Iroquois and the Constitution
In our Civics Overview page the lessons based on the influence of Native American tribes,
particularly the Iroquois were discussed. In this page we will delve deeper into the push to recenter the framing of our governing documents on
ideas taken from the Iroquois confederation and others.
The Iroquois lesson that gave rise to the question presented to the students “If you were a lawyer representing the descendents of
Native Americans who wanted to sue the US for stealing ideas about government, would you have a good, bad or fair case? Please explain your
legal reasoning” included the following videos:
Mass School of Law, Tiokasin Ghosthorse
Peacemakers journey and the Great Law of Peace
NBC News - Iroquois Confederacy
There is significant doubt of the veracity of this idea that the founders based our Constitution on the Iroquois. Further, the videos contain even more disturbing untruths.
Starting with Mr. Ghosthorse’s interview he appears to state that Jefferson met with the Iroquois at the same time as Franklin, 30 years before the Constitution was written.
Jefferson would have been 16 at that time. Later, he makes the claim that Iroquois chiefs were taken to Freedom Hall in Pennsylvania and put upstairs, locked in essentially as prisoners,
and used to give guidance to the Constitutional Convention as the Constitution was being written. There is no evidence to support this idea. In the video it shows an image of a
portion of the Constitution that reads “Article XIV “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States…excluding Indians…” What it leaves out in the
final ellipse is the words “not taxed.” This is very misleading editing.
The second video is very much a religious type myth story, analogous to the story of God delivering
the 10 Commandments to Moses through the Burning Bush.
The final video is a straight history lesson, and presented without bias. It also has no mention of Iroquois influence on the Constitution.
By framing the question with the wording “stealing ideas”, the students are led to have a negative perception of the founder’s role in the creation of the Constitution.
This question does not foster development of the students’ unbiased critical thinking skills, rather it fosters a negative view of the founders and the US Constitution.
It is also unreasonable to think that an eighth-grade student would fully understand the concepts of legal reasoning.
A basic search on the internet yielded documents that call into question the validity of the substance of this lesson.
The first is a scholarly paper written by a legal professor Erik M. Jensen (
Erik M. Jensen | School of Law | Case Western Reserve University):
The Imaginary Connection Between the Great Law of Peace and the
United States Constitution: A Reply to Professor Schaaf (case.edu)
Some quotes from this article:
“If enough people say the same thing enough times, people will start to accept the proposition, no matter how unbelievable it might be. Repetition and emotion substitute for evidence." 298(5)
“To have a plausible theory connecting Iroquois ideas to the United States Constitution, a historian-one might expect would cite discussions of the Iroquois Confederacy
at the Constitutional Convention. Schaaf and others cannot” 299(6)
“Not once, however, in Madison's-or anyone else's-notes of the Convention is mention made of the Iroquois Confederacy as a model for the American Constitution.”
“Historian A's imagination becomes the authority for historian B's treatise.”
“If the burden of proof were on me, I would concede defeat at this point: I cannot pretend to disprove a theory so amorphous that no-evidence constitutes evidence.” 300(7)
“Thomas Jefferson was an important founding father, but he was not a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Benjamin Franklin was a delegate, but at that stage of his career he
was more a venerated symbol than a major participant in the deliberations” 301(8)
“But the Great Law of Peace, in the form analyzed by Professor Schaaf, has existed as a written document since only the late nineteenth century." In earlier periods,
the Great Peace was transmitted orally, with its principles preserved by wampum belts and strings, many of which were lost or destroyed. If a causal relationship
in fact exists between the written Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution, is it so clear which served as the model for which?" 307(14)
“But the Schaaf theory does not lead to renewed study. Instead, it rejects solid research in favor of fevered imagination. No one benefits from such make-believe,
and the scholarly enterprise in American Indian legal history may be irreparably damaged by it.” 308(15)
This PolitiFact fact check lists the idea as “mostly false"
“The Iroquois government is in some ways radically different than the U.S. government. For starters, the Iroquois’ federal system arguably bears more
resemblance to the United Nations than the American federal system.”
“Even if there was some Iroquois influence, it wasn’t the primary shaper of the Constitution.”
PolitiFact is considered left-center/left lean biased:
Politifact - Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
PolitiFact Media Bias | AllSides
This idea of the influence of Native American tribes is not limited to the DKP. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spells it out
in their History and Social Studies Framework. Under Topic 1
the framework states "Analyze the evidence for arguments that the principles of government of the United States
were influence by the governments of Native Peoples (e.g. the Iroquois Confederacy)" (typo presented as exists on the page) as the last of 5 points
of discussion under "The philosophical foundations of the United States political system."
To support this assertion one of the sources listed is
"The Iroquois Confederacy Constitution."
In this document the author makes the case that the "Iroquis League of Nations" had a substantial impact on the US form of government.
The author concedes "At the time of the founding of the Iroquois League of Nations, no written language existed; we have only the early stories which were passed down
from generation to generation, until such time as there was a written language, and interpreters available, to record that early history.
One such document is listed below." The version he refers to "was prepared by Arthur C. Parker, Archeologist of the State Museum in New York in 1915."
Let us look at what's in the Iroquois Constitution:
"I, Dekanawidah, appoint the Mohawk Lords the heads and the leaders of the Five Nations Confederacy. The Mohawk Lords are the foundation of
the Great Peace and it shall, therefore, be against the Great Binding Law to pass measures in the Confederate Council after the Mohawk
Lords have protested against them. No council of the Confederate Lords shall be legal unless all the Mohawk Lords are present."
Sounds very democratic, doesn't it? As to their similarities to our bi-cambral legislature and executive branch:
" 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, (Fire Keepers) for final judgement."
This has nothing to do with how our system works. In this 2 tribes first discuss what they want, and then they hand it to 2 other tribes
after that, the remaining tribe issues final judgement.
"The women of the Forty Eight (now fifty) Royaneh families shall be the heirs of the Authorized Names for all time to come."
Does this sound anything like what the founders created in the United States Constitution.