The Five Nation: The Iroquois League

Before the American Revolution, Native Americans created diverse and complex societies and organized them around common principles. Relationships to land and leadership played important roles in structuring Native life, but served unique functions in each community. For both the Iroquois and Wampanoag, their relationships to land embodied their lifeways; their land was their identity, their resource, their claim to power and sovereignty, and more. While the Iroquois vested leadership powers in the institution of the Great League of Peace, the Wampanoag depended on the leadership of powerful sachems such as Massasoit and Metacomet. However, both the Iroquois and Wampanoag used leadership in their tribes to preserve peace to a degree and protect their sovereignty when dealing with Europeans and other Natives. Despite their similarities and differences, the Wampanoag and Iroquois distinctively used their relationships to land and leadership to protect their interests.

The constitution of the United Stages was based off of the Iroquois constitution. Most of our constitution and the amendments in there are alike. there are also many differences between the two constitutions.

The Iroquois nations, one of the oldest and most prestigious tribes in the history of all Native Americans. In this paper I will be showing why the Iroquois ended up siding with the English through the French and Indian, and Revolutionary wars through factors of colonization. I will also be showing some features of their culture, considering the iroquois are not well known in the western United States, and discussing the fall of the once great tribes. The main reason I 've chosen the Iroquois is because of my own prior knowledge of the Iroquois, and their relationship to lacrosse. I started playing lacrosse my freshman year of highschool. The very first thing I learned, before any stick skills or any basics of the game, was the history of it. Our coach insisted that we knew the history and the culture of the game, and that we respected it. I was intrigued by how interesting the game was. The game was made as a form of war. Lacrosse was sometimes even referred to as “Little brother of war”. It would be called this because injury, even death were common during a lacrosse game. When two tribes had a disagreement, but didn 't feel the need to have a legitimate war, the opposing tribes would send their best warriors to the battlefield and play a lacrosse game. Games would be played to a score of 5-7, but considering how long the fields could be, these games could take hours, days even, however long it took for one of the tribes to win,

The Iroquois, known as the people of the longhouse, was made up of the five nations, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. These peoples took advantage of their fertile soil environment in the St. Lawrence Low Lands. These peoples partook in intensive slash-and-burn horticulture and fishing in their fortified villages (Sage, 2016). The Iroquois relied heavily on horticulture for a food source, and thus framed a lot of their social organization around subsistence. The Three Sisters is a term used to understand the sacred powers of the three main crops corn, beans, and squash that help to facilitate each other’s growth through biogeochemical cycles. The Iroquois lived in matrilineal societies and the women were given a lot of respect.

The Iroquois had many interesting religious beliefs that were very important to their society and lifestyle. For example, according to Khaleel Mohammed, their religion was characterized by a monotheistic belief in an all-powerful creator known as the “Great Spirit.” (Mohammed, 24) They also believed in a brother of the Great Spirit, who was the evil minded brother whose specific purpose was to cause evil. (Mohammed, 25) Since they believe in spirits and things that are beyond our world, it would explain why the False Face Society fits into their belief system. The legend of the False Face is that a spirit medicine man, who had healing powers, encountered a stranger who he challenged to move a mountain. The stranger was unable too, but the medicine man did, but in doing so he hit the stranger with the mountain and disfigured

When one thinks of legacy, one thinks of the impact they will leave on the world once they are gone. As Miranda writes in her play Alexander Hamilton, “What is legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see” (Miranda). The American people will not see the legacy they plant today come to fruition, yet they can look back on the gardens tended by those who came before. This concept of what legacy is, in tern, shapes the idea of what America stands for. What is America, and what is her legacy? The argument can be made that legacy is not fixed and infinite, but malleable and ever changing. We see this when looking back on American history, for the America of before is different then the one of today. Therefore, America itself is not fixed but a work in progress, and will continue to be for as long as it values this trait. This ideal of America is bestowed in many of the author’s works analyzed during the semester. When looking back on several of the course readings, one can view the concept of legacy as a continuously developing ideal.

The Iroquois used nature and their natural resources to provide shelter. The Iroquois made their homes called longhouses from what was around them. In Document #1 it states that they made their homes from sticks and bark, the plant fibers. No scrap of material was ever wasted, it was always used for something else.

The Iroquois Confederacy composed six nations: the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas and the Tuscarora . These nations shared similar languages and cultures, however that did not stop them from fighting one another. Seeing the conflict, Dekanawida, a Iroquois, seeked for

To make sense of this world, you must possess your own viewpoints, perspectives, or beliefs because every individual is different. Some people ask,” why do we exist on Earth?” Others ask, ”Is there intelligent life in our solar system?” No matter what religion or belief you have, no one will really know the true answer to this question.

Nothing is more fundamental yet so important to the freedoms we enjoy as Americans as the United States Constitution, which guarantee our right to do and say as we please so long as it does no harm to anyone. The Iroquois Nation preamble is placed on perfect peace for the welfare of the people. Their focus was fighting for the liberty of the people. Among the Indian nations whose ancient seats were within the limits of our republic, the Iroquois have long continued to occupy the conspicuous position. Nations they now set forth upon the canvas of the Indian history prominent as for the wisdom of their civil institution of the federations. Only the Iroquois had a system that seemed to meet most of the demands espoused by the

The Cherokee tribe is known as one of the earliest and largest Indian tribe in North America. They are federally recognized even today among several states(museum). While they slowly became Americanized by the Europeans who came over to America, some still practice their typical Indian rituals publicly today. Most converted to Christianity and their government in Oklahoma is based off the American government with three branches. One would believe that the Trail of Tears could have completely vanquished these Indians but many made it through the horrendous trial and kept the Indian bloodline going even present day (Conley).

1). The reason for the construction of the Iroquois confederacy, or the league of the Iroquois, (Haudenosaunee) was the impeding factor of disunity between the tribes. Hienwatha, a Mohawk Iroquois, lived in Ontario and observed the disunity between the Iroquois tribes. In an attempt to unify the nations, he approached rival tribes and argued the benefits of unification. Initially, his idea is shut down by the elders of each tribe. The changing climate that started to occur, however, increased confrontations between tribes. Hienwatha yet again tries to explain to the Iroquois people about the possibility of peace and is rejected again. He then alludes the nations to a weaved belt of wampum shells which supposedly illustrated the connectedness of the five Iroquois nations. He traveled among the nations, of which all then supported the idea of unity, and was able to form a seemingly impenetrable force.

In the early years, George Washington believed that the best way to solve the “Indian Problem” was to simply “civilize” the Native Americans. The Goal was to convert them to Christianity, learn to speak and read English and adopt European-style economic practices like Individual ownership of land and other property. Some of the Tribes embraced these customs and become known as the “Five Civilized Tribes”. (www.history.com)

Iroquois Confederacy was a band of five tribes from upper New York in the 17th and 18th century. The representatives were the Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and Seneca which they call themselves “the people of the lighthouse”. The group was identified by non-aggression pact between the five tribes, recognition of shared concern which brought them closer. The complex of the group as a form

A belief is defines a true statement, something that exists, or the trust and faith in someone or something. We all have beliefs and have obtained those believes individually in many different ways and whose to say that belief is right or wrong, or true or false. As with a myth, a traditional story, mostly believed to be a false idea or false believe.