Ben Franklin and others admired the founding document that unified the Haudenosaunee peoples (who were called the “Iroquois” by the colonists), which some said had influenced the founding of this country, at least in spirit. The document included the role of matriarchs in appointing chiefs and reaching consensus among the six nations. The Haudenosaunee “constitution” existed orally and was encoded into the Wampum Belt of Peace also known as Hiawatha’s Belt as early as 1450 C.E. It was translated into English only recently. —Mark Adams
About Mark Adams
