Great Law of Peace

File:Flag of the Iroquois Confederacy.svg

Flag of the Iroquois

Among the Haudenosaunee (the "Six Nations," comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora peoples) the Great Law of Peace (Mohawk: Kaianere’kó:wa), also known as Gayanashagowa, is the oral constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy. The law was represented by symbols on wampum belts which functioned as mnemonic devices for storytellers, conceived by Dekanawidah, known as the Great Peacemaker, and his spokesman Hiawatha. The original five member nations ratified this constitution near modern-day Victor, New York, with the sixth nation (the Tuscarora) being added in 1722.

The laws were first recorded and transmitted by means of wampum, shell-bead belts that encoded the message in a sequence of pictograms. In the 19th century it was translated into English and other languages. The Great Law of Peace is presented as part of a narrative noting laws and ceremonies to be performed at prescribed times. The laws, called a constitution, are divided into 117 articles. The united Iroquois nations are symbolized by an eastern white pine tree, called the Tree of Peace. Each nation or tribe plays a delineated role in the conduct of government.

The exact date of the events is not known, but it is thought to date back to the late 12th century (Template:Circa).<ref name="Cayuga Nation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Narrative, constitution, and ceremony

The narratives of the Great Law exist in the languages of the member nations, so spelling and usages vary. William N. Fenton observed that it came to serve a purpose as a social organization inside and among the nations, a constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy or League, ceremonies to be observed, and a binding history of peoples.<ref name=fenton1998>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Fenton also observed some nine common points focusing more simply on the narrative story line,<ref name=fenton1998/>Template:Rp though Christopher Vecsey identified 22 points shared across some two dozen versions of the narrative or parts of the narrative both direct and indirect:<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:External media

Narrative

1. The Migration and Separation of the People (pre-history of the area)
2. The Birth and Growth of Deganawida
3. The Journey to the Mohawks, the Situation, and the Mission Explained
4. The Mother of Nations Accepts Deganawida's Message
5. The Cannibal Converts
6. The Prophets Prove Their Power
7. Tadadaho the Wizard Prevents Peace
8. Hiawatha's Relatives Are Killed
9. Hiawatha Mourns and Quits Onondaga
10. Hiawatha Invents Wampum
11. Hiawatha Gives the Mohawks Lessons in Protocol
12. Deganawida Consoles Hiawatha
13. Scouts Travel to Tadadaho
14. Deganawida and Hiawatha Join Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas to Mohawks
15. The Nations March to Tadadaho, Singing the Peace Hymn
16. Deganawida and Hiawatha Transform Tadadaho

Constitution of the Confederacy and social order of the member peoples

1. Deganawida and Hiawatha Establish Iroquois Unity and Law
2. Deganawida and Hiawatha Establish League Chiefs and Council Polity
3. The Confederacy Takes Symbolic Images
4. The League Declares Its Sovereignty (the Constitutional laws of the Confederacy)

Ceremony

1. The Condolence Maintains the Confederacy (a sequence of ceremonies for grieving over a deceased chief and appointing a new one)
2. Deganawida Departs

Barbara Mann has gathered versions featuring conflicting but harmonized elements (who does what varies, but what happens is more consistent than not), or stories that tell distinct elements not shared in other versions, into a narrative she includes in the Encyclopedia of the Haudenosaunee published in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Published accounts

Cayuga

An untranslated version has been posted by the Smithsonian Institution.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another is mentioned being presented to Michael Foster.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mohawk

There are several Mohawk versions that made it into print and several of those were printed more than once. Horatio Hale published one in 1883 he traced somewhat earlier<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> which was reprinted by William N. Fenton, following Arthur Caswell Parker, in 1968.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> J. N. B. Hewitt published one in 1928 based on a much earlier fragment.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Joseph Brant and John Norton commented on details of the narrative as early as 1801 and published since.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Dayodekane, better known as Seth Newhouse, arranged for some versions that were published differently near 1900 - first from 1885 included in a book by Paul A. W. Wallace in 1948,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and a second version published in 1910 by Arthur C. Parker.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Fenton discusses Newhouse' contributions in a paper in 1949.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Wallace also published a separate book without stating his source in 1946 called The Iroquois book of Life - White Roots of Peace, which was later revised and extended with endorsements by Iroqouis chiefs and Iroquoian historian John Mohawk in 1986 and 1994.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Oneida

Oneida versions have been noted in various places. One from New York,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> has been echoed/summarized by the Milwaukee Public Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another has been published by the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin in two sections.<ref>- see Template:Cite book

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|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another account is also reported.<ref>by Demus Elm, "An Oneida Account of Events Antecedant to the Establishment of the Great Peace" unpublished accounts from 1950 and 1971, translated by Floyd Lounsbury, circa 1990s ("preparing for publication" according to Woodbury in 1992 but Lounsbury died in 1998.)</ref>

Onondaga

Parts of Horatio Hale's work The Iroquois Book of Rites is said to have Onondaga sources. J. N. B. Hewitt recorded Chief John Buck and included his presentation in 1892.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> John Arthur Gibson shared several versions that have gathered notable awareness among scholars like Fenton and others. His first version was in 1899.<ref>* {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}

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• (Also at American Philosophical Society Library.)</ref> Gibson then participated in a collective version with many Chiefs from the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in 1900 which was reprinted a number of times: first in 1910/1,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and then included in another work.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A final version was offered to Alexander Goldenweiser but wasn't finished translated and published until 1992 by Hanni Woodbury.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Seneca

Newspaper editor<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> William Walker Canfield published a book The Legends of the Iroquois in 1902<ref>Several versions online:

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book</ref> based on found notes he was given purporting to be written from comments of Cornplanter reportedly to an employee of the surveyor company Holland Land Company, perhaps John Adlum, known friend of Cornplanter.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is the primary source of the mention of a solar eclipse. Another Seneca version was given by Deloe B. Kittle to Parker and was published in 1923.<ref>Couple versions online:

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Tuscarora

The Tuscarora joined the Iroquois Confederacy in 1722.<ref name="Danver 2015 p. 501">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref><ref name="Ray 2014 p. 243">Template:Cite book</ref> There is a version of the Great Law of Peace attributed by Wallace "Mad Bear" Anderson of the Tuscarora published in 1987.<ref>a couple version published:

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book</ref> However, there is a claim this was borrowed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Influence on the United States Constitution

Americana and Native American Studies Professor Donald Grinde claims that the democratic ideals of the Kaianere’kó:wa provided a significant inspiration to Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and other framers of the U.S. Constitution. He contends that the federal structure of the U.S. Constitution was influenced by the living example of the Iroquois Confederation, as were notions of individual liberty and the separation of powers.<ref name="exemplar">Template:Cite book</ref> Grinde, working with Bruce Johansen,<ref name=danile_usner_1992>Template:Cite book "The New Republic owed a substantial debt to its Native American heritageTemplate:Mdashfor its distinctive American identity, for the concept of federalism, for the practice of state legislatures appointing senators, and for providing a model for unity without imperialism across a vast geographic expanse." p. 215</ref> also identifies Native American symbols and imagery that were adopted by the nascent United States, including the American bald eagle and a bundle of arrows.<ref name="exemplar"/> However, eagles and bundles of arrows are common imagery in European heraldry, which is the more likely influence.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Their thesis argues the U.S. constitution was the synthesis of various forms of political organization familiar to the founders, including the Iroquois Confederation. Their thesis led to the U.S. Congress passing Concurrent Resolution 331 to recognize the influence of the Iroquois Constitution upon the American Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1988.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> John Rutledge of South Carolina, delegate to the Constitutional Convention, read excerpts of various Iroquois Treaties to the drafting committee, however an English translation of the Great Law of Peace was not created until the 18th century.<ref>Douglas W. Boyce (Aug 15, 1973). "A Glimpse of Iroquois Culture History Through the Eyes of Joseph Brant and John Norton". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 117 (4). American Philosophical Society: 286–294. JSTOR 986696.</ref><ref>Payne, Samuel B. “The Iroquois League, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 53, no. 3, 1996, pp. 605–20. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2947207. Accessed 29 May 2024.</ref>

