70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



women in whose families the titles were hereditary and the nomina- 

 tions were confirmed by popular councils both of men and of women 

 and finally by the Confederate Council. Women thus had great 

 power for not only could they nominate their rulers but also depose 

 them for incompetency in office. Here, then, we find the right of 

 popular nomination, the right of recall and of woman suffrage, all 

 flourishing in the old America of the Red Man and centuries before 

 it became the clamor of the new America of the white invader. Who 

 now shall call Indians and Iroquois savages ! 



Not only were there p6pular councils to check an over-ambitious 

 government but both the men and the women had in their ^' War 

 Chief " a sort of aboriginal public service commissioner who had 

 authority to voice their will before the Council. Men of worth who 

 had won their way into the hearts of the people were elected Pine 

 Tree chiefs with voice but no vote in the governing body. The 

 rights of every man were provided for and all things done for the 

 promotion of the Great Peace. 



Among the interesting things in this Iroquois constitution are the 

 provisions for the official symbols. Many of these symbols, such as 

 the point within a circle, the bundle of arrows, the watchful eagle, 

 are described in detail. The fifteenth string in the Tree of the Long 

 Leaves section, for example, reads : 



'' Five arrows shall be bound together very strongly and each 

 arrow shall represent one nation. As the five arrows are strongly 

 bound, this shall symbolize the union of the nations . . ." 



This reference to the arrows bound together was quoted by King 

 Hendrick in 1755 in his talk with Sir William Johnson. 



Perhaps a more striking paragraph to students of Indian history 

 will be the reference to a certain wampum belt: 



" A broad, dark belt of wampum . . . having a white heart in 

 the center on either side of which are two white squares all con- 

 nected with the heart by white rows shall be the emblem of the 

 unity of the Five Nations. Tlie white heart in the middle . . . 

 means the Onondaga nation . . . and it also means that the 

 heart of the Five Nations is single in its loyaltv to the Great 

 Peace ..." 



This belt is sometimes called the Hiawatha belt and is one of the 

 most valuable Iroquois belts now extant. It is now on exhibition in 

 the Congressional Library. 



The Great Peace as a governmental system was an almost ideal 

 one for the stage of culture with which it was designed to cope. I 



