To: Antoninus
I certainly never said we were peace-loving, tree-hugging nature warshipping hippies - we were warriors. Period. Our system allowed us to avoid warfare among ourselves - it didn't apply to other tribes...
I never claimed that there is a massive amount of evidence that the Iroquoian system was an inspiration for the U.S. Constitution - our system was based on a myriad of influences, and it may be possible that the Iroquoian confederacy could have played a small role nonetheless - especially when you consider some founders lived among the 5 nations for a time... I'm not saying it's written in stone that there was influence, but to completely ignore the 5 nations as THE dominate power in North America during the early colonialization period, and even up into the French and Indian wars and beyond, would be ignore truth.
Enough founders were aware of, and understood, the nature of the condeferacy to make it a valid question, though - how much influence was there? To just flat out say "None" is to be in denial that such savages could possibly be worth anything...
59 posted on
10/12/2004 11:19:08 AM PDT by
Chad Fairbanks
(How do you ask a hamster to be the last hamster to die for a mistake?)
To: Chad Fairbanks
I'm not saying it's written in stone that there was influence, but to completely ignore the 5 nations as THE dominate power in North America during the early colonialization period, and even up into the French and Indian wars and beyond, would be ignore truth.
I would never do such a thing because I'm a student of the time. There is no denying that the Iroquois were a dominant political and military force throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
Enough founders were aware of, and understood, the nature of the condeferacy to make it a valid question, though - how much influence was there? To just flat out say "None" is to be in denial that such savages could possibly be worth anything...
I would never say "none." What I would say is that the founders were considerably more influenced by the likes of Plato, Livy, Machiavelli, British history, etc. The Iroquois may have taught them by example that it's better to hang together than to hang separately. Beyond that, I wouldn't venture to go.
65 posted on
10/12/2004 11:56:30 AM PDT by
Antoninus
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