Native American Political Systems
and the Evolution of Democracy:
An Annotated Bibliography
Bruce E. Johansen
Professor of Communication and
Native American Studies
University of Nebraska at Omaha
1987Books, Scholarly, and Specialty Journals
__________. "From One Sovereign People to Another," National Geographic, September, 1987, pp. 370-373.
This article briefly describes the Iroquois Great Law of Peace, then asks: "Could it be that the U.S. Constitution owes a debt to the Iroquois?" The article describes Franklin's view of native politics.
__________. "Selected Readings on Iroquois Contributions to the
U. S. Constitution." Northeast Indian Quarterly 4:3 (Fall, 1987), p. 29.
(*) Delgado, Richard. "Review Essay: Derrick Bell and the Ideology of Racial Reform: Will We Ever Be Saved..." Yale Law Journal 97 (1988), p. 923.
Most of this review essay is concerned with the intractable nature of racial tension in American society. Delgado finds that civil-rights law usually acts only as a corrective for minorities when it runs congruent with established interests. Delgado says that the books of Derrick Bell, a professor of law at Harvard, bears this out. As an aside, Delgado writes that "Although books praising the Constitution and tracing the origins of its miraculous ideas generally neglect to mention this fact, some of the ideas in our form of government came from the Iroquois. Before Columbus 'discovered' America, the Five Nations of the Iroquois had formed a constitutional confederation based on a document called the Great Law of Peace...." Delgado then lists a summary of similarities, citing Johansen, Forgotten Founders [1982, 1987].
Egloff, Nancy Dieter. "'Six Nations of Ignorant Savages:' Benjamin Franklin and the Iroquois League of Nations." M.A. thesis, College of William and Mary, 1987.
Kickingbird, Kirke, and Lynn Shelby Kickingbird. Indians and the United States Constitution: A Forgotten Legacy. Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C.: Institute for the Development of Indian Law, 1987.
This 36-page booklet provides an overview of Native American contributions to American political thought. It cites from several primary sources, and Forgotten Founders [1982, 1987].
Johansen. Forgotten Founders: How the American Indian Helped Shape Democracy. Boston: Harvard Common Press/Gambit, 1987.
Paperback edition of Forgotten Founders: Benjamin Franklin, the Iroquois and the Rationale for the American Revolution, published in 1982 by Gambit, Inc., of Ipswich, Mass. [Files contain reviews of this edition in the Philadelphia Inquirer (October 4, 1987), The Milwaukee Journal (Sept. 22, 1987) the Cleveland Plain Dealer (December 6, 1987), and The Bloomsbury Review "The Best of 1987," November/December, 1987. Files also contain two versions of advertising fliers for the book.]
Johansen. "Philosopher as Savage: Benjamin Franklin and the Iroquois." Northeast Indian Quarterly 4:3 (Fall, 1987), pp. 21-28.
Excerpt from Forgotten Founders.
Mee, Charles L., Jr. The Genius of the People. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
On page 237, at the beginning of the chapter titled "Details," Mee notes that the Committee of Detail (on the U.S. Constitution) met daily. "[John] Rutledge [chairman of the committee] always admired the Iroquois Indians, particularly their legal system, which gave autonomy for their internal affairs, but united them for purposes of war." Mee says that Rutledge opened a meeting of the Committee of Detail by reading from an Iroquois treaty dated 1520, which began "We, the people, to form a union, to establish peace, equity, and order..." Concludes Mee: "He commended he phrasings to his colleagues -- and so, in some part, the preamble to the new constitution was based on the law of the land as it had been on the east coast before the first white settlers arrived."
Tokar, Brian. The Green Alternative: Creating an Ecological Future. San Pedro, California: R. E. Miles, 1987.
On page 13, Tokar writes that "Probably the most influential model of democracy in this hemisphere was the Iroquois Confederacy..." as he quotes the Mohawk Nation's Basic Call to Consciousness (1978) on how "the Haudenosaunee became the first "United Nations." On the next page, however, Tokar writes: "Obviously, we cannot simply 'go back' to a tribal way of life....Tribal cultures are not an ideal to which we should want to return. They are not models for us to copy." Tokar says that "primitive cultures were sometimes very warlike," and that their democracies broke down in times of war.
