13 Nations

13 Nations

Did America’s Founding Fathers take a page from American Indians when they formulated the United States government?

I’ve recently had the pleasure of watching Bill Moyers interview Oren Lyons the Faithkeeper, chief of the Onondaga of the Six Nations.  My curiosity was piqued about half an hour into the interview, when Lyons spoke about how America’s Founding Fathers were inspired by the union of the Six Nations when they conceived of America’s new government.  He singled out Benjamin Franklin as a particular advocate of adopting Native political ideas of unity.

This was something never mentioned in the history books I read in school.  Was Lyons right?

I decided to investigate this for myself.

Located in upper New York state, the Onondaga are one of the united Six Nations.  The other five are the Cayuga, the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Seneca, and (later) the Tuscarora nations.  With the Tree of Peace as their foundational symbol, Dr. Bruce Johansen has described the Six Nations as “a federal union of five (and later six) Indian nations that had put into practice concepts of popular participation and natural rights that the European savants had thus far only theorized.”

Our famous kite flyer was certainly well aware of the Six Nations’ form of national union and participatory democracy.  Concerned largely with uniting colonial trade management to reduce fraud, numerous American Indian voices urged the colonial leaders to form a federal union of their own during the decades leading up to the American Revolution.

One such voice was published by Franklin’s own printing business in 1744.  Remarkably, this treaty between the Six Nations and British colonial delegates concluded precisely 32 years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on July 4^th.  The voice in question is that of Chief Canassetego of the Six Nations, who advised the British to form their own union of nations:

Chief Canassetego speaks, 1744

“Our wise forefathers established Union and Amity between the Five Nations.  This has made us formidable; this has given us great Weight and Authority with our neighboring Nations.  We are a powerful Confederacy; and by your observing the same methods, our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire such Strength and power.  Therefore whatever befalls you, never fall out with one another”

In Ben Franklin’s own writings, we find further evidence that he viewed the Six Nations as a living testament to the practicality of forming a union of the English colonies.  He articulated the following in a personal letter:

Ben Franklin taking notes

“It would be a very strange thing, if Six Nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such an union, and be able to execute it in such a manner, as that it has subsisted ages, and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies, to whom it is more necessary and must be more advantageous, and who cannot be supposed to want an equal understanding of their interests.”

Note that his use of the term “ignorant savages” was only meant hyperbolically for effect.  Franklin and perhaps other colonial leaders clearly did not merely admire the American Indian “confederate republics,” the successes of which they cited to convince their own countrymen of the wisdom in forming a similar political union.  But Franklin also sympathized with their people as well.  He actually lost his seat in the Pennsylvania Assembly on account of his defense of American Indians in 1764.

The Founding Fathers have been rightly praised for articulating a Constitution which, for over two centuries, has defined American republican governance.  And the writings of both contemporary and ancient European minds have as well had a deep impact on the Founders, including John Locke and David Hume.

Yet the notion of a republic was unheard of in Europe since the fall of the Roman Republic.  And Rome was not exactly the best example to follow, having fallen first to despotism and then into ruin.  Indeed, democracy was a dirty word to the Founders and their contemporaries, who associated it with mob rule.

Chief Canassatego's words are remembered, 1775

In conclusion, it appears America owes a debt of gratitude to the Six Nations. The words of Chief Canassetego and other American Indian leaders were remembered as the War for Independence drew near. These First Nations inspired our emerging nation with a living proof of concept for participatory governance.  They helped convince the Founders of America that republican governance could actually work.

.

Images courtesy of rat haus.