Indian Roots of American Democracy

Book excerpt: "When Europeans arrived on the continent, the Native people of the northeast, the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois, helped them find their way in the new land, taught them to raise food, and introduced them to the Iroquois rule of law, the Great Law of Peace. This rule, which united five nations and provided a rational basis to both war and diplomacy, differed in significant ways from the system of government familiar to the colonists. Benjamin Franklin and others admired the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and incorporated its symbols and principles into their thinking. Indian Roots of American Democracy examines Iroquois influences on the formation of American government in the 1700s as well as on the development of the women's rights movements in the 1800s."-- Back cover.