What’s the Iroquois Nation?

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The Iroquois Nation is a confederation of five Native American tribes – Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, and Onondaga – which were later joined by the Tuscaronra Nation to form what the Iroquois call “The League of Nations”. Originally from the heavily forested area of ​​what is now upstate New York, the Iroquois nation speaks the same language and shares similar cultural and spiritual practices. The Iroquois are known for their sturdy longhouses and for being the oldest participatory democracy still in existence today.

The Iroquois were farmers and hunter-gatherers. Food was cooked and stored in the famous longhouses where Iroquois families lived. The people took great pride in the construction of these longhouses, which could be over 200 feet (61 meters) long. Sensitive to the majesty of mature trees, the Iroquois made sure to use every part of the trees they felled. Thus, tree bark, saplings, branches and logs were all used to build longhouses. The Iroquois mended holes and cracks with moss and animal skins.

Iroquois culture was matrilineal, meaning men married into their wife’s clan. Clans were led by Clan Mothers, who wielded great power. The Clan Mothers chose powerful male council members who debated matters and made decisions for the entire tribe. If the Clanmother didn’t like a council member, she could fire him. Women could own property and leave their husbands if they wanted to.

The Iroquois were not always united. Hundreds of years ago, the five tribes waged war and competed for land and resources. According to legend, around the year 1550, a Mohawk named Hiawatha met a prophet named Deganawidah. The two realized that tribes had to come together to ensure peace and prosperity. A skilled politician, Hiawatha gave moving speeches and persuaded the five tribes to form the Iroquois Nation. The Tuscarora united in 1721 to form the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Just as each tribe had a council, the League had its own 50-member Grand Council. The main purpose of the Grand Council of the Iroquois Nation was to keep the peace between the tribes. Peaceful Onondaga had 14 seats, while warring Mohawk and Oneida had only nine seats each. Consent was essential; the Grand Council was to represent everyone’s wishes.

The constitution of the League of Nations is preserved in the wampum, which served as a record holder for oral historians. Wampums are arrangements of colored beads and shells strung together to convey important messages. The most important wampums were fabrics such as belts or necklaces.
During the War of Independence, the council tried to remain neutral. The Clan Mothers and the Grand Council argued furiously whether to support the English or the Colonists. In some cases, individual villages joined the settlers, but the majority sided with the British. Toward the end of the war, American soldiers drove the Iroquois north into Canada; other members of the confederacy dispersed as far away as Wisconsin and Oklahoma. A weakened form of the League still exists today, but the Revolutionary War marked the end of the power of the Iroquois nation.

Some historians believe that the Iroquois Nation served as a model for the United States Constitution. James Madison, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were aware of the democratic system to preserve the peace between the clans. In 1988, the United States government passed a resolution recognizing the contribution of the Iroquois nation to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. However, other historians and anthropologists question the notion that the Founding Fathers drew inspiration from the scattered Iroquois Nation.

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