Today is Independence Day in the United States of America, when most Americans celebrate the 226 years of political independence from Great Britain and the birth of what many consider to be the oldest independent Democratic Republic.
The older Iroquois Confederacy continues to function as a Democratic Republic but it is no longer independent, having been divided between the United States and Canada, during the Nineteenth Century. Nevertheless, the Great Law of Peace still serves as a unifying constitutional basis for the Six Nations who signed it, nearly nine centuries ago.
The Great Law of Peace which inspired the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, still provides the legal framework of the Iroquois Confederacy, or more accurately, the Haudenausaunee, or “People of the Longhouse”.
We wish to take this opportunity to wish the people of the United States a joyous and peaceful celebration of this momentous holiday and hope that all will find the time to contemplate the noble ideas that inspired the birth of this mighty nation.
We also hope that they will soon return to those same ideals.
The older Iroquois Confederacy continues to function as a Democratic Republic but it is no longer independent, having been divided between the United States and Canada, during the Nineteenth Century. Nevertheless, the Great Law of Peace still serves as a unifying constitutional basis for the Six Nations who signed it, nearly nine centuries ago.
The Great Law of Peace which inspired the Articles of Confederation and the U.S. Constitution, still provides the legal framework of the Iroquois Confederacy, or more accurately, the Haudenausaunee, or “People of the Longhouse”.
We wish to take this opportunity to wish the people of the United States a joyous and peaceful celebration of this momentous holiday and hope that all will find the time to contemplate the noble ideas that inspired the birth of this mighty nation.
We also hope that they will soon return to those same ideals.