A confederacy of Native nations governed under the Great Law of Peace by a Grand Council of chiefs selected by clan mothers. Its founding date is debated; the Confederacy and its council continue today.
In Haudenosaunee tradition the Peacemaker, with Hiawatha (Aionwatha), brought the Great Law of Peace to warring nations and united the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca; the Tuscarora became a sixth nation in 1722. A Grand Council of 50 chiefs meets on Onondaga territory, where the Onondaga keep the council fire, while each nation manages internal affairs through its own council. Clan mothers select their clans' chiefs and can remove them. In the Great Law's procedure the Mohawk and Seneca decide a question first, then the Cayuga and Oneida, and the Onondaga Firekeepers confirm or resolve disagreement. Scholarly estimates of the founding range from c. 1142 to c. 1600; the Confederacy describes the date as unknown.
The Confederacy states that its Grand Council still meets on Onondaga territory. Its confederal, clan-mother-linked consensus system is widely studied; claims that it shaped the US Constitution are disputed. The founding year here is a conservative placeholder, since estimates range from c. 1142 to c. 1600.
The Confederacy unites the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca (joined by the Tuscarora in 1722) under the Great Law of Peace; a Grand Council of 50 chiefs meets at Onondaga, and clan mothers select their clans' chiefs and may remove them.[1][2][3]
In the Great Law's procedure, a question is first decided unanimously by the Mohawk and Seneca statesmen, then by the Cayuga and Oneida, and the Onondaga Firekeepers confirm identical decisions or decide between the two sides if they disagree.[1]
The date of the Confederacy's founding is uncertain: tradition places it in time immemorial, Mann and Fields proposed 31 August 1142, and archaeological work points to peaceful Mohawk–Seneca contact by about 1590–1605.[1][2][3][4]
The Great Law of Peace was a model for the design of the US Constitution.[1][2]