Ywahoo, Dhyani. Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings From the Wisdom Fire. Boston: Shambhala, 1987.
This new-age treatment briefly mentions Native American governance and its influence on that of the United States on pages 16 and 144, with no references.
Newspapers, Newsletters, and Magazines
__________. "Celebration Planned Here for Constitution's Bicentennial." Cornell Chronicle 19:3 (September 10, 1987), pp. 1,7.
The newspaper of Cornell's administration featured side-by-side announcements of two conferences scheduled during September at the university: the American Indian Program's conference on the Great Law of Peace and the Constitution (Sept. 11-12), and another conference a week later that featured a speech by former senator and secretary of state Edmund S. Muskie. The AIP conference drew 400 people, while the "mainstream" conference registered about 100.
__________. "Iroquois Constitution: A Forerunner to Colonists['] Democratic Principles." New York Times, June 28, 1987, p. 40.
Quotes Lyons in support of the "influence thesis;" revision of New York State school curricula to include the idea also is mentioned.
__________. "Iroquois Great Law and Constitution Conference Set." IPN Weekly Report 3:35 (August 31, 1987).
Announcement of the September, 1987 conference at Cornell University, with background on some of the speakers.
__________. "With All Due Respect to the 'Founding Fathers:' Indian Contributions to the U.S. Constitution." Friends Committee on National Legislation, Washington, D.C., August-September, 1987.
The first four pages of this eight-page newsletter outline Native American contributions to the ideological corpus of U.S. democracy, highlighting the role of the Iroquois and Benjamin Franklin, citing Johansen, Forgotten Founders [1982, 1987].
_________. "Experts Discuss Indian Influence on U.S. Constitution." [United Press International] September 11, 1987.
Brief announcement of conference at Cornell University the following week to discuss the relationship of the Iroquois confederate structure and the evolution of American democracy.
__________. "The Iroquois and the Constitution." The Washington Post, August 25, 1987, p. B-5.
Brief announcement of a speech by Oren Lyons, September 3 at the University of Virginia, as part of a program marking the Constitution's bicentennial. Lyons will speak on "The Origins of the Democratic Principles of Governance." The news items notes that Lyons "has focussed his research on documenting the Iroquois influence on the Constitution."
__________. "Arts Scene." Christian Science Monitor, August 20, 1987, p. 22.
"A free show in New York's Prospect Park is planned September 12, when Bread and Puppet Theater performs an outdoor spectacle with the U.S. Constitution and an Iroquois Indian document as its theme."
Andrews, Dan. "City Officials Pay Tribute to 'the Great Experiment.'" [United Press International] September 17, 1987.
A gathering of New York City officials and their guests paid tribute to the signing of the Constitution 200 years ago. "...A hushed audience listened as Chief Leon Shenandoah told them the history of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, whose unwritten "constitution" served as a guide for the framers of the Constitution."
(*) Black. "Framers Took Some Cues From Iroquois System." Minneapolis Star-Tribune, June 1, 1987, p. 1-A, 14-A.
This front-page article details assertions of Iroquois contributions to democracy, from Johansen, Forgotten Founders [1982, 1987]. It provides a lengthy description of ways in which Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other colonial and early United States leaders interacted with the Iroquois and borrowed ideas from them.
Debevec, Charles E. "Minnesota Issues." [United Press International] May 23, 1987.
Kirke Kickingbird will speak in St. Paul, Minn. June 10 "about the influence of the Iroquois Indian Federation on the drafters of the Constitution."
Denvir, John. "A Book for the Bork Debate." [Review of Mee, Genius of the People] Los Angeles Times, September 20, 1987, p. 16[Book Review].
