Exploring the Text

1. What elements of a democratic decision-making process are incorporated into the Iroquois Constitution?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What elements of a democratic decision-making process are incorporated into the Iroquois Constitution?
2. What symbols and rituals are prescribed in this document? How might these contribute to establishing a sense of community among the individual tribes? Pay special attention to the Tree of the Great Peace.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What symbols and rituals are prescribed in this document? How might these contribute to establishing a sense of community among the individual tribes? Pay special attention to the Tree of the Great Peace.
3. What qualifications, particularly of character, are recommended for those who assume positions of authority?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What qualifications, particularly of character, are recommended for those who assume positions of authority?
4. What procedures and safeguards are included to ensure fair and just resolution of disagreements, including questionable behavior of the lords?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What procedures and safeguards are included to ensure fair and just resolution of disagreements, including questionable behavior of the lords?
5. What guidelines for everyday life experiences are offered in this document? How are these related to public issues of governance?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - What guidelines for everyday life experiences are offered in this document? How are these related to public issues of governance?
6. Historian Gerald Murphy made the following assertion:

   During the bicentennial year of the Constitution of the United States, a number of books were written concerning the origin of that long-revered document. One of these, The Genius of the People, alleged that after the many weeks of debate a committee sat to combine the many agreements into one formal document. The chairman of the committee was John Rutledge of South Carolina. He had served in an earlier time, along with Ben Franklin and others, at the Stamp Act Congress, held in Albany, New York. This Committee of Detail was having trouble deciding just how to formalize the many items of discussion into one document that would satisfy one and all. Rutledge proposed they model the new government they were forming into something along the lines of the Iroquois League of Nations, which had been functioning as a democratic government for hundreds of years, and which he had observed in Albany. While there were many desirable, as well as undesirable, models from ancient and modern histories in Europe and what we know now as the Middle East, only the Iroquois had a system that seemed to meet most of the demands espoused by the many parties to the debates. The Genius of the People alleged that the Iroquois had a Constitution which began: “We the people, to form a union… .” That one sentence was enough to light a fire under me, and cause me to do some deep research into ancient Iroquoian lore. I never did find that one sentence backed up in what writings there are concerning the ancient Iroquois. But I DID find sufficient data and evidence to convince me that the Iroquois most certainly did have a considerable influence on the drafting of our own Constitution, and we present-day Americans owe them a very large debt.

   Murphy summarizes the position of other historians and scholars who have argued the influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the U.S. Constitution. What evidence in this selection from the Iroquois Constitution supports his position?

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Exploring the Text: - Historian Gerald Murphy made the following assertion:During the bicentennial year of the Constitution of the United States, a number of books were written concerning the origin of that long-revered document. One of these, The Genius of the People, alleged that after the many weeks of debate a committee sat to combine the many agreements into one formal document. The chairman of the committee was John Rutledge of South Carolina. He had served in an earlier time, along with Ben Franklin and others, at the Stamp Act Congress, held in Albany, New York. This Committee of Detail was having trouble deciding just how to formalize the many items of discussion into one document that would satisfy one and all. Rutledge proposed they model the new government they were forming into something along the lines of the Iroquois League of Nations, which had been functioning as a democratic government for hundreds of years, and which he had observed in Albany. While there were many desirable, as well as undesirable, models from ancient and modern histories in Europe and what we know now as the Middle East, only the Iroquois had a system that seemed to meet most of the demands espoused by the many parties to the debates. The Genius of the People alleged that the Iroquois had a Constitution which began: “We the people, to form a union… .” That one sentence was enough to light a fire under me, and cause me to do some deep research into ancient Iroquoian lore. I never did find that one sentence backed up in what writings there are concerning the ancient Iroquois. But I DID find sufficient data and evidence to convince me that the Iroquois most certainly did have a considerable influence on the drafting of our own Constitution, and we present-day Americans owe them a very large debt.Murphy summarizes the position of other historians and scholars who have argued the influence of the Iroquois Constitution on the U.S. Constitution. What evidence in this selection from the Iroquois Constitution supports his position?