CHAPTER II.

STATE AND GOVERNMENT.

Mr. Morgan, in his books on "Ancient Society" and on the 'League of the Iroquois," asserts that the gens is the unit of Iroquois Society. Major Powell says that tribal government in North America is based on kinship.1 Mr. Lloyd2 remarks: "The unit of Iroquois Society was not an individual, nor yet a family in one sense of the word, but a household including all the dwellers in one of the communal houses elsewhere described. These households by a process of increase and swarming gave rise to clans (gentes) and phratries, held together by the natural bond of kin. Politically they were united in tribes and confederacies held together by the artificial bond of alliance; but cemented also by the bond of kin. Thus the social organization of the Iroquois was developed through the separation of near kin, and the political organization through the union of remote kin." All the above writers lay stress on the kinship idea. The picture they draw is that of a tribe made up of three or more separate groups of kindred. Though often scattered about in separate villages and hence geographically and economically disunited, each of these gentes is represented as a political unit, composed of individuals of both sexes, each exercising a share in sovereignty on the strength of his or her blood relationship to the other members of the group. A mere study of outward forms, perhaps, might lead to the conclusion reached by Mr. Morgan and his followers; but closer investigation of Iroquois politics reveals certain fundamental peculiarities for which the kinship theory fails to account. Why should the women have exerted any special influence in the Iroquois gens when in similar kindred groups among fishing and hunting tribes they had no

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'Wyandot Gov't," Eth. Rep., 1879-1880, p. 68.

2 Lloyd, Morgan's "League" (ed. 1901), notes, p. 217.

power at all? Why should village have opposed itself to village or tribe acted as a unit against tribe, although each contained fragments of the same gentes? An analysis of the Iroquois state from the point of view of their economic organization leads to the solution of these and other problems of a like nature. It becomes evident that the gens as such was not a political unit: on the contrary, the governmental system of the Iroquois was but another aspect of their organization for directly economic purposes. Not the gentes, but the clans and the villages, represented the fundamental units of Iroquois political life.

An Iroquois village, it will be recalled, was usually made up of several gentile groups, each consisting of two more or less interdependent clans, the women's organization directly controlling the food supply of the group, the men's acting as a sort of standing army for its defense. For military purposes the men's clans were united also into one homogeneous body. This was the fundamental reason for the existence of the village and tribe as economic units. Away from the village, it will also be remembered, during the hunting season, the men's clan alone directed production and controlled the surplus. A knowledge of these facts makes it almost possible to describe by means of the purely deductive principle the organization of the Iroquois state and the form of their government. In the village, it would be expected that the women's and the men's clans would each possess a share in sovereignty corresponding to the extent to which each controlled the sources of supply. Hence the women's clans would naturally be more fully represented in the government than the men's clans: in the hunting season, on the other hand, the men's clans alone would carry on the activities of state and government. As a matter of fact, investigation proves the legitimacy of these à priori conclusions.

In the sedentary village the smallest governmental organization was that of the gentile group. So far, Mr. Morgan's analysis is undoubtedly correct. But the gens in the governmental sense was not made up of a number of individuals of both sexes: on the contrary, its constituent units were the two clans, each of which played a distinct part in politics. Each clan had a govern

mental council of its own, in which were discussed all matters of particular interest to itself. In each gens, too, the old men probably acted as a sort of advisory body, or senate of the clans. Sometimes the councils were attended by every clan member, each one having a right to express his opinion and cast his vote. The conduct of ordinary affairs, however, was left to certain elected. representatives.

In the gentile government, the women's clan naturally took the lead. Among the Hurons the Council, though installed only with the consent of both clans, was mainly composed of members of the women's organization, nominated by that body. First of all, four women councillors were chosen by the female heads of the households. "There is no formal election," says Major Powell,1 " but frequent discussion is had over the matter from time to time, in which a sentiment grows up within the gens and throughout the tribe that in the event of the death of any councillor, a certain person will take her place. In this manner there is usually one, two, or more potential councillors in each gens, who are expected to attend all the meetings of the Council, though they take no part in the deliberations and have no vote. When a woman is installed as councillor, a feast is prepared by the gens to which she belongs, and to this feast all the members of the tribe are invited. The woman is painted and dressed in her best attire, and the sachem of the tribe places upon her head the gentile chaplet of feathers, and announces in a formal manner to the assembled guests, that the woman has been chosen a councillor. The ceremony is followed by feasting and dancing, often continued late into the night."

