68 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



of the Five Nations' Council. To the Five Nations this seemed a 

 very simple thing for they called themselves Ongweoweh, Original 

 Men, a term that implied their racial superiority. Thus to them it 

 seemed quite natural that other nations should acknowledge their 

 right to rule. They never doubted the justness of their claim or saw 

 that it possibly could be disputed. With them it was the basis for 

 universal action. Other nations were inclined to dispute that the 

 Iroquois w^ere inherently superior and naturally rebelled at the idea 

 of submission even though it might be for their own ultimate benefit. 



From tribe to tribe, tradition shows/ the emissaries of the Great 

 Peace went carrying with them the messages in their wampum 

 strands, and inviting delegates to sit beneath the Peace Tree and 

 "clasp their arms about it" and to discuss the advantages of an 

 alliance. 



The political success of the Iroquois as a result of their system 

 gave them phenomenal strength and likewise excited w^idespread 

 jealousy. Thus the Iroquois found themselves plunged in a war for 

 existence and without friends to call upon. 



How a government calling itself the Great Peace provided for 

 war is shown in the part of the Great Immutable Law called 

 " Skanawatih's Laws of Peace and War." Extracts from these laws 

 follow : 



When the proposition to establish the Great Peace is made to a 

 foreign nation it shall be done in mutual council. The nation is to 

 be persuaded by reason and urged to come into the Great Peace. If 

 the Five Nations fail . . . after a third council . . . the War 

 Captain of the Five Nations shall address the head chief of the 

 rebellious nation and request him three times to accept the Great 

 Peace. If refusal steadfastly follow^s the War Captain shall let a 

 bunch of white lake shells fall from his outstretched hand and shall 

 bound quickly forward and club the offending chief to death. War 

 shall thereby be declared and the War Captain shall have his men 

 at his back to support him in any emergency. War shall continue 

 until won by the Five Nations. . . . Then shall the Five Nations 

 seek to establish the Great Peace by a conquest of the rebellious 

 nation. 



When peace shall have been established by the termination of the 

 war . . . then the War Captain shall cause all weapons of war to 

 be taken from the nation. Then shall the Great Peace be estab- 

 lished and the nation shall observe all the rules of the Great Peace 

 for all time to come. 



Whenever a foreign nation is conquered or has by their own free 



1 See for example The Passamaqnoddy Wanipnm Records by J. D. Prince, 

 page 483, Proc. Am. Philos, Soc, vol. 36. 