Denvir, who teaches constitutional law at the University of San Francisco Law School, says, with Mee, that "The majestic 'We the people' which opens the Constitution was most likely copied from an Iroquois document."
Faber, Harold. "Indian History Alive at New York Site." New York Times, July 26, 1987, Section 1, p. 36.
Ganondagan, in Central New York State, is dedicated as the state's first Native American State Historic Site. As part of his article, Faber quotes Seneca scholar John Mohawk, who created the texts for 70 stainless-steel signs at the historic site: "The Six Nation Confederacy played a pivotal role not only in Indian affairs but in the thinking of men like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson when it came to drafting plans for how the United States was to be governed. And so their legacy had some effect on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, with which we live today."
Fadden, Steven. "Forgotten Founders of the Constitution." The Grapevine (Ithaca, NY), September 10-16, 1987, p. 7.
Description of program to be held Sept. 11-12 at Cornell University, with detail on speakers.
Ferziger, Jonathan. "Special Constitution Package..." [United Press International] August 25, 1987.
This is a review of the events attending the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in New York State and its celebration two hundred years later. Ferziger reports that the state bicentennial commission also developed a series of "Constitutional Minutes" for television, including one on "the state's first great constitution-maker, the legendary Hiawatha, who brought New York's Indian tribes together in the Iroquois Confederation even before the white man discovered the continent."
Fiske, Edward B. "New York Revamps Social Studies." New York Times, October 20, 1987, p. B-1.
New York is one of two influential states (the other is California) to release new curriculum guidelines this year. In New York, "for the first time, 7th and 11th grade American history guidelines include a discussion of a controversial theory that the Iroquois Confederacy, a coalition of tribes, had considerable influence on the framers of the United States Constitution."
Glover, J. Denis. [of The Christian Science Monitor], "Forebears of the Founding Fathers. Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1987, part 8, page 5.
This piece, datelined Concord, Mass., quotes Slow Turtle on "the Iroquois League, and Indian ideas of confederation as a foundation for the Constitution. He asserts that John Rutledge borrowed the preamble of the Constitution {"We the people...") from the Iroquois. His companion, Medicine Story, says that the founders studied the Iroquois government.
Johansen. "The Oldest Constitution?" [Letter to the editor] American Heritage, September/October 1987, p. 14.
The magazine's special edition on the U.S. Constitution is said to have missed contributions by Native Americans, particularly the Iroquois.
Johnson, Tim. "Indians Trace Roots of Constitution." Daybreak 1:1 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 3-5.
Mohawk, John. "We, the Original People: A Celebration of the Principles of Democracy." Daybreak 1:1 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 2, 6-9.
Myers, Mike. "Those Ill-served." [Letter to the editor] Time, July 27, 1987, p. 6.
Myers, a Seneca who is executive director of Native Futures on the Onondaga Nation, writes "to comment on [Time's] presentation of Native Americans." Myers says that the Iroquois Confederacy is among the world's oldest continuously functioning democracies...[which] provided a model for political organization that endures to this day."
Naedele, Walter F. "An American Constitution Much Older Than 200 Years." Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 1987.
John Kahionhes Fadden, Mohawk artist and teacher, supports the idea that the Iroquois helped shape American political institutions. The article mentions Franklin's relationship with the Iroquois, his comments on their government, and Cannassatego's 1744 speech at Lancaster.
Prince, Richard. "Constitution Owes Much to 'Indian Givers.'" Rochester [New York] Democrat and Chronicle, May 21, 1987.
This editorial column outlines Iroquois governance and Franklin's comments on it, citing from Forgotten Founders.
St. John, Jeffrey. "Constitutional Journal." Christian Science Monitor, July 27, 1987, p. 32.
This piece, the 46th in a series on the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, says that Charles Rutledge adopted the "We the People" phrasing of the preamble "from a constitution drawn up in 1520 by five Iroquois Indian nations."
St. John, Jeffrey. "Constitutional Journal." Christian Science Monitor, July 24. 1987, p. 28.
