WEBVTT - Did the Native American Great Law of Peace Inspire the U.S. Constitution?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam Here Back in seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>forty four, colonial leaders from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland met

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<v Speaker 1>with a delegation from what at the time was one

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<v Speaker 1>of the great powers on the North American continent. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a confederation of Native American nations who called themselves

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<v Speaker 1>the hotton O'shanee, although many of us are more familiar

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<v Speaker 1>with their French name, the Iroquois. As recounted in James

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<v Speaker 1>Wilson's book The Earth Shall Weep, A History of Native America,

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<v Speaker 1>the native leader canacid Ego expressed frustration at the colonists

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<v Speaker 1>quarreling with one another. He advised union and better agreement,

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<v Speaker 1>and specifically that they followed the example of the hotton O'shannee,

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<v Speaker 1>who had established a well organized system of self government

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<v Speaker 1>codified in the Great Law of Peace, with both the

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<v Speaker 1>Central Council and checks and balances the protected individual freedoms.

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<v Speaker 1>It's written that he said, we are a powerful confederate.

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<v Speaker 1>See and by observing the same methods our wise forefathers

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<v Speaker 1>have taken, you will acquire fresh strength and power. Among

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<v Speaker 1>those in attendance was Benjamin Franklin, who, in Wilson's account,

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<v Speaker 1>took careful notes and later used some of the hotton

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<v Speaker 1>O'shawnee's ideas about government a decade later in a proposal

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<v Speaker 1>for a confederation of the American colonies. The Albany Plan

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<v Speaker 1>championed by Franklin never came to fruition, but the notion

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<v Speaker 1>of the colonies cooperating and governing themselves was a big

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<v Speaker 1>step towards what eventually became the United States of America.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the years, some have argued that we ought to

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<v Speaker 1>give the hotton O'shawnee credit for inspiring the birth of

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<v Speaker 1>the American democracy, and have even suggested that the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Constitution and the system of self government that it created

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<v Speaker 1>actually was based on the hotdon O'shawnee Great Law. If

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<v Speaker 1>you poke around the Internet or social media long enough,

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<v Speaker 1>you may even find a meme that claims that the U. S.

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<v Speaker 1>Constitution quote owes its nation of democracy to the Iroquois tribes,

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<v Speaker 1>including freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of

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<v Speaker 1>powers in government. The big difference, the meme notes is that,

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<v Speaker 1>unlike the founding fathers, the Iroquois didn't disenfranchise women and

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<v Speaker 1>people who aren't white. The point about women is clearly true.

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<v Speaker 1>Women are mentioned throughout the Great Law, and in the

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<v Speaker 1>Honno Shawnee system of government, they had the power to

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<v Speaker 1>select chiefs and veto wars. Journalist Jessica Nordell wrote in

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<v Speaker 1>a twenty sixteen Washington Post essay that nineteenth century American

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<v Speaker 1>feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who had Hottonoshawni neighbors

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<v Speaker 1>in upstate New York, were inspired by their notion of

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<v Speaker 1>gender equality. Congress even passed a resolution in acknowledging the

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<v Speaker 1>hotdon O'shawnee contribution to American democracy and noting that quote,

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<v Speaker 1>the original framers of the Constitution, including most notably George

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<v Speaker 1>Washington and Benjamin Franklin, are known to have greatly admired

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<v Speaker 1>the concepts of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

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<v Speaker 1>The resolution also noted that quote. The confederation of the

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<v Speaker 1>original thirteen colonies into one republic was influenced by the

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<v Speaker 1>political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many

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<v Speaker 1>of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution itself. Nevertheless,

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<v Speaker 1>the consensus among historians seems to be that there's no

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<v Speaker 1>compelling evidence that the founding fathers directly imitated the han

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<v Speaker 1>No Shawnee Great Law when they wrote the U s Constitution.

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<v Speaker 1>The hon No Shawnee system had some significant differences from

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<v Speaker 1>the political system that the former colonists created. For one,

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<v Speaker 1>the hon No Shawnee had hereditary office holders, something that

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<v Speaker 1>more resembled that the English system that the Americans were

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<v Speaker 1>rebelling against. Al We spoke via email with Jack Ray Cove,

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<v Speaker 1>a history and political science professor at Stanford University. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>there are lots of significant and fascinating ways in which

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<v Speaker 1>one can trace the interactions between indigenous and settler populations,

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<v Speaker 1>but the transmission of political ideas, including ideas about democracy,

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<v Speaker 1>is not one of them. The basic fact is that

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<v Speaker 1>the colonists were direct heirs to an extremely rich body

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<v Speaker 1>of political practices and ideas derived from English history, and

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<v Speaker 1>especially from the great controversies of the seventeenth century Stuart era.

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<v Speaker 1>But we also spoke with Charles C. Mann, author of

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<v Speaker 1>the two thousand six book fourteen ninety one New Revelations

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<v Speaker 1>of the Americas Before Columbus. He contends that even if

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<v Speaker 1>the Constitution wasn't actually modeled on the Great Law, the

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<v Speaker 1>Hanno Shawannee still exerted an influence upon the development of

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<v Speaker 1>American democracy. He said, the Great Law codified something that

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<v Speaker 1>was pretty fundamental to han Noshaani culture, which was that

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<v Speaker 1>people are autonomous individuals with the right to decide their

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<v Speaker 1>own lives, and that the authority of the ruler over

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<v Speaker 1>them was limited. And this is a really important part

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<v Speaker 1>of US political culture to this day. I suspect that

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<v Speaker 1>the Constitution was not inspired by the Great Law, but

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<v Speaker 1>that Hannoshani culture, of which the Great Law is one example,

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<v Speaker 1>was influential to what became a US culture in the

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<v Speaker 1>same way that say, African American teenagers and queens are

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<v Speaker 1>influenced by Asian American teenagers of the Wu Tang clan.

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<v Speaker 1>The colonial America's were a much more mixed place than

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<v Speaker 1>we are often taught in school, so this influence is

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<v Speaker 1>to me not surprising. Today's episode was written by Patrick J.

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<v Speaker 1>Tiger and produced by Tyler clay Or. More on this

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<v Speaker 1>and lots of other topics, visit how stuffworks dot com.

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