ABSTRACT
The Iroquois Confederation was a constitutional system, based on an oral document called The Great Law of Peace. In “Forgotten Founders,” author Bruce E. Johansen produced strong evidence that the Iroquoian system and the American constitutional system had much in common, and that the tribes provided the source and example for the white founders. The Iroquois had towns and buildings and a tradition of hospitality toward visiting whites far more generous than the English had toward the Indians. The colonists and the Iroquois treated each other as sovereign equals and engaged in a series of treaty councils over the middle decades of the 1700’s. The Iroquois favored the English against the French, but found it difficult to negotiate treaties because, although the Grand Council of the Iroquois could speak for five nations, the disunited colonies had no mechanism through which to negotiate with one voice.
