         The Unknown Origin of the United States Constitution
                      by Walter P. Benesch, MPS
      Reprinted by permission of The Philalethes - December 1989

     The  United States Constitution is a great document.  We  proudly 
celebrate  the 200th anniversary of its ratification. Yet do  we  know 
all  of its roots? Many of the concepts in the Constitution came  from 
our  English  heritage.  A judiciary separate  from  a  representative 
legislature is found in England. The Magna Carta of 1215, the Petition 
of  Rights  in 1628, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689  were  all 
known  to  our founding fathers. But were these the  only  sources  of 
inspiration to our founding fathers?

     Before  our  Constitution and three hundred years  before  Thomas 
Jefferson's  birth,  there  was  a  Confederacy  of  peoples  with   a 
representative form of government created to form a union of  separate 
states,  provide  for a common defense, promote the  welfare  of  each 
member state. Such a government was not found in England, France,  nor 
any  country in Europe or Asia. Where was it? If you guessed  Onondaga 
in New York State, you're right.

     To the Native Americans the Ho-De-No-Sau-Nee League was known far 
and  wide. That's the name member nations called the  government  just 
described.  It  was originally composed of five  tribal  nations;  the 
Seneca, Cayuga, Onondage, Oneida, and Mohawk. Later the Tuscarora  and 
the  Delaware  joined  what we know as the  Iriquois  Confederacy.  An 
understanding   of  the  un-written  Constitution  of   the   Iriquois 
Confederacy sheds light on a little acknowledged source of inspiration 
our founding fathers had.

     According  to  the tribal history, the  Confederacy  was  founded 
thousands  of years ago by two men; the "Peacemaker", who was sent  by 
the  Great Spirit, and an Onondaga exile named A-ya-wen-tha,  or  more 
commonly  known  as  Hiawatha.  Most  white  historians  say  Hiawatha 
actually  united  the five warring nations some time  prior  to  1400. 
Hiawatha  individually petitioned each of the 50 chiefs of these  five 
tribes  to assemble at the first Great Council on the shores  of  Lake 
Onondaga.  There they planted the tree of peace - a white pine,  under 
which they buried their weapons of war. Hiawatha proclamined: "If  any 
nation  outside  of the Five Nations shall show a desire to  obey  the 
laws  of the Great Peach they may trace the roots to this  source  and 
they shall be welcomed to take shelter beneath the Tree" (Arden, 1987, 
p. 382).

     How did five tribes have fifty chiefs? Each chief headed a  clan. 
As clan chief he was called a "sachem." With over ten clans  scattered 
among the Five Nations you ended up with fifty clan sachems or chiefs. 
The  actual number depended upon the number of clans within  a  tribe. 
Some  clans  were more powerful and larger than others  as  were  some 
tribes.  The number of representative sachems reflected the power  and 
influence  of  the  tribes and clans more than  population.  Thus  the 
distribution  of representation of the tribes by their clan chiefs  in 
the Great Council varied with the size and importance of the tribe and 
its  clans. The founding tribe, the Onondaga, though not the  largest, 
was given 14 seats, the Cayuga 10, the Oneida 9, the Seneca 8 and  the 
Mohawk 9 making fifty total.

     The  sachems  were  always male. But a woman  could  serve  as  a 
temporary regent for a boy too young to serve as a sachem. A  sachem's 
seat was passed on through a line of inheritance, similar to England's 
House  of Lords. The title sachem passed through the maternal  lineage 
clan.  A man or boy would be nominated by the women of the  clan.  The 
male members confirmed the nomination (it was rarely rejected).  Since 
the clan members could only marry outside the clan, wives were not  of 
the  same clan as their husbands. Thus the sachem seat passed  through 
the maternal line; fathers could not pass on their seat to their sons, 
but rather to a younger brother or a sister's son. This prevented  the 
rise of political families and possible family conspiracies.

     Sachems of the Council controlled all the external affairs of the 
Confederacy.  However,  the  Council had no voice  over  the  internal 
affairs  of a member Nation. This insured a form of  "state's  rights" 
long  before the first state in the United States was  formed.  Within 
each  Nation  a tribal council dealt with the  internal  problems  and 
could only act on matters which concerned the tribe.

