Iroquois: Influenced Federal Power

Today, students are often taught that American democracy has its roots in ancient Rome or Greece. But the American republic also took cues from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.

Philosophers like John Locke, whose writings influenced the creation of the United States, wrote with amazement about how the Iroquois Confederacy vested power in people, not a monarch. Meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin wrote letters to the Iroquois, seemingly calling out how people incorrectly viewed them as “ignorant savages,” and spent significant time learning about their federal-style government.

In 1751, Franklin wrote, “It would be a strange thing if Six Nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such an union, and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies.”

The idea that the American republic was influenced by the Iroquois can be polarizing, and is often over- or understated. Some argue that American democracy was copy-and-pasted from the Six Nations. Others argue that the Iroquois had no influence at all.

Most historians, however, occupy a middle ground. “It is a fairly important idea that a great many societies and networks influenced American constitutional thought, the Iroquois among them,” historian Gautham Rao tells Politifact.

Plains Indians: Initiated Early Sign Language

Native Americans communicated through sign language centuries before the development of ASL. First recorded in the 1520s, the system — now called Plains Indian Sign Language — was used as a lingua franca by dozens of native nations across the American continent, including the Navajo, Cree, and Crow.

The system allowed disparate tribes — many of which spoke completely foreign languages — to communicate and trade. While American Sign Language would later take inspiration from multiple language systems, the sign language developed by Native Americans remains one the world’s oldest and most widespread.

Algonquin: Created Lacrosse

First played in southern Canada more than 200 years ago, early lacrosse games were a chaotic ball sport consisting of hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of participants at one time. When Europeans began settling on North America, some tribes used the game to win the newcomers’ trust.

In 1763, the Ojibwa people of Michigan used lacrosse as a Trojan Horse. With the British troops watching in the audience, the native athletes slowly worked their way to Fort Michilimackinac, and once they got close enough, they took the fort.

SF Source Interesting Facts Apr 2024