Major funding for Injunuity
was provided by the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting.
There is a story about a total eclipse
at the time of it's creation and at that
time if a person was killed by
someone
in another clan or in another nation
then you are bound to go and kill
or capture at least one person from
the group that did that.
Hiawatha was a skilled
speaker, speech maker, so on and
he met up with Deganawida who some
people say was a stutterer but who had all
these great ideas and and in one version of the story
the joined forces to try and stop the
blood fueds.
They then enunciated "The Great Law".
There is significant
influence on the development of American government
by Iroquois Haudenosaunee people.
The direct influences are the idea of separation of
powers, sovereignty, and the people that
"We the People" also of course
the notion of federalism.
"The Great Law" of peace maintain peace
within the Six Nations but also
developed a model for defense
of the Six Nations from external
powers
and that of course was very interesting to
the thirteen colonies.
Benjamin Franklin
published a book called "Indian Treaties"
in them were speeches
by Haudenosaunee and other
Native American leaders about
peace, about government, and so on
in one instance
in a treaty in Pennsylvania and Iroquois chief said,
"You should think seriously about
uniting along the lines like us."
Then at the Albany Plan of Union in 1754
Franklin uses that as a model
and develops the first plan for
the union of the colonies.
There is a group of Iroquois chiefs
that come to Philadelphia
and they are actually
sleeping on the second floor of
Independence Hall.
John Hancock is
presiding over the Continental Congress at the time
and the Iroquois had been invited
earlier to come down and view this new
Continental Congress and after looking for
several weeks they then make John
Handcock
the great tree.
In 1785 when there's great frustration
in the government and with the Articles
of Confederation
three guys say, "We need to go and...
examine the Iroquois more closely
and then bring that back and maybe
we can construct a new constitution."
Those 3 guys are Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison, and James Monroe.
Jefferson becomes the ambassador to the French
and with Monroe, Madison goes and he rejoins
his friend the grasshopper, who's an Oneida chief,
whom he had known for a long time.
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[Music]
Major funding for Injunuity was 
provided by the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting
