2
THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
T h e W om en’s Council nom inated th e sachem s and the N ational Council
of men generally confirm ed the w om en’s choice, and if not, ordered
an o th er.
T h e constitutional requirem ents for fitness in a sachem were g en er
osity, tru th fu ln ess, reliability, ch astity , m oral courage, patience, con
sistency, social service and a religious sp irit. All these th in g s were
definitely dem anded, and a national officer could be rem oved for de
ficiency in any one of them , after fair w arning and after ju d gm ent in
the peoples’ council.
Lest good men who m ight be of service to the nation be overlooked,
“ pine tre e ” chiefs were elected who w here allowed to speak and to ad
m onish in council but who could not vote. The nation th u s recognized
and asked advice of its th in k in g m en.
T h e peoples’ council could in itiate a proposition and dem and action
bv the national or confederate council: they could nullify a national or
confederate decree. In all councils an order or decision had to be
un an im o u s. T h is was som etim es difficult to secure b u t there were ju st
and courteous ways of securing unanim ous action even in the council
of Confederacy. T h is idea bred courtesy and tolerance am ong the
people.
T he land was held in common but individual rig h ts of occupancy
were recognized, subject to th e prior rig h t of clan and nation. Land
could not be sold any more than air could be; neither had any man th e
rig h t of m onoply.
T h e Iroquois constitution was the legal basis of the Iroquois
“ K u ltu r” and to establish itself it so u g h t in every way to persuade
other groups to join the Confederacy. F ailin g three tim es to convince
a tribe peacefully, a war of exterm ination was waged an 1 the broken
groups of the conquered adopted and distributed in the villages of the
various nations. O nce adopted, th o u g h they m ig h t in a m easure be
slaves, the captives were loyal and th eir children were given full rig h ts.
In th eir treatm en t of prisoners the Iroquois were not more cruel than
th e R om ans, and indeed th eir festivals of victory were sim ilar to the
triu m p h al pageants of the Caesars.
T h e Iroquois always desired peace at the cost of national honor; they
desired the friendship of all nations, but not to the degree of subser
viency, and to th a t end cultivated oratory and diplom acy along w ith
th e ir m ilitary system to such an e x ten t th at both th e early F rench and
E n g lish were astonished and frequently baffled.
All th e Iroquois people were an ag ricu ltu ral village-dw elling race,
and could they have carried out th eir governm ental policy w ithout
E uropean interference would have erected an aboriginal em pire of no
mean m agnitude.