Iroquois Constitution Influenced the Constitution of the U.

S By: Javier Guirola & Javier Michiels

Even though you might not think that an Indian tribe like the Iroquois influenced the American Constitution, a big part of it is based on the Iroquois Constitution. Even the first presidents were looking forward to knowing the Iroquois Constitution, and using it to develop the American Constitution, among those presidents was Benjamin Franklin. He was one of the initial architects of the United States government. Benjamin Franklin introduced the Iroquois constitution as a model for the countrys framework document. The United States constitution was influenced by all of the information contained in the Iroquois Indian Confederacy founded in Native American mythology. (2) To begin with, when Europeans first settled in the United States, they became allies with the North American Indian Confederacy of the Iroquois. Later on the United States embraced rights like freedom of religion and expression. These rights originated from the Iroquois Constitution also called The Great Law of Peace. (2) The Iroquois had a system in which all the business of the Five Nations Confederate Council was conducted by two combined bodies of Confederate Lords. The first question was passed to the first group. In the Iroquois this group was made up by the Mohawk and the Seneca Lords. After, the question was passed to the second group which was made up of the Oneida and Cayuga lords. Finally the question was then referred to the Onondaga Lords for final judgment. (1) This system is similar to the US Council which is the group in the government that is in charge of the laws that are approved or not. Also certain processes, like voting in the Iroquois government are alike to the processes done nowadays by the United States. However there are also many people that dont believe that there are comparisons between both governments. In fact they are partially right because both governments differ in the point of view they have towards religion and law. One of the main differences is that the Iroquois did not divide their religion from their law and the United States does. Another area in which they differ is the way of ruling, the Iroquois had Lords to rule and the United Stated elects a president every four years to govern the country. (3) Among all the differences there is one similarity, this is that the Iroquois and the United States have three parties that decide what the council is going to

do. This system is very effective because it makes sure that there are no errors in the first two parties by having the third party finally check what they are both saying. (3) Finally, it is evident that both constitutions have similarities and differences among them. In conclusion even though they have very notorious differences there are certain facts that can help support the idea of why the United States constitution was influenced by the Iroquois Constitution. (3)

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