provisions.
Paragraph 13: No Lord shall ask a question of the body of Confederate Lords when they are discussing a case, question or proposition. He may only deliberate in a low tone with the separate body of which he is a member.
A clear statement on the concept of separation of powers.
Paragraph 18: If any Confederate Lord neglects or refuses to attend the Confederate Council, the other Lords of the Nation of which he is a member shall require their War Chief to request the female sponsors of the Lord so guilty of defection to demand his attendance of the Council. If he refuses, the women holding the title shall immediately select another candidate for the title. No Lord shall be asked more than once to attend the Confederate Council.
Reads like Article I Section 5 Clause 1, which allows the chambers to compel the attendance of absent members.
Paragraph 28: When a candidate Lord is to be installed he shall furnish four strings of shells [wampum] one span in length bound together at one end. Such will constitute the evidence of his pledge to the Confederate Lords that he will live according to the constitution of the Great Peace and exercise justice in all affairs. . . .
Reads like Article 3 Section 1 Clause 8 and Article VI Clause 3, which require an oath of every person serving in government.
Paragraph 78: Whenever a foreign nation enters the Confederacy or accepts the Great Peace, the Five Nations and the foreign nation shall enter into an agreement and compact by which the foreign nation shall endeavor to persuade other nations to accept the Great Peace.
Reads like Article IV Section 3 Clause 1, which authorizes the admission of new states into the Union.
Paragraph 97: Before the real people united their nations, each nation had its council fires. Before the Great Peace their councils were held. The five Council Fires shall continue to burn as before and they are not quenched. The Lords of each nation in future shall settle their nation's affairs at this council fire governed always by the laws and rules of the council of the Confederacy and by the Great Peace.
Reads like the 9th and 10th Articles of Amendment, which confirm that rights are retained both by the people and by the States within the Union.
Paragraph 99: The rites and festivals of each nation shall remain undisturbed and shall continue as before because they were given by the people of old times as useful and necessary for the good of men.
Reads like the 1st Article of Amendment, which prohibits the Union from establishing a national religion.
This is not to suggest that the Great Binding Law is the father of the Constitution. The US legal government is an adaptation of the British system; its direct ancestors are Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. However, the Iroquois were the most powerful native nation, controlling, at its height, most of the land bounded by the Connecticut, Ohio and Illinois Rivers and the Great Lakes. The Founding Fathers knew them, understood them (to a point) and treatied with them. Parts of Gayanoshogawa were even read to the Committee of Style at the Federal Convention of 1787.
The fact that a system existed with numerous similarities to the system the Founders knew and loved; the fact that this other system developed independent of theirs and had been operating successfully – possibly since before the Magna Carta was written – must have made an impression on those Founders. Some may have viewed it as evidence of the Divine Providence. Certainly, they should have realized that these governments were clear evidence they were on the right track and I'm sure it encouraged them to move forward.
It is, perhaps, most fair to call Gayanashagowa the "uncle of the Constitution."
For your amusement, we conclude with a few other influences of the Iroquois on the United States:
Their Tree of Peace was one inspiration for the 'Liberty Tree.'
Their 'Eagle-that-sees-far' was one inspiration for the eagle in the Great Seal.
In Dekanawidah's story, 5 arrows were bundled to represent strength through unity; 13 arrows are clutched in the talon of the American eagle. [See paragraph 57.]
Under the Great Law, clan mothers choose candidates (men) as chiefs. Women owned land and homes and held a veto over any council action that could result in war. These powers, far outstripping those held by American or European women of the time, inspired 19th-Century feminists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and others.
The Iroquois League of Six Nations still exists today.
The Iroquois comprise over 250,000 people on reservations in New York State, Ontario and elsewhere, and maintain their capital on Onondaga land near Syracuse NY.[1] The Mohawk and Oneida, in particular, are valued as structural steel workers because, unlike most people, they have no fear of heights.
Thanks for listening, tune in next week for another rant.
[1] Learn more at <www.sixnations.org>.
No comments:
Post a Comment