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What is the origin of democracy? |
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Written by Xiuhcoatl
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Feb 17, 2006 at 01:56 PM |
What is the origin of democracy?
Posted: September 30, 2005
by: Tom Wanamaker / Indian Country Today
Source: Indian Country
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Ask a non-Indian historian where American democracy
was born and you'll likely get answers ranging from Philadelphia to
Williamsburg, or perhaps from Boston to the Mayflower. Ask Oren Lyons
and he'll direct you to the shores of Onondaga Lake, not far from
present-day Syracuse.
''Columbus and the conquistadors didn't bring democracy; neither did
the Mayflower,'' Lyons said. ''Democracy was here in America. Freedom,
democracy, women's rights, suffrage and peace were all here.''
The Haudenosaunee (also called ''Iroquois'' or ''Six Nations'') revere
a prophetic figure called the Peacemaker, who gathered their ancestors
together on the shores of Onondaga Lake centuries ago to halt decades
of warfare between them and create the world's first democratic
government.
This Great Law of Peace bound the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and
Seneca nations (and later the Tuscarora) into a powerful and prosperous
confederacy that dominated what is now upstate New York until they were
overrun by non-Indian settlers after the American Revolution.
Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, spoke on Sept. 16 at
McNaughton Hall on the Syracuse University campus. His topic - how the
founding fathers of the United States were influenced by the
traditional Haudenosaunee methods of governance in their framing of a
new form of government for the American colonies during the 1780s.
''Today's event came about as an effort to understand the Haudenosaunee
role in the formation of the U.S. Constitution,'' said Robert Odawi
Porter, Seneca. Porter is director of the Center for Indigenous Law,
Governance and Citizenship at the Syracuse University College of Law,
which invited Lyons to speak in commemoration of U.S. Constitution Day.
During the colonial era, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which stretched
across much of what is now western, central and northern New York,
exerted great influence over and among other Indian tribes throughout
the region. Likewise, colonial governments treated the Haudenosaunee
with considerable deference.
''The Six Nations were involved in all land-based meetings in the
Northeast during colonial times,'' Lyons said. ''We set the protocol
and showed the Europeans how to have a meeting - no interruptions,
listen to each other, define the issues, one speaker at a time.''
During this era, Lyons observed, the term ''Americans'' actually meant
''Indians.'' Most European residents of the colonial governments
considered themselves subjects of the British Crown.
Lyons cited a 1744 meeting in Lancaster, Penn. involving four colonial
governors and the leaders of the six Haudenosaunee nations. At that
gathering, according to Lyons, an Onondaga chief told the governors
that their colonies ''would never amount to much'' if they did not
unite as the Haudenosaunee had done. Historian Cadwallader Colden's
notes of the meeting were later sent to Philadelphia, where a printer
named Benjamin Franklin published them.
Ten years later, Franklin initiated the Albany Plan of Union, a
proposal to create a royally appointed President-General and a
48-member Grand Council, elected by colonial legislators, to provide
for unified colonial governance. Mohawk Chief Hendrick met with the
colonists to advise them on Haudenosaunee ways. The plan never came to
fruition, but contained many elements that would later reappear in the
U.S. Constitution.
(For more information on the Albany Plan of Union, visit www.constitution.org/bcp/albany.htm or www.yale.edu
/lawweb/avalon/amerdoc/
albany.htm.)
The U.S. Constitution turned 200 years old in 1988. Efforts by Lyons
and others to obtain federal acknowledgement and recognition of
Haudenosaunee influence over early American leaders like Franklin and
George Washington, led first to talks with Sen. Daniel Inoye, D-Hawaii.
During the second session of the 100th Congress in early October 1988,
both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives passed
resolutions that: ''acknowledge[d] the contribution made by the
Iroquois Confederacy and other Indian nations to the formation and
development of the United States'' and ''reaffirm[ed] the
constitutionally recognized government-to-government relationship with
Indian tribes.''
The resolution, H. Con. Res. 331, also reaffirmed the federal
government's trust responsibility and obligation to tribal governments
and acknowledged the need to uphold treaties with Indian tribes.
''The Six Nations were fundamental to the whole democracy idea,'' Lyons said.
The speaker briefly turned his attention to the land rights litigation
filed by the Onondaga Nation last March. The action seeks recognition
of Indian title to roughly 2.3 million acres of land stretching from
Pennsylvania to Ontario, centered on Syracuse. The litigation also
seeks a strong Indian role in efforts to clean up Onondaga Lake - one
of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States (see
''Onondaga seek voice in lake cleanup,'' Vol. 25, Iss. 11).
''We want to make central New York a clean place - to collectively show the way,'' Lyons said.
Lyons made a point of thanking Nancy Cantor, the university's
chancellor, and David Smith, vice president of Enrollment Management,
for their recent ''Haudenosaunee Promise.'' This innovative scholarship
program, announced on Aug. 19, offers free tuition, room and board at
Syracuse University to students of Haudenosaunee ancestry who qualify
for admission to the school.
