24 September 2004
Iroquois Constitution Influenced That of U.S., Historians Say
Smithsonian editors interviewed at First Americans Festival
Washington -- Benjamin Franklin, one of the original architects of the United States government, introduced as a model for the country's framework document the constitution of the Iroquois Nation, according to a Smithsonian Institution specialist of American Indian history.
The Iroquois, a North American Indian confederacy of several tribes, allied with some of the first European settlers of what later became the United States.
The Iroquois' detailed constitution -- called the Great Law of Peace -- guaranteed freedom of religion and expression and other rights later embraced in the U.S. Constitution, said Jaime Hill, co-editor of "American Indian," a new Smithsonian magazine about the past, present and future of indigenous peoples from throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Hill and co-editor Millie Knapp participated in a live call-in radio broadcast from Washington September 22 during the First Americans Festival. The September 21-27 event is a major part of events in Washington surrounding the September 21 opening of the Smithsonian's newest museum and the first tribute to American Indians in Washington.
The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is an important recognition of "the first citizens of the Americas," said W. Richard West, the museum's director at the NMAI opening.
On the radio program "Native America Calling" Hill said the Iroquois document also presented to framers of the U.S. Constitution the concept of a two-house legislature and a combined government structure of state jurisdictions and a national government.
According to the Iroquois constitution, states were first to solve disputes between them on their own. If resolution efforts failed then the national government would take authority, Hill said.
The Iroquois place the creation of their constitution, which was recorded on belts, at between 1000 and 1400 A.D., according to the Smithsonian magazine. The Great Law said the national government should have a commander-in-chief and that person should present a "state of the union" address to the nation, Hill said.
The Iroquois' also said that when a legislator was presenting an issue to the governing chamber, others should be quiet, a practice adopted by Congress that contrasts with protocol in the British parliament, Hill said.
Franklin, then Pennsylvania's official printer, became familiar with the Iroquois political system by printing minutes of their meetings, according to the magazine.
"He recognized that the Iroquois constitution contained many features absent in other governments at the time," including the concept that "elected officials were never masters but remained servants of their constituencies," the magazine states.
However, the Iroquois constitution differed from the later U.S. document in one important way -- it specifically mentioned women, said Knapp. Many Indian nations were matriarchal with women nominating legislators, she added.
Native America Calling is a syndicated radio program heard by more than 40 tribal communities throughout the United States and Canada, according to program organizers. The program teaches listeners about languages and cultures once considered to be dying and stresses "compassion" among all cultures for others, said Calling's co-host Patty Talehongva. The program originates from Alaska.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
