1.5: Native American Influences on U.S. Government
- Page ID
- 125634
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Standard 1.5: Native American Influences on U.S. Government
Analyze the evidence for arguments that the principles of the system of government of the United States were influenced by the governments of Native Peoples. (Massachusetts Curriculum Framework for History and Social Studies) [8.T1.5]
As native populations migrated and settled across the vast expanse of North America over time, they developed distinct and increasingly complex societies by adapting to and transforming their diverse environments. [AP U.S. History Key Concept 1.1]
The American Revolution’s democratic and republican ideals inspired new experiments with different forms of government. [AP U.S. History Key Concept 3.2]
FOCUS QUESTION: Did any Native American Group Influence the Men who Drafted the United States Governing Documents? (TeachingHistory.org, 2018)
Population figures for how many First Americans lived in North America in 1492 vary widely. Teaching Tolerance puts the figure at 500 tribes, totaling about 22 million people. Shortly after the arrival of Europeans, disease and violence took the lives of an enormous number of indigenous people. Twenty million, 95% of the indigenous population, died - many from the smallpox infection to which natives had no immunity. Today, Native Americans number just over 2 million or 1% of the U. S. population. Nearly 4 out of 5 (78%) live off-reservations and 72% live in cities or suburbs (The Guardian, September 4, 2017).
The relationship between Native peoples and European settlers was complex, contentious, and sometimes collaborative (Calloway, 2018). Tribes and settlers fought over access to land and resources, but also created military alliances and conducted trade. The website Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704 shows the multiple dimensions of native/settler contacts.
How did native peoples influence the writers of the U.S. Constitution, and in so doing, shape the governmental institutions of the new republic? In exploring this question, the modules for this topic examine Native influences on government against a broader background of native/settler relations and conflicts.
For background, read Native American Governments in Today's Curriculum, an older article that offers an overview of governmental structures of the League of the Iroquois, the Muscogee Nation, the Lakota Nation, and the Pueblo peoples.
1.5.1 INVESTIGATE: The Iroquois Confederacy and the Great Law of Peace
The framework of government in the Iroquois Confederacy is said to have inspired Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and other founders as they wrote the Constitution. The founders adopted the Iroquois nation's symbol, the bald eagle, as the new nation's national symbol.
Some historians credit the Iroquois chief Canasatego with influencing Benjamin Franklin’s thinking about government (Franklin included references to the Iroquois Confederacy in his writing). Canasatego shared how the Great Law of Peace, the Iroquois Confederacy's unwritten constitution, included rules of democratic self-government including the rights and responsibilities of each member tribe, and in so doing, stressed the importance of a unified, representative government. Other historians are unsure of these connections, citing the lack of definitive historical evidence. Iroquois and the Founding Fathers from TeachingHistory.org presents both sides of this historical debate.
You can learn more at Iroquois Democracy & the U.S. Constitution, a website with learning plans from Portland State University.
In 1988, the United States Senate passed a resolution acknowledging the contributions of the Iroquois Confederacy (Text of Senate Resolution on the Contributions of the Iroquois Confederacy). However, none of the constitutions of the 13 colonies included First Americans' rights, and Native Americans did not gain citizenship until 1924.
Although November is National Native American Heritage Month, most students learn little about Native peoples or First American cultures in schools.
1.5.2 UNCOVER: The Peskeompskut-Wissatinnewag Massacre, or the Battle of Great Falls
Online Resources for the Peskeompskut-Wissatinnewag Massacre
- Our Beloved Kin: Remapping a New History of King Philip’s War website by Lisa Brooks
- Explore resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki page for English Settlers and Native Peoples
- Native Land Map, an interactive exploration of native peoples in the Americas
1.5.3 ENGAGE: How to Evaluate a Person's Place in History? The Case of Jeffrey Amherst and the Smallpox Blankets
Jeffrey Amherst was a British army general during the French and Indian War and then royal governor of Virginia (although he refused to live there) in the decades before the American Revolution. The Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, founded in 1759, is named after him. Amherst College, founded in 1821, is named after the town. There are also towns named Amherst in Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, Ohio, North Carolina, New York, New Hampshire, Nebraska, Montana, Minnesota, Maine and Colorado.
Online Resources for Teaching Native American/First American History
- Lord Jeffrey Amherst and the Smallpox Blankets, resourcesforhistoryteachers wiki
- Becoming Visible: A Landscape Analysis of State Efforts to Provide Native American Education for All, National Congress of American Indians (September 2019)
- 87% of state history standards do not mention Native American history after 1900
- 27 states make no mention of a single Native American in their K-12 curriculum
- Montana State Constitution Article X and Indian Education For All, Montana Office of Public Instruction
- Montana's 1972 constitutional amendment requires teachers to integrate information about Native American cultures and history in all subjects and grades
- American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, National Museum of the American Indian
- The Other Side of Plymouth Rock: River Stories 2020, Nolumbeka Project
- American Indians in Children's Literature, Blog by Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo
- Maps:
- Native Land Digital Map - Whose Land Do You Live On?
- Tribal Nations Map - Pre-contact homelands of hundreds of tribal nations in Canada and the lower 48 states of the United States
- Native Reservations Today Map