WORLD WEAVING: September 2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

DID YOU KNOW OUR CONSTITUTION WAS BASED ON THE IROQUOIS CONSTITUTION?

While editing an essay for my smart granddaughter, I found I wanted more info on the subject than a 1 pager can produce. So, I started researching and found--quote:

So much of what is taught in our schools as United States
history is a weaving of distorted facts and presented to our
students as the truth. One of the functions of the American
Indian Education Center is to reveal true American history,
especially as it pertains to the part of that history played
by the indigenous people of this land. The following is an
example of that true, undistorted history and gives a flavor
of the profound part that Native Americans played in the
evolution of the United States and it's government.

The story of the influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the
founding fathers and the United States Constitution is one
that is still not generally known. On September 16, 1987, the
U.S. Senate passed a resolution officially stating that the U.
S. Constitution was modeled after the Iroquois Constitution,
the Great Law of Peace. In truth, without the Iroquois, the
U.S. government might be far different.

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1There are those who believe that the early
leaders of the thirteen colonies stole their constitution from
the First Peoples of this land, namely, the Iroquois
Confederacy. This is only partly true. On July 4, 1744, the
Onondaga chief Canassatego attended a meeting between the
Indians and the British in Lancaster Pennsylvania, in which he
urged the British to replace their colonial form of government
with something more reasonable and workable.. As later
reported by Dr. Cadwalder Colden, after listening respectfully
to the proceedings for some time Canassatego requested
permission to speak. And he said,
My friends, I am honored that you have invited me to your
gathering of leaders. I have listened to your words, and I
have heard them. You have been arguing amongst yourselves and
have walked the same ground many times over without finding
ground upon which you can stand together.
I have a suggestion which may help you. We of the Five
Nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, by
following the same path, have stood together for many seasons,
and have become strong and have lived as one people. The
people of the Five Nations of our Confederacy have formed,
from equal contributions of each of the Five Nations, one
head, one body and one thought, and have thus formed a Great
Peace among us. By following the words of Deganwidah, the
Peace Maker, we have mended our differences and become
powerful. If you would only follow our example, you too would
become a powerful people. It is easy to snap in two a single
arrow. With a bundle of arrows, all held tightly together, it
is impossible.

&... The minutes of this meeting were later committed
to print by the man who would come to be known as the Father
of the United States Constitution … Benjamin Franklin.

The following site lists details of both the Iroquois Constitution and the
US Constitution. IMO, fascinating history and one helpful to know.

http://www.aiecc.net/const.htm