| Abstract: | The Iroquois Confederation was not an influence on the U.S.Constitution, but it is worthy of study as an independentlydeveloped political system with the oldest surviving constitutionin North America. A systematic institutional analysis of theGreat Binding Law, the orally transmitted constitution of theConfederation, reveals, among other things: tribal inequalitydespite their formal equality under a unanimity rule; a highlevel of responsiveness despite a nondemocratic, elitist methodfor selecting leaders; many ancillary institutions for achievinga traditional form of consensus rather than simple majorityrule; two means of elevating men to the Confederation Council,each a paradoxical blend of the pre political and the post-traditional;the first use of a formal amendment process in constitutionalhistory; and an underlying "code of imperialism" that, togetherwith the second method of selecting Confederation Council members,transformed a defensive alliance into a potent actor in NorthAmerican history. Overall, the Confederation institutionallyapproximated an Aristotelian "mixed regime" which, despite itscreation under circumstances the Iroquois describe in Hobbesianterms, was quite libertarian. |