     Both the tribal and Confederacy councils were based on a  similar 
structure.  Problems raised in council were allowed full hearing  with 
all  the  sachems  being  permitted  to  express  their  opinion.  All 
decisions had to be unanimous to protect the diverse interests of  all 
the  tribes and clans. At the same time a particular sachem  could  be 
removed  from his special function if he failed to follow the will  of 
the council. The cornerstone of a more perfect union was formed within 
the councils.

     Domestic tranquillity was insured by the union of the five (later 
more)  former enemies. If threatened or if at war with  a  neighboring 
tribe,  such as the Huron or Erie, the Council united the Nations  for 
the common defense and crushed their enemies. The distribution of  the 
spoils of conquest and the free trade within the Five Nations  insured 
a  degree  of  welfare  for  each  person.  Such  a  distribution   of 
Confederation  benefits to the individual continues today  (Arden,  op 
ct).

     Did our founding fathers know about the Confederacy? According to 
Clark Wissler (1966, p. 130), Connecticut and Pennsylvania had  formal 
discussions  with  the  head  Council  sachem  about  the  nature  and 
structure  of  the League in 1744. Both colonies adopted many  of  the 
provisions of the League into their own colonial governments. In  1775 
an  Iriquois  sachem  made  a speech before  the  Alban  assembly.  He 
described  the structure of the Confederacy and the  benefits  derived 
from that structure. Some members of the assembly who heard the  chief 
became  part  of  the  New  York delegation  to  the  signing  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  less than a  year  later.  Coincidence? 
Perhaps  not for a decade later some of these same New Yorkers sat  in 
the  Constitution  Convention  which met to  revise  the  Articles  of 
Confederation.

     In  1784  Brother Marquis de Lafayette and James Madison  took  a 
trip to upstate New York. The occasion was the preliminary  ceremonies 
to  the signing of the formal peace treaty between the  Unites  States 
Government  and  the Nations of the Iriquois (a treaty  still  in  the 
Confederacy's  position,  see Arden, 1987). James Madison  spent  some 
hours  discussing  many  of the details of the  Confederacy  with  the 
sachems  present. Only three years later Madison would be credited  as 
the  principal author of the Constitution. Lafayette noted  after  the 
ceremonies  and  meetings that the constitution of the  Great  Law  of 
Peace presented by "those forest diplomats" was worthy of great praise 
(Arden,  1987).  Both  Lafayette  and  Madison  were  amazed  how  the 
unwritten  constitution of the confederacy embodied  strength  through 
union  yet  ensured free expression and a  representative  government, 
with a built-in system of checks and balances.

     Ben Franklin cited the Iriquois Confederacy as a fine example  of 
the successful union of several sovereign states. Franklin's knowledge 
of  the  Confederacy greatly influenced the writing  of  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau,  the great French philosopher, who keyed the  phrase  "noble 
savages"  after  the Iriquois. Even  the  English  economist/political 
scientist  John  Locke knew about the Confederacy from the  talks  and 
presentations  of  Sachem "King Hendricks."  Chief  Hendricks  visited 
England  in  1710,  on  invitation from  the  Crown,  to  discuss  the 
political structure of the Confederacy and to make some formal trading 
agreements with the English (Arden, 1987). This visit culminated  with 
chief Hendrick being "lionized" by Queen Anne.

     Unfortunately,  most of the Constitution's  celebrations  ignored 
the  influence  the Five Nations of the Iriquois had on  our  founding 
fathers  and our principles of Government. It is also  interesting  to 
note that our Native Americans formed their representative  government 
300  years  or  more before the European immigrants  even  dreamed  of 
becoming  an  independent  nation. Our celebrations  seem  to  have  a 
historical  black hole of knowledge. A Native American group,  so  far 
ahead  of  traditional  "Western" political  thought,  seems  to  have 
overwhelmed  our  present  day  historians  who  rather  ignore   than 
acknowledge the Iriquois contribution.

     As   for   myself,  I  celebrate  the  200th  birthday   of   the 
Constitution's ratification, with the tempered enthusiasm and  praise, 
humble  acknowledging  the  great  Hiawatha.  He  laid  many  of   the 
Constitution's  foundations  and  principals 500 to  2000  years  ago, 
depending  on  which  historians we accept. No  matter  when  Hiawatha 
manifested  his dream of a peaceful government of united  tribes,  let 
the  United States be thankful that his dream reached farther than  he 
ever  imagined. For we rightfully celebrate the 200th birthday of  the 
ratification of our founding father's greatest document and Hiawatha's 
greatest achievement.


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