''They [Cantor and Smith] showed us great respect,'' Lyons said,
himself a 1959 Syracuse graduate and All-America goalkeeper on the
university's lacrosse team. ''They met with our council and opened the
doors of education to the Haudenosaunee people. We thought it would be
a courtesy visit - we were surprised by the offer.''What is the origin
of democracy? Email this
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Posted: September 30, 2005
by: Tom Wanamaker / Indian Country Today
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Ask a non-Indian historian where American democracy
was born and you'll likely get answers ranging from Philadelphia to
Williamsburg, or perhaps from Boston to the Mayflower. Ask Oren Lyons
and he'll direct you to the shores of Onondaga Lake, not far from
present-day Syracuse.
''Columbus and the conquistadors didn't bring democracy; neither did
the Mayflower,'' Lyons said. ''Democracy was here in America. Freedom,
democracy, women's rights, suffrage and peace were all here.''
The Haudenosaunee (also called ''Iroquois'' or ''Six Nations'') revere
a prophetic figure called the Peacemaker, who gathered their ancestors
together on the shores of Onondaga Lake centuries ago to halt decades
of warfare between them and create the world's first democratic
government.
This Great Law of Peace bound the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and
Seneca nations (and later the Tuscarora) into a powerful and prosperous
confederacy that dominated what is now upstate New York until they were
overrun by non-Indian settlers after the American Revolution.
Lyons, Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation, spoke on Sept. 16 at
McNaughton Hall on the Syracuse University campus. His topic - how the
founding fathers of the United States were influenced by the
traditional Haudenosaunee methods of governance in their framing of a
new form of government for the American colonies during the 1780s.
''Today's event came about as an effort to understand the Haudenosaunee
role in the formation of the U.S. Constitution,'' said Robert Odawi
Porter, Seneca. Porter is director of the Center for Indigenous Law,
Governance and Citizenship at the Syracuse University College of Law,
which invited Lyons to speak in commemoration of U.S. Constitution Day.
During the colonial era, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which stretched
across much of what is now western, central and northern New York,
exerted great influence over and among other Indian tribes throughout
the region. Likewise, colonial governments treated the Haudenosaunee
with considerable deference.
''The Six Nations were involved in all land-based meetings in the
Northeast during colonial times,'' Lyons said. ''We set the protocol
and showed the Europeans how to have a meeting - no interruptions,
listen to each other, define the issues, one speaker at a time.''
During this era, Lyons observed, the term ''Americans'' actually meant
''Indians.'' Most European residents of the colonial governments
considered themselves subjects of the British Crown.
Lyons cited a 1744 meeting in Lancaster, Penn. involving four colonial
governors and the leaders of the six Haudenosaunee nations. At that
gathering, according to Lyons, an Onondaga chief told the governors
that their colonies ''would never amount to much'' if they did not
unite as the Haudenosaunee had done. Historian Cadwallader Colden's
notes of the meeting were later sent to Philadelphia, where a printer
named Benjamin Franklin published them.
Ten years later, Franklin initiated the Albany Plan of Union, a
proposal to create a royally appointed President-General and a
48-member Grand Council, elected by colonial legislators, to provide
for unified colonial governance. Mohawk Chief Hendrick met with the
colonists to advise them on Haudenosaunee ways. The plan never came to
fruition, but contained many elements that would later reappear in the
U.S. Constitution.
(For more information on the Albany Plan of Union, visit www.constitution.org/bcp/albany.htm or www.yale.edu
/lawweb/avalon/amerdoc/
albany.htm.)
The U.S. Constitution turned 200 years old in 1988. Efforts by Lyons
and others to obtain federal acknowledgement and recognition of
Haudenosaunee influence over early American leaders like Franklin and
George Washington, led first to talks with Sen. Daniel Inoye, D-Hawaii.
During the second session of the 100th Congress in early October 1988,
both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives passed
resolutions that: ''acknowledge[d] the contribution made by the
Iroquois Confederacy and other Indian nations to the formation and
development of the United States'' and ''reaffirm[ed] the
constitutionally recognized government-to-government relationship with
Indian tribes.''
The resolution, H. Con. Res. 331, also reaffirmed the federal
government's trust responsibility and obligation to tribal governments
and acknowledged the need to uphold treaties with Indian tribes.
''The Six Nations were fundamental to the whole democracy idea,'' Lyons said.
The speaker briefly turned his attention to the land rights litigation
filed by the Onondaga Nation last March. The action seeks recognition
of Indian title to roughly 2.3 million acres of land stretching from
Pennsylvania to Ontario, centered on Syracuse. The litigation also
seeks a strong Indian role in efforts to clean up Onondaga Lake - one
of the most polluted bodies of water in the United States (see
''Onondaga seek voice in lake cleanup,'' Vol. 25, Iss. 11).
''We want to make central New York a clean place - to collectively show the way,'' Lyons said.
Lyons made a point of thanking Nancy Cantor, the university's
chancellor, and David Smith, vice president of Enrollment Management,
for their recent ''Haudenosaunee Promise.'' This innovative scholarship
program, announced on Aug. 19, offers free tuition, room and board at
Syracuse University to students of Haudenosaunee ancestry who qualify
for admission to the school.
''They [Cantor and Smith] showed us great respect,'' Lyons said,
himself a 1959 Syracuse graduate and All-America goalkeeper on the
university's lacrosse team. ''They met with our council and opened the
doors of education to the Haudenosaunee people. We thought it would be
a courtesy visit - we were surprised by the offer.'' |
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Last Updated ( Feb 17, 2006 at 01:57 PM )
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