Constitutional wampum? Reply

How much did the Iroquois Great Law of Peace influence the constitution of the United States?

Picture of James Madison, who was very influential in writing the U.S. Constitution.
James Madison: Not a wampum guy

It’s a charming story, that the Iroquois confederacy’s constitution may have influenced that of the United States. Trouble is, the Iroquois had no written language, and there is no evidence that it was written down, and translated into English, in time to influence the James Madison and the other Framers of the Constitution.

At the time, the Great Law of Peace existed mainly as a wampum belt, and as far as I know, James Madison had no knack for interpreting wampum.

In fact, it’s quite possible that it worked the other way around: that when English versions were developed, the developers and translators were influenced by the U.S. Constitution. Lacking an early, written version, we don’t know.

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