However, I believe they were dead wrong, as many short examinations will show.
Even before the Europeans made contact with them, there were several outstanding Indian cultures that we are just beginning to understand and appreciate. One such was the Iroquois Confederacy, made up of five nations initially: the Onondagas, Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas. It became a six nation confederacy when the Tuscaroras migrated into Iroquois country in the early eighteenth century.
Together, these peoples, located in the northeastern region of North America, comprise the oldest participatory democracy on earth. Their story, and governance truly based on the consent of the governed, provided much inspiration to such central authors of the original United States representative democracy as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. In our present day, we can benefit immensely, in our quest to establish anew a government truly dedicated to all life’s liberty and happiness much as has been practiced by the Six Nations for over 800 years. For example, while we struggled with the Equal Rights Amendment to our constitution and with women’s rights in general we could be looking to the Iroquois and this statement from Exemplar of Liberty, Native America and the Evolution of Democracy, Chp. 11:
We, the women of the Iroquois
Own the Land, the Lodge, the Children
Ours is the right to adoption, life or death;
Ours is the right to raise up and depose chiefs;
Ours is the right to representation in all councils;
Ours is the right to make and abrogate treaties;
Ours is the supervision over domestic and foreign policies;
Ours is the trusteeship of tribal property;
Our lives are valued again as high as man’s.
And from the Iroquois at the UN: Opening Speech by Oren Lyons for "The Year of the Indigenous Peoples, 1993
This proclamation brings home inspiration and renewed dedication to our quest for self-determination, justice, freedom and peace in our Homelands and our Territories. Indeed, the quest is a renewal of what we enjoyed before the coming of our White Brothers from across the sea. We lived contentedly under the Gai Eneshah Go’ Nah, the Great Law of Peace. We were instructed to create societies based on the principles of Peace, Equity, Justice, and the Power of Good Minds. Our societies are based upon great democratic principles of the authority of the people and equal responsibilities for the men and the women. This was a great way of life across this Great Turtle Island and freedom with respect was everywhere. Our leaders were instructed to be men of vision and to make every decision on behalf of the seventh generation to come; have compassion and love for those generations yet unborn. We were instructed to give thanks for All That Sustains Us. Thus, we created great ceremonies of Thanksgiving for the life-giving forces of the Natural world, as long as we carried out our ceremonies life would continue. We were told that ‘the seed is the law.’ Indeed it is the law of life. It is the law of regeneration. Within the seed is the mysterious force of life and creation. Our mothers nurture and guard that seed and we respect and love them for that. Just as we love I hi do’ hah, our Mother Earth, for the same spiritual work and mystery.
The Haudenosaunee [Iroquois] Confederacy, one of the worlds oldest democracies, is at least three centuries older than previous estimates, according to Bruce E. Johansen. Research by Barbara Mann and Jerry fields of Toledo University, Ohio has shown this to be the new estimate.
It is not unreasonable to guess that the Iroquois once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, according to Doug George-Kanentiio. According to census figures in both Canada and the U.S., in 1995 there were 74,518 Iroquois in North America, the majority of whom lived in Canada.
