"THE BIRTH OF FRONTIER DEMOCRACY FROM AN EAGLE'S EYE VIEW: THE GREAT LAW OF PEACE TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

Continued from last week

Over 200 years ago an Onondaga Chief advised Benjamin Franklin and other colonial representatives saying, “Our wise forefather established Union and Amity…this made us formidable…we are a powerful Confederacy, and if you observe the same methods…you will acquire fresh strength and power.” Franklin challenged the colonists to create a similar united government.

It would be a strange thing if (the) Six Nations should be capable of forming …such a union… and yet a like union should be impracticable for…a dozen English colonies.

The result of Franklin’s challenge was the creation of the United States of America with a Bill of Rights and Constitution based on the Great Law as symbolized by the Tree of Peace.

Iroquoian elders have long claimed their government served as a model for the United States. To put their tradition to a test, appropriate passages from the Great Law of Peace have been positioned side by side with the Constitution of the United States of America. The results proved striking. The parallels are unmistakable. Moreover, the differences proved even more interesting. Featuring high qualifications for leadership, political rights for women and a remarkable system of justice, the Great Law of Peace may inspire people to reconsider the founding principles of America’s origins.

GREAT LAW OF PEACE KAIENERAKOWA

Rotinonshonni, Iroquois Confederacy

(Founded by the Great Peacemaker, 10th-15th Century)

Opening Oration (Wampum 1,2,3)

I am (the Peacemaker)…with the statesmen of the League of Five Nations, plant the Tree of Peace…Roots have spread out…their nature is Peace and Strength. We place at the top of the Tree of Peace an eagle… If he sees in the distance any danger threatening, he will at once warn the people of the League. If any man or any nation outside the Five Nations shall obey the laws of the Great Peace…they may trace back the roots to the Tree…(and) be welcomed to take shelter. The smoke of the Council Fire of the league shall ever ascend and pierce the sky so that other nations who maybe allies may see the Council Fire of the Great Peace (the eternal flame of liberty at the center of the United Nations.)

Wampum9. Grand Council10-X TLL

Powers are vested in the Elder Brothers and Younger Brothers

1. All the business of the Five Nations Confederacy Council shall be conducted by the combined bodies of the (Chief Statesmen). First the question shall be passed on upon by the Mohawk and Seneca (Chief Statesmen – the Elder Brothers),then it shall be discussed and passed by the Oneida and Cayuga (Chief Statesmen, who later added the Tuscarora, thus the Confederacy became the Six Nations.)

Wampum 17. Grand Council Selection of Chief Statesmen

1. The right of bestowing the title (of Chief Statesman) shall be hereditary in the family…the females of the family have the proprietary right to the (Chief Statesmanship) title for all time to come…(thus the women nominate the chiefs who hold office as long as the women judge him to be fulfilling his responsibility.

Qualifications of Chief Statesmen

Wampum 27. All (Chief Statesmen) of the Five Nations Confederacy must be honest in all things…men possessing those honorable qualities that make true Royaneh (chief statesmen, literally “noble leaders who walk in greatness”). (There are no age limits, but statesmen with a family and are citizens of one of the Five and now Six Nations, with exception to the Pine Tree Chief. The clan mothers and women evaluate who is qualified to be a Chief Statesman.) Wampum 53. When the Royaneh women, holders of a (chief statesmen) title, select one of their sons as a candidate, they shall select one who is trustworthy, of good character, of honest disposition, one who manages his own affairs, supports his own family, if any, and who has proven a faithful man to his nation.

Continued next issue