Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-17
EthnoIogist Reveals Degan-
aWida, lroquOis Statesman,
Formed League of Nations
PLAN SEEN AS POSSIBLE
ROOT OF PRESENT LEAGUE
Great Tribesmen Planned Sister
hood That Eventually Would
Include All Nations.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

J
The United States probably inherited
the central idea of It's Constitution
| federation of independent States-from
| the Indians.
Back in the sixteenth century, amid
Stone Age culture and cannibalism
| the great IroQuoiS statesman and
| prophet, Deganawida, established a sue
cessful league of nations" which he
intended to embrace all peoples on
earth, and his ideas, passed on by Colo
NAL officials to the trainers of the Con-
stitution and then, through Woodrow
! Wilson, to the world, may be the roots
OF the present League organization.
The worlds greatest matriarchate. or
government of mothers. at last has
fallen after nearly 500 years
Such are the conclusions Of j. N. B.
Hewitt OF the Bureau of American
Ethnology, who at last has completed
the collection of every available scrap
OF evidence concerning the League of
Iroquois. which, he believes, will be a
noteworthy addition to the political his
tory of the world.
OfficiaIs Absorbed Principles.
There is abundant evidence, Mr..
Hewitt says, that Colonial officials of
New York, Massachusetts and Virginia
League and, at least unconsciouSly alb
soTbed some of its principles They con-
Quoted their negotiations with the tribes
under the league constitution. It is
known that as early as 1758 the Iro-
quois council suggested to Sir William
johnson, Colonial agent for the North
ern Indians, that the British colonies
adopt their form of government to put
an end to squabbles among themselves.
When the Constitution actually was
adopted 1t embodied principles similar
precedent elsewhere
The connection between the two sys-
TENS, Mr.. Hewitt says, appears to be
more than a mere possibility, although
II cannot be actually proved. When the
Constitution was written its trainers
had before them something unknown
in the Old World-a group of indie
pendent political organizations wrought
into secure whole without sacrificing
their independence. Deganawida's con-
cept Of a blood "Sisterhood OF tribes"
was transformed into a sympolic sis
terhood OF States. Essential principles
OF the British political structure were
Incorporated in this framework. The
borrowing from the Indian Messiah, If
1t actually took place, was unacknowl-
edged and unconscious. The principal
evidence of the debt to Deganawida is
proximity and similarity of ideas.
Planned World Wide SisterhOOd.
Deganawida, says Mr. Hewitt, organ
lied the five warlike Iroquois- speaking
tribes into Sisterhood, so that there
was a real or assumed blood relation
snip between all individuals. His idea
was the gradual adoption of other
tribes and peoples-eventually the whole
World-as sister people.
Each tribe was ruled by the women.
men holding only appointive Offices,
from which they could be removed at
any time by their mothers. Govern
ment was vested in the firesides. The
property of the tribes was held by the
women. This organization. he points
out, was very successful for several
hundred years and until four years ago
Stlll was the basis of Iroquois govern
ment in Canada.
But through the centuries the sym-
Dollsm which Deganawida had embod
LED In his system was lost sight of. the
women tribal heads began taking their
trusteeships as actual ownership and
the whole organization ceased to func-
ZION. 1t was finally discontinued. so far
a. as mas any official significance, by
the Canadian government
The difficulty was, Mr.. Hewitt saws
that the complicated system had to be
passed along without being written
down, since the Iroquois had no written
language. Naturally 1t was greatly
perverted from its original meaning.
Inc ideallSm was lost and the system of
internal government broke down. A
few years ago the five nations sent a
delegation to Washington in an effort
TO recover the original rituals from the
Bureau of American Ethnology, but it
was too late to put them into effect
again.
Written In Poor English.
One of the Mohawk chiefs worked for
20 years in an effort to gather up the
rituals OF Deganawida, but made the
mistake of writing them down in poor
English. The languages are not parallel
and, Mr.. Hewitt says, to preserve the
original meaning is very difficult. More
over, the chief. Seth Newhouse, incor-
porated some interpretations of his own
which had no place in the original. The
Council OF the Six Nations refused to
accept his compilation.
Mr.. Hewitt persuaded Newhouse to
translate his English material back into
the original Mohawk and will undertake
himself the difficult job of retranslation
into English again. Then he will COM
pare IL WIN OLner RECORDS winch ne mas
recovered and discard what seems to
have been incorporated by the chief
himself.
Deganawida, says Hewitt, was certain
ly IN historical figure, although so much
supernatural Legendary grew up about
him after his death that 1t is difficult
to determine the actual facts. Among
the Indians he was a prophetic figure,
but actually appears to have been a
genius at statecraft.
THE founders" says Mr.. Hewitt, did
not limit the scope of this federation to
the five Iroquoian tribes, but proposed
for themselves and their posterity the
greater task of gradually bringing under
this form of government all the known
tribes of men. not as subject peoples but
as confederates. This is the more re-
markable in view of the fact that this
was an age of fierce tribaliSm, whose
creed was that no person had any
rights of life or property outside of the
tribe to whose jurisdiction he or she
belonged 1t was the central teaching of
Deganawtda that out of the union of a
common motherhood and a common
fatherhood arose a common daughter
ship of all women and sonship of all
men and the rich fellowship of all
mankind"
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