In part 45 of a continuing series on the formulation of the Constitution, "John Rutledge is reported to have opened today's session by pulling from his pocket a copy of a constitution drawn up in 1520 by five Iroquois Indian nations." According to this account, Rutledge then recited from the document for the four other members of the Committee of Detail: "We, the people, to form a union, to establish peace, equity, and order..." The use of the term "a copy" is curious here, since significant portions of the Iroquois Great Law of Peace were not committed to European-style writing until the late nineteenth century. A truly comprehensive version was not published in English until 1992. Suffice to say that Rutledge utilized Iroquois example, but not as graphically as this article has it.
Shatz, Frank. "Iroquois Affected the Constitution." The Virginia Gazette, Sept. 19, 1987, n.p.
This "World Focus" column in a newspaper serving Williamsburg, York, and James City, Virginia says "There is growing recognition that the American colonists' association with Native American Indians had a profound influence on the framers of the U.S. Constitution." The article quotes John Kahionhes Fadden, and describes Iroquois notions of freedom and federalism, as well as early interactions between colonists, notably Benjamin Franklin, and native peoples.
Shogren, Elizabeth. United Press International, August 20, 1987. In LEXIS.
Shogren quotes Oren Lyons on Iroquois history and the Great Law's relationship to U.S. fundamental law. Also quotes Johansen in support of the "influence thesis," with Michael Kammen, Cornell professor of history in opposition, saying that "There is no scholarly evidence to support the claims of the Iroquois Confederacy on the Founders."
Stanich, Susan. "Iroquois Roots Grow Deep in the U.S. Constitution." Seattle Times, October 11, 1987, p. A-16.
Yarrow, Andrew L. "Weekender Guide." New York Times, September 11, 1987, p. C-1.
At Prospect Park in Brooklyn, oversized puppets and paper-mache animals are part of the cast of the Bread and Puppet Theater as it performs "The Archetypal Slogan Circus." The writer describes the "Circus" as "part allegory and part comedy...includ[ing] puppets representing the Founding Fathers as well as women and landless Americans who were neglected by the Constitution. The 90-minute show was inspired not only by the Constitution, but also by its Iroquois precursor, known as 'Kaianerekowa' [The Great Binding Law or Great Law of Peace]."
Conferences and Public Events
[September 11-12] Cornell University, "Cultural Encounter: the Iroquois Great Law of Peace and the United States Constitution," Cornell American Indian Program, et. al. Proceedings were published; see Jose Barreiro, ed., Indian Roots of American Democracy [1988].
[November 27] Johansen spoke to a gathering convened by E. David Griffith, an attorney, at the Trianon of Colorado Springs School, for debate and discussion on ideas in Forgotten Founders.
[December 2] Hearing, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, on S. Con. Res. 76, "To acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of Nations to the development of the United States Constitution..." The hearing was held in Washington, D.C. A transcript is available.
Other Materials
- Letter, October 1, 1987, from Sally Smith, co-ordinator, Project Equal, Brooklyn, N.Y., to John Kahionhes Fadden, thanking him for illustrations of his which were used in an exhibit on the Iroquois and democracy to be used in schools. The project is titled "Forgotten Founders: The Iroquois Confederacy and the Founding of the American Nation." The title is an amalgamation of the titles of early books by Grinde and Johansen. Materials include a bookmark, exhibit poster, bibliography, and quiz.
- Two "Field Workbook Leaflets," with text and artwork by John Kahionhes Fadden, "a service of the Young Worker Program...of the New York State Historical Association." The leaflets, both titled "Native Americans in New York State: Symbols of the Haudenosaunee," outlines ways in which European colonists adopted some of the symbols and ideas of the Iroquois.
- Public Relations Newswire, December 17, 1987, in LEXIS. "Kirke Kickingbird Receives Bicentennial Award." The Institute for the Development of Indian Law will give an award to Kickingbird for outstanding contributions to the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. the award is based in part on his creation of a 36-page booklet, "Indians and the U.S. Constitution," along with a brochure and 15-minute video.
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