We Wouldn’t Have the U.S. Constitution Without the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace

This 4th of July, as the Trump administration mounts an ostentatious fete to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, you may hear superlatives referring to the U.S. as the world’s oldest democracy, one informed by Ancient Greeks and European Enlightenment philosophers. You know, white people.

This story jives nicely with Trump’s racist, euro-centric vision for our nation today. Problem is, like much of Trump’s rhetoric, it is revisionist history and completely wrong.

The Haudenosaunee have one of the oldest participatory democracies on earth. In fact, ours wouldn’t be what it is today without them.

The Great Law of Peace

The Haudenosaunee, some of the original inhabitants of the land within today’s New York borders, came together from five nations: the Seneca, the Cayuga, the Onondaga, the Oneida, and the Mohawk.

These nations warred against one another throughout ancient times. What finally united them wasn’t a decisive victory by the fiercest warriors. It was the power of an idea.

The story, as recorded in the Haudenosaunee’s wampum – woven strings of beads that reveal information and history – begins with the coming of the Peacemaker. First to receive his message was a woman named Jigonhsasee. The Peacemaker then came to the leader Hiawatha, who he convinced not to take revenge on the murderer of his daughters.

Now determined to end the cycle of violence hurting his people, Hiawatha sought to convince all five tribes of the benefits of unification. So he concocted a metaphor: Just as one arrow can be easily snapped in two but a bundle of five arrows cannot be broken, so too would their tribes be stronger and safer as a united group. Tribes would come together for protection and mutual benefit, much like families lived side-by-side in their longhouses.

It was the power of a confederation.

Hiawatha had Jigonhsasee select the chiefs who would sit at the gathering where representatives from each nation drafted the Great Law of Peace, the foundational document which united their peoples under one government. They established a democratic system led by a Grand Council consisting of chiefs from each nation. These chiefs worked with clan mothers to protect and care for all of their people.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy has held together for centuries and is very much alive and well today. The Grand Council is divided into two bodies: younger and older brothers. Clan mothers carry on the legacy of Jigonhsasee. They serve for life and have the power to appoint and even impeach members of the Council.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy has adapted and evolved over the years, incorporating a sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, in the early 17th century, and adopting an elective system in 1924.

How Did the Great Law of Peace Influence the U.S. Constitution?

If a confederacy, a two-bodied legislature, and a decision-making group of wise elders appointed for life sound familiar to you, there’s good reason for that. Because in their drafting of the Constitution, founders like Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin didn’t only turn their attention to Ancient Greece and Enlightenment political thought. They also looked to the highly-functioning democracy closer to home.

Benjamin Franklin wrote of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in a letter, saying, on the one hand, that the Haudenosaunee have executed their union “in such a Manner, as that it has subsisted Ages, and appears indissoluble.” On the other hand, in the same letter he calls them “ignorant Savages.”

While clinging to these nonsensical racist stereotypes, Franklin and his peers sought the counsel of the Haudenosaunee. They visited them and invited their chiefs to a congress where they discussed their need to form a union to defend themselves. So it’s no surprise that the constitution they wrote bears a strong resemblance to the Great Law of Peace.

We’ve even coopted some of our national symbols from the Haudenosaunee. In the great seal you will find on your passport and the cash in your wallet is an eagle, who in Haudenosaunee legend sits atop the tree of peace to warn the confederacy should danger approach. And Hiawatha’s five arrows become 13 – one for each colony – clutched in the eagle’s claw.

While the Haudenosaunee’s influence on the Constitution is often ignored, it isn’t ever contested. In fact, in 1988, Congress passed a resolution to acknowledge it.

But, as in so many other instances, native people’s contributions aren’t sufficiently celebrated. We have the power to change that, however, and to bring about a more perfect union – one that honors all of our foremothers and forefathers.

On the 250th anniversary of our relatively young, still-evolving democracy, we must reflect on ways to finally bring about the unfulfilled promise of the Constitution while crediting the knowledge and wisdom of the Haudenosaunee.