Embedded Resource
Description
Much has been said about the inspiration of the ancient Iroquois "Great League of Peace" in planting the seeds that led to the formation of the United States and its representative democracy. The Iroquois Confederacy, founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142, is the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth. In 1988, the U.S. Senate paid tribute with a resolution that said, "The confederation of the original 13 colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy, as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the constitution itself."
The people of the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as the Six Nations, refer to themselves as the Haudenosaunee (pronounced "hoo-dee-noh-SHAW-nee"). It means "peoples of the longhouse," and refers to their lengthy bark-covered longhouses that housed many families. Theirs was a sophisticated and thriving society of well over 5,000 people when the first European explorers encountered them in the early 17th Century.
Source-Dependent Questions
- How did Iroquois "Great League of Peace" influence the formation of the United States and its representative democracy?
- Who were the people of the Iroquois Confederacy?
Citation Information
"The Great Law of Peace - Injunuinty," Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 12 November 2013. Courtesy of Vision Maker Media