New York State Education Department 



New York State Museum 



John M. Clarke, Director 



Bulletin 113 



ARCHEOLOGY 13 



CIVIL, RELIGIOUS AND MOURNING 

 COUNCILS AND CEREMONIES OF 

 ADOPTION OF THE NEW YORK 

 INDIANS 



BY 

 WILLIAM M. BEAUCHAMP 



General nature of councils 



Councils are a natural feature of human society. In a single 

 family, living alone, the father may often assume all responsibility, 

 but more commonly he will advise with the wife. Where two or 

 more families are associated in one place, mutual consultations are 

 the result. Make the families 100, and a few will represent the rest 

 as a matter of convenience. Out of a great increase come courts, 

 parliaments and senates. Even if the chief man of all becomes 

 autocratic, he would still practically have a council for advice. The 

 aborigines. of the northern United States may sometimes have had 

 absolute chiefs, but their power had no wide extent In the main 

 each organization was an oligarchy where a few ruled the tribe or 

 nation. Some chief often had executive power, but most acts were 

 those of a council. In some cases this had stated meetings, as with 

 the Iroquois, but it could be called to consider special business. 



