Great Law of Peace

Gayanashagowa or the Great Law of Peace of the Iroquois (or Haudenosaunee) Six Nations is the oral constitution that created the Iroquois Confederacy. The law was developed by a HuronFact|date=June 2008 man known as The Great Peacemaker and his spokesman Hiawatha. Member Nations ratified this constitution near present day Victor, New York.

The Iroquois Confederacy was once thought to have started in the 1500s, but more recent estimates date the confederacy, and its constitution between 1090 and 1150 CE. These estimates were based on the records of the confederacy leadership and astronomical dating related to the lunar eclipse that coincided with the founding of the Confederacy [Mann 2005, p.332] .

According to some researchers, history professor Dr. Donald A. Grinde in particular,Fact|date=July 2008 the Gayanashagowa is said to have provided significant inspiration to Benjamin Franklin and James Madison in the writing of the United States Constitution. Other specialists, such as Jack Rakove of Stanford University,Fact|date=July 2008 note the lack of documentation to support this view.

Notes

References

* Mann, Charles C. "". New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/may2/iroquois.htm

External links

* [http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/iroquois.html Description at The University of Oklahoma Law Center]

Iroquois Confederacy