influence on the United States

<h3 >Influence on the United States</h3>

Historians in the 20th century have suggested the Iroquois system of government influenced the development of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation" title="Articles of Confederation" >Articles of Confederation</a> or<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" title="United States Constitution" >United States Constitution</a>. Consensus has not been reached on how influential the Iroquois model was to the development of the United States' documents.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-danile_usner_1992-42" >[43]</a> The influence thesis has been discussed by historians such as Donald Grinde<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-43" >[44]</a> and Bruce Johansen.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-44" >[45]</a> In 1988, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress" >United States Congress</a> passed a resolution to recognize the influence of the Iroquois League upon the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution" title="United States Constitution" >Constitution</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights" title="United States Bill of Rights" >Bill of Rights</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-45" >[46]</a> In 1987, Cornell University held a conference on the link between the Iroquois' government and the U.S. Constitution. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-46" >[47]</a>

Scholars, such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_N._Rakove" title="Jack N. Rakove" >Jack N. Rakove</a> and Elizabeth Tooker, challenge the thesis. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University" title="Stanford University" >Stanford University</a> historian Rakove writes, "The voluminous records we have for the constitutional debates of the late 1780s contain no significant references to the Iroquois" and notes that there are ample European precedents to the democratic institutions of the United States.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-47" >[48]</a> Historian <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Jennings" title="Francis Jennings" >Francis Jennings</a> noted that supporters of the thesis frequently cite the following statement by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="Benjamin Franklin" >Benjamin Franklin</a>: "It would be a very strange thing, if six Nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a Scheme for such a Union … and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a Dozen English Colonies," but he disagrees that it establishes influence. Rather, he thinks Franklin was promoting union against the "ignorant savages" and called the idea "absurd".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-48" >[49]</a> The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropologist" title="Anthropologist" class="mw-redirect" >anthropologist</a> Dean Snow stated that though Franklin's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Plan" title="Albany Plan" >Albany Plan</a> may have drawn some inspiration from the Iroquois League, there is little evidence that either the Plan or the Constitution drew substantially from this source. He argues that "...such claims muddle and denigrate the subtle and remarkable features of Iroquois government. The two forms of government are distinctive and individually remarkable in conception."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-49" >[50]</a>

Tooker, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_University" title="Temple University" >Temple University</a> professor of anthropology and an authority on the culture and history of the Northern Iroquois, believes the "influence" thesis is myth rather than fact. He does not think that the Iroquois League was a democratic culture; such a conclusion is not supported within historical literature. The relationship between the Iroquois League and the Constitution is based on a portion of a letter written by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="Benjamin Franklin" >Benjamin Franklin</a> and a speech by the Iroquois chief <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canasatego" title="Canasatego" >Canasatego</a> in 1744. Tooker concluded that the documents cited indicate that some groups of Iroquois and white settlers realized the advantages of a confederation, but he thinks there is little evidence to support the idea that 18th century colonists were knowledgeable regarding the Iroquois system of governance. Historic evidence suggests that chiefs of different tribes were permitted representation in the Iroquois League council, and the leadership positions were hereditary. The council did not practice representative government and had no elections. Deceased chiefs’' successors were selected by the most senior woman within the hereditary lineage in consultation with other women in the clan. Decision making occurred through lengthy discussion and decisions were unanimous, with topics discussed being introduced by a single tribe.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-Tooker-50" >[51]</a>

Tooker concludes, "...there is virtually no evidence that the framers borrowed from the Iroquois." He thinks the myth resulted from exaggerations and misunderstandings of a claim made by the Iroquois linguist and ethnographer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Napoleon_Brinton_Hewitt" title="John Napoleon Brinton Hewitt" >J.N.B. Hewitt</a> after his death in 1937.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois#cite_note-Tooker-50" >[51]</a>