The Long House

466 Words2 Pages

The 5 groups, Seneca, Oneida, Cayunga, Onondaga, and Mohawk, had be battling with each other for many years. Many had died and it had become enough for Hiawatha (Onondaga) and The Peacemaker Deganawidah (Huron). In c. 1150, they had decided it was time to join and create peace throughout the groups. They decided that clan mothers would chose the council chiefs or sachems. If these elected officials were not doing what they were elected to do they were given the power to remove officials. They compared their form of government to a Long House. The Long House was a main part of the Iroquois and was almost natural to compare their form of Government to such. Five nations working together compared to five extended families living together under …show more content…

They Great Law of Peace: 1) Prevented government to interfere in everyone’s daily lives; 2) Separated civil government from military government; 3) Allowed many different religions and faiths to coexist; 4) Recognized the importance of one’s religious beliefs, no matter what the source; 5) Banned forced entry by the Government to citizens’ homes; 6) Included recall and impeachment of corrupt leader; 7) Equality of women and men in politics; 8) Fair distribution of wealth (Iroquois …show more content…

The Mohawk and the Seneca were the first to discuss laws, and passed them to the Oneida and the Cayuga, with final decision by the Onondaga (Keepers of the Council Fire) – confirm if others in agreement, or decide in case of disagreement (Iroquois League). The confederacy was very successful in uniting the nations and creating peace throughout. The peace had lasted for many years but only started to crumble due to population decline and change in their traditional ways. This change in traditional ways was due to the dependence on trade between the English and French. This started conflict between the nations and allowed the Iroquois to become “lazy” and search for easy and more efficient ways to living. The population drop was mostly due to diseases and played a major part in the crumbling of the confederacy. Lastly, the attack on their sovereignty was the last straw in the complete destruction of their Confederacy. The relocation and constant battle between settlers was a major problem with the Confederacy but also with Native Americans in general. One could say they were successful while it lasted due to their contribution to the United States