The influence of Six Nations law on the U.S. Constitution is disputed by scholars.<ref name="Shannon">Template:Cite book</ref> Haudenosaunee historian Elisabeth J. Tooker has pointed to several differences between the two forms of government, notably that all decisions were made by a consensus of male chiefs who gained their position through a combination of blood descent and selection by female relatives, that representation was on the basis of the number of clans in the group rather than the size or population of the clans, and that the topics discussed were decided by a single tribe. Tooker concluded there is little resemblance between the two documents or reason to believe the Six Nations had a meaningful influence on the American Constitution and that it is unclear how much impact Canassatego's statement at Lancaster actually had on the representatives of the colonies.<ref name = Tooker>Template:Cite book</ref> Stanford University historian Jack N. Rakove argued against any Six Nations influence, pointing to lack of evidence in U.S. constitutional debate records and examples of European antecedents for democratic institutions.<ref name="Rakove">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Journalist Charles C. Mann has noted other differences between The Great Law of Peace and the original U.S. Constitution, including the original Constitution's allowing denial of suffrage to women and majority rule rather than consensus. Mann argues that the early colonists' interaction with Native Americans and their understanding of Iroquois government did influence the development of colonial society and culture and the Suffragette movement but stated that "the Constitution as originally enacted was not at all like the Great Law."<ref name="Rakove"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Other critics of the Iroquois-influence theory include Samuel Payne, who considered the Iroquois division of powers as seen by Adams as being unlike those in the U.S. Constitution;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> William Starna and George Hamell, who described errors in Grinde's and Johansen's scholarship, particularly on Canassatego and the Lancaster Treaty;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and Philip Levy, who also wrote that Grinde and Johansen had misused Adams's material, stating that he was not describing the Iroquois Confederacy government separation of powers and model of government but that he was instead describing England's structure.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Example articles

§37: There shall be one war chief from each nation, and their duties shall be to carry messages for their chiefs, and to take up arms in case of emergency. They shall not participate in the proceedings of the Council of the League, but shall watch its progress and in case of an erroneous action by a chief, they shall receive the complaints of the people and convey the warnings of the women to him. The people who wish to convey messages to the chiefs of the League shall do so through the war chief of their nation. It shall always be his duty to lay the cases, questions, and propositions of the people before the council of the League.

§58: Any Chief or other person who submits to Laws of a foreign people is alienated and forfeits all claim in the Five Nations.

§101: It shall be the duty of the appointed managers of the Thanksgiving festivals to do all that is needful for carrying out the duties of the occasions. The recognized festivals of Thanksgiving shall be the Midwinter Thanksgiving, the Maple or Sugar-Making Thanksgiving, the Raspberry Thanksgiving, the Strawberry Thanksgiving, the Corn Planting Thanksgiving, the Corn Hoeing Thanksgiving, The Little Festival of Green Corn, the Great Festival of Ripe Corn, and the Complete Thanksgiving for the Harvest. Each nation's festivals shall be held in their Longhouses.

§107: A certain sign shall be known to all the people of the Five Nations which shall denote that the owner or occupant of a house is absent. A stick or pole in a slanting or leaning position shall indicate this and be the sign. Every person not entitled to enter the house by right of living within upon seeing such a sign shall not enter the house by day or by night, but shall keep as far away as his business will permit.

References

• Mann, Charles C. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. Template:ISBN

Further reading

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External links

• U.S. Congress, H.Con.Res.331 "A concurrent resolution to acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of Nations to the development of the United States Constitution and to reaffirm the continuing government-to-government relationship between Indian tribes and the United States established in the Constitution."
• Text of U.S. Congressional Statute "Iroquois Confederacy and Indian Nations--Recognizing Contributions to the United States" PDF

• The Iroquois Confederacy: Our Forgotten National Heritage Template:Webarchive (Interview w/ Dr. Donald Grinde Jr.)
• The Law

Ganienkeh Territory Council Fire, Onkwehonwe people

• Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy by Donald Grinde & Bruce Johansen - see esp. Chapter 2 for a detailed description of Kaianerekowa or Great Law of Peace at the end of all this all the creators had a celebration to show it really was peace