Advocate for Truth in the Santa Ynez Valley: The Haudenosaunee Confederacy

Members of the local anti-what-ever (its hard to exact out what it is these groups are against as they throw a fit at everything the Chumash do...hmmm ... maybe it is just about the people) have stated that democracy in this country cannot work with the existence of Native Indian Sovereignty. Rather ironic that the form of representative democracy we have today was heavily influenced by the native people of this land.

These groups and individuals mistakenly interpret sovereignty as “special race-based rights”. Tribal governments were recognized before the United States even existed. The earliest Europeans that came to this continent, the Dutch, the Spanish, the French and the English all recognized the Indians as distinct nations. In spite of that inherent sovereignty and in spite of the entire backlog of United States law that reaffirms this fact, there are those people who believe that tribal governments were created by treaties and granted this “special right” by federal law. The truth of the matter is that tribal governments entered into treaties and conferred certain rights to the colonials, and later to the United States.

Anyway, back to the idea that our democracy, as we enjoy it today, cannot work with the existence of basic Tribal Sovereignty. These anti-??? group’s rarely look beyond the last 20-30 years when stating their grievances against the tribes. I guess tribal sovereignty wasn’t a threat when the Chumash lived in poverty, quietly on the reservation, basically just trying to survive while these wealthy people lived nearby on their multi-million dollar estates. But now that the Chumash have found a way to provide economic relief and security for their families all of a sudden their sovereignty is a problem. An historical perspective on the American Indian, looking beyond the “gaming years”, is required to fully understand the basic tenet of Tribal Sovereignty. When groups fail to look at the history of the native people of this land it exposes their views as narrow and self-centered.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a good place to start.

The founding fathers of the United States of America in authoring and constructing our democracy were greatly influenced and drew much inspiration from The Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Members of the Oneida Indian Nation in the state of New York have inhabited the lands comprising Oneida County and beyond for millennia. Their ancestral land reached from the St. Lawrence River in the north to what is now the Pennsylvania border to the south. Together with the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora, the Oneida Nation was a part of the Iroquois Confederacy -- or more properly in the Oneida language, the Haudenosaunee. Specifically the Hau de no sau nee (ho dee noe sho nee) translates into “People Building a Long House”. This was called this because they held their joint governing council in an elongated house with six smoke holes in the roof.

This “Union of Nations” was established prior to European contact, complete with a constitution known as the Gayanashagowa or "Great Law of Peace". Recent archaeological studies suggest that the federation was formed around 1142. Together these nations comprise the oldest living participatory democracy on earth.

The “Great Law” provided that policies would be thoroughly debated. First the Mohawks and Senecas, or Older Brothers, debated, and when they reached consensus, the Oneida and Cayuga, or Younger Brothers, debated. If the two “houses” disagreed, the Onondaga could cast the deciding vote. If the two houses agreed, the Onondaga would implement the unanimous decision, unless they disagreed with the decision and referred the matter back to the Council. If the Council again agreed upon their decision, the Onondaga were overruled. Sound familiar? With its two houses and the veto power of a quasi-executive branch, this system is VERY close to the legislative and executive branches found today in our state and federal governments. The Iroquois and their example of confederation provided the basis for the American system of federal democracy that exists today. This process was the basis for the American presidential veto and veto override by Congress.

Also found in the Great Law of Peace are provisions for amendment to the Law, rule on the basis of public opinion, and the concept of self-determination with the Confederation. Additionally, it confirmed the people's right to seek redress from the Grand Council through their respective chiefs, guaranteed freedom or religion and denied entry to the home by those not authorized to do so by its occupants. Foundations of the American legislature, executive veto power, and the Bill of Rights are all found in the Iroquois Great Law of Peace.

As you can see, the original United States representative democracy, fashioned by the founding fathers, drew much inspiration from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy of nations. Canassatego, a great Iroquois chief, advised the assembled colonial governors on Iroquois concepts of unity in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1744 and said the following:

"Our wise forefathers established Union and Amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable; this has given us great Weight and Authority with our neighboring nations. We are a powerful Confederacy; and by your observing the same methods, our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire such strength and power. Therefore, whatever befalls you, never fall out with one another.”

In August of 1775, before the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress sent a group of treaty commissioners to speak with the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at Albany, New York. The Congress and the American people were looking at independence and a long war. The Congress did not want to fight a two front war against the British in the East and the Indians in the West. In the spring of 1775, Congress began to formulate a speech that was to be sent to the Iroquois. Signed by John Hancock, this speech recalled the history of the relations between the Iroquois and the American colonists since the 1740s. The speech quotes the Iroquois chief, Cannassatego, at the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744 (above). The speech from the Continental Congress said that the American people are united and have taken the advice of the Iroquois.

The Iroquois chiefs also were invited and attended a meeting of the Continental Congress on June 11, 1776, while independence was being debated. There was a speech delivered. The chief addressed the delegates as brothers, and told them of his peoples wish that the friendship between them would continue "as long as the sun shall shine and the waters run." The speech was also hopeful that the new friends and the Iroquois would act "as one people, and have but one heart." The Iroquois chiefs presence in Congress, so near the time of American Independence, attest to the fact that the Iroquois had a definite productive impact on the founding fathers.

It is said that Benjamin Franklin shared what he learned from the Iroquois with the other founding fathers, when he demonstrated that one arrow could easily be broken by the hands of a man, but the combined strength of six arrows could not. It is thought that this image was one that served to strengthen the resolve of the founding fathers and unite the States.

During the debates over the plan for union, Franklin pointed to the strength of the Iroquois Confederacy and stressed the fact that the individual nations of the Confederacy maintained internal sovereignty, managing their own internal affairs, without interference from the Grand Council.

When Franklin published his “Short hints toward a scheme for uniting the northern colonies,” his Albany Plan proposed that each colony could govern its internal affairs and that a Grand Council consisting of a different number of representatives from each colony would provide for mutual defense. This proposed council closely resembled the Grand Council of the Iroquois nations. While the colonies and the Crown were not ready for a colonial union and the Albany Plan was not ratified, Franklin gained recognition as an advocate of colonial union and a place in history as an originator of the federalist system of government. Numerous scholars believe that the Albany Plan was a landmark on the road that led to the Continental Congresses, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution.

John Rutledge, a delegate from South Carolina to the Constitutional Convention, is another of the Founding Fathers thought to be influenced by Iroquois thinking. Rutledge was in charge of the Committee of Detail at the Convention, and it is reported that he opened proceedings of that committee by reading a quote attributed to an Iroquois chief from 1520: "We, the people, to form a union, to establish peace, equity and order…” words later expressed in the preamble to the Constitution. Rutledge continued to refer to the Iroquois Great Law of Peace while chairing his committee at the Constitutional Convention.

Much has been made of Iroquois influence on the symbols that were used by the emerging Americans; these comparisons can perhaps be seen as evidence of linkage of thinking between the Iroquois and the new Americans. The Sons of Liberty utilized the symbol of the 'Tree of Liberty' – a derivative of the Iroquois Great Tree of Peace.

The thirteen arrows on the seal of the United States has been traced to Canasetoga's speech where he used a bundle of arrows as a symbol for the strength inherent in a confederate union.

The Mohawk disguises used by the Boston Tea Partiers were not merely for disguise, nor coincidentally Mohawk; it was indeed a tribute to the liberty the Mohawk enjoyed through their Confederacy, as well as a symbolic reminder to themselves of the reasons behind their actions.