As a Thanksgiving tribute to The Original Americans, I offer a brief overlook of what their government looked like when the original settlers arrived below.
Did the European settlers invent democracy? Not if we are to believe history. Let's begin with this quote from an Original American Confederacy leader:
“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, never fall out with one another.” (emphasis mine)
http://www.america.gov/...
The Original Americans taught the crafters of our Republic the ropes and warned against the destructive power of divisiveness. I think you will enjoy their teachings below.
There are not enough words to properly thank The Original Americans for their wisdom which helped form the best parts of our Republic. Thank you!
2,500 years before we arrived, The Original Americans had carved out a form of governance. It is human nature that, if a land becomes densely populated, the people will seek to create a system of management or government. We can also see that it is human nature for some to seek to disrupt the governance for personal gain or personal power. This is the nature of man.
The Original Americans understood human nature and, by the time we showed up on their shores, had overcome many of the pitfalls we now find ourselves sinking into.
Key to their success, I believe, was their generous, philanthropic, sharing of all things. Attaining wealth was not a primary goal. Their principles and practices did not include ownership and/or the amassing of personal gain. Of course, this was quite contrary to the mindset of the New Americans.
This Thanksgiving, as we watch the apparent unraveling of all that has been our national identity, fairness and justice for all, I wanted to give some credit to those who taught Franklin and others about checks and balances - The Governance of the The Original Americans. Here is how their system worked. Please take notice of the several branches of oversight included in their process of governance and law making:
Freedom to Criticize the Leadership
Haudenosaunee fundamental law, the Great Law of Peace, stipulates to this day that sachems’ (chiefs’) skins must be thick to withstand the criticism of their constituents: sachems should take pains not to become angry when people scrutinize their conduct in governmental affairs. Such a point of view pervades the writings of Jefferson and Franklin, although it was not fully codified into U.S. law until the Supreme Court decision New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) made it virtually impossible for public officials to sue successfully for libel.
Rights to Freedom of Religion, Redress, and Privacy
The Great Law includes provisions guaranteeing freedom of religion and the right of redress before the Grand Council. It forbids unauthorized entry of homes — all measures that sound familiar to U.S. citizens through the Bill of Rights.
I'm a Bill, Native American Version
The procedure for debating policies of the confederacy begins with the Mohawks and Senecas, called “elder brothers.”
After being debated by the Keepers of the Eastern Door (Mohawks) and the Keepers of the Western Door (Senecas), the question is thrown “across the fire” to the Oneida and Cayuga statesmen, “younger brothers,” for discussion.
Once consensus is achieved among the Oneidas and the Cayugas, the discussion returns to the Senecas and Mohawks for confirmation.
Next, the question is laid before the Onondagas, who try to resolve any remaining conflicts.
At this stage, the Onondagas exercise a power similar to judicial review and functions built into conference committees in the U.S. Congress. They can raise objections about the proposal if it is believed to be inconsistent with the Great Law.
Essentially, the council can rewrite the proposed law so that it can be in accord with the constitution of the Iroquois.
When the Onondagas reach consensus, the Tadodaho, the chief executive officer of the Grand Council, confirms the decision.
This process reflects the emphasis on checks and balances, public debate, and consensus. The overall intent of such a parliamentary procedure is to encourage unity at each step.
The Origins of American Feminism
An aspect of Native American life that alternately intrigued, perplexed, and sometimes alarmed European and European-American observers, most of whom were male, during the 17th and 18th centuries, was the influential role of women. In many cases they hold pivotal positions in Native political systems. Iroquois women, for example, nominate men to positions of leadership and can “dehorn,” or impeach, them for misconduct. Women often have veto power over men’s plans for war. In a matrilineal society — and nearly all the confederacies that bordered the colonies were matrilineal — women owned all household goods except the men’s clothes, weapons, and hunting implements. They also were the primary conduits of culture from generation to generation
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The Root of Conflict between the Original Americans and the New Americans: Ownership
Their mobile way of life meant that Native Americans had few possessions and shared what little they had. They valued generosity rather than hoarding their assets, and the chiefs acquired honor through feasting and entertaining other chiefs. No one worked for wages and they didn't lock their homes. Theft was unknown. No one starved unless everyone starved.
The Europeans imported their ownership of land policies, in conflict with the Native American concept that the land belongs to no one.
Relationships between the two groups were troubled by disagreements over land use and land rights. Part of the problem stemmed from their different attitudes toward land ownership. To the New England Natives, selling land did not mean granting exclusive, eternal ownership to the buyer. It simply involved accepting a new neighbor and sharing their resources.
The Puritans, though, were committed to private property ownership, and expected the Natives to immediately and permanently vacate their land upon its sale. Some settlers thought they were entitled to Native American lands, because the natives were squandering the land's potential by failing to enclose it for pasture or to farm it in the English manner.
These problems were compounded by the Puritans' increasing conviction that the Indians’ claims were invalid, because God had bestowed New England upon the English. By 1676, the minister Increase Mather wrote about the Puritans' property rights over "the Heathen People amongst whom we live, and whose Land the Lord God of our Fathers has given to us for a rightful possession."
The Original Americans did not hold onto the meme that we are an "ownership society". Was there wisdom in their thinking in this regard?
The original settlers had only known monarchy and religious oppression by men born and chosen by the elite to lead. America was their chance to each become monarchs of a sort. Instead of shedding the entire concept of ownership and serfdom, they continued it, with each able to dream of his own 'castle', his own home.
Can we hold onto hope that our hearts and minds can shift? Or do we have to destroy our planet and each other first?
We have tried our way for over 200 years and it keeps crashing, keeps impoverishing our brothers and sisters, doggedly depends on slave or near slave labor, and maintains gross imbalances throughout our great land. We got a lot of things right when we formed our model of governance, much of which we adopted from The Original Americans.
Perhaps it is time to revisit the models of governance of The Original Americans and seek further wisdom from the aspects we didn't adopt.
Food for thought on this Thanksgiving holiday feast.
Links for diary:
Native American Ideas of Governance and U.S. Constitution
http://www.america.gov/...
Native Americans and Massachusetts Bay Colony
http://womenhistory.blogspot.com/...