Iroquois Nation Quotes
First the question shall be passed upon by the Mohawk and Seneca statesmen. Then it shall be discussed and passed by the Oneida and Cayuga statesmen. Their decision shall then be referred to the Onondaga statesmen, the Firekeepers, for their final judgment.
A Written form of Constitution of the first democracy of the New World.
Iroquois Indians, The Great Law of Peace of the League of the Hodenosaunee
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This was the first written constitution in the Americas. This clause created the first plebiscite in America.
When whites first came to America, the Iroquois, were the most sophisticated and powerful Native Americans. They were actually a confederation of 5 different tribes each of which was composed if many clans. Although fierce warriors, they had agreed not to fight each other and to assist if any were attacked. They developed a strong agricultural base, to go with the fishing and hunting, and their confederation were very aggressive and sophisticated traders taking them far from their upstate New York “capitol.” Their governmental structure was quite sophisticated with an elaborate, formal, system of checks and balances, multi-cameral legislatures that recognized numbers of citizens, power and wealth, and even cultural traditions. They were literate, capitalistic and globalistic in that they wanted to trade with all. They had written laws, and women had a role that was almost unique in world history in that only women owned property in a matrilineal society. Further, it was only the Clan Mothers who voted for the 50 Sachems (Senators)—but their selections had to be accepted by the people they represented. Ironically the descendants of the Iroquois who remained in New York became a very successful Native American group. In the 2000 census, the average Indian in New York State earned the same income as the average White with no Indian gambling money. In the old Constitution, the Third Legislative House had a very interesting role. The Onondaga (Fire Keepers) played a particular role in the keeping of the tradition. Their Lords (Sachems—Senators) performed a role that is a combination of an Executive, a Supreme Court, and an Established Church. In effect they had a veto and were supposed to examine the legislation passed by the other two houses with regard to tradition and constituency with the laws and the Constitution. There was a veto override process also in this very sophisticated constitution. See {611628}.
The card was issued to all American troops in the theater. Similar versions were distributed to troops in Iraq, and other Arab countries.
Referring to the narrowly drawn censure resolution of Joseph R. McCarthy that passed the Senate:
The Mohawk, as well as the other Iroquois nations had several interesting democratic elements to their governance system some of which Benjamin Franklin tried to introduce into Pennsylvania and nationally. Particularly interesting is the European perspective of the minister who describes the de facto requirement for a type of plebiscite ratification in derogatory terms referring to the people as “the mob”. Some have argued that at the time the most democratic nation on earth was the Iroquois nation.
Originally it was published in Boston under the name “A Columbian Patriot.” The “principles to which she referred were the principles set out in our Constitution of 1787.
Cyprian was the leader of the Christian Church in Africa. His non-authoritarian style was a radical departure from then civil and religious organizational style. Jews had moved back and forth between Congregational and authoritarian religious organization before, Cyprian’s democratic approach was short lived as the Catholic Church structure evolved emulating, and contesting with, civil authoritarianism. Cyprian’s approach presaged the Christian Congregational development that became the basis of most early American Christian churches.
In the struggle for political power, this is often forgotten. During the Barak Administration, the President proposed measures that had been introduced and supported by his Republican opponents earlier. But they then not only failed to support them but often filibustered in the Senate to block them. The Democrats failed to support some of their ideas when President Eisenhower introduced them.
The speaker was having trouble with some of his own party members in passing the President's budget. The press wanted to know when he would bring the budget to a vote.
The Iroquois (/ˈɪrəkwɔɪ/ or /ˈɪrəkwɑː/) or Haudenosaunee (/ˈhoʊdənoʊˈʃoʊni/; "People of the Longhouse") are an indigenous confederacy in northeast North America. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the Iroquois League, later as the Iroquois Confederacy and to the English as the Five Nations, comprising the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. After 1722, they accepted the Tuscarora people from the southeast into their confederacy, as they were also Iroquoian-speaking, and consequently became known as the Six Nations.