Among the Five Nations the female councillors of the gens seem to have been three in number.2 Candidacy for the office of Oyander," as these officials were called, was usually a matter of inheritance; that is, the three senior members of a certain

1

1 Powell," Wyandot Gov't," Eth. Rep., 1879-1880, pp. 61-62.

2 Chadwick, "The People of the Longhouse,” p. 36.

3 "Oyander," Feminine form of word "Royaner," lord or nobleman,

the title applied to chiefs. Jes. Rel., LIV, p. 308.

Cf. Chadwick, 39. Cf. Jes. Rel., LVIII, 185; LXIV, 81.

family in the clan were the candidates naturally chosen, unless they were for some reason unfit for the position. The election of these gentile councillors, however, had to be confirmed by the gens and the tribe to which they belonged. An unworthy Oyander ran the risk of deposition. The Jesuit Relations tell of one such case. An Oyander, having become a christian and left her own country in order to dwell in a Jesuit community, was degraded from her noble rank by her incensed constituents, and deprived of her title of Oyander; at the same time another woman was installed in her place.1

2

From among the members of the men's clan, the women councillors nominated a Sachem or Head Chief of the gens. As a matter of fact, the nominee was generally the son or grandson of the dead chief's sister.3 Birth, however, was no guarantee of election in case the candidate was unfit for the office. Thus, to quote from Le Jeune's narrative." "They reach this degree of honor, partly through succession, partly through election. Their children do not usually succeed them, but properly their nephews and grandsons; and the latter do not even come to the succession of these petty royalties, like the Dauphins of France, or children to the inheritance of their fathers, but only in so far as they have suitable qualifications, and accept the position, and are accepted by the whole country. Some are found who refuse these honors, sometimes because they have not aptitude in speaking or sufficient discretion or patience, sometimes because they like a quiet life.”

After the nomination was made, the Hurons required the prospective chief to pass through a period of probation, then, if approved by both clans of the gens and by the rest of the tribe, the election was confirmed and the chief installed by a feast and cere

1 Jes. Rel., LIV, 281 sq.

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2 The term "Head Chief” seems preferable to that of Sachem," the word used by Mr. Morgan. Sachem was an Algonquin title, not used by the Iroquois.

Cf. Lloyd, notes to Morgan's "League" (ed. 1901), II, 3 Schoolcraft, "Hist. Ind. Tribes," III, 195; Chadwick,

the Longhouse," p. 34 sq.; Lafitau, I, 469 sq. Jes. Rel., X, 233. Cf. Jes. Rel., XX, 215.

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217.

The People of

monies similar to those described in the case of the Oyanders.1 The chief's tenure was simply a matter of good behavior. Bad conduct of any kind, resulting in a loss of confidence on the part of his constituents, was sufficient reason for his deposition by the Council. "The women," says Mr. Wright, "were the great power among the clans (gentes). They did not hesitate, when occasion required, to knock off the horns, as it was technically called, from the head of a chief, and send him back to the ranks of the warriors."2 Evidently, the governmental machinery of the gens was largely the creation of the women's clan. Out of its own ranks it nominated the councillors; and it nominated and deposed the chief of the gens. On the other hand, the economic interdependence of the two clans was reflected in the fact that the Chief himself was a member of the men's clan, and that neither councillors nor chief could be finally installed without the consent of the warriors.

The functions of the gentile government were largely confined to matters relating to the internal welfare of the gens. The allotment of agricultural lands and the superintendence of the fieldlabor was one of its main duties. In its keeping, also, was the gentile treasury of wampum, skins, etc., from which were drawn funds for the payment of fines, ransoms, and presents, on behalf of the gens. In cases of crime within the gens, the council frequently sat as a judicial body; and in all transactions with outsiders, it attended to gentile interests.

4

The hardest worked member of the gentile council was the Head Chief. He was the President of the Council and representative in chief of the two sovereign bodies of the state; hence it was his duty to take the lead in all governmental activities. * Powell, "Wyandot Gov't," Eth. Rep., 1879-1880, p. 62; Lafitau, I, 469 sq.; Morgan, Anc. Soc.," pp. 72-73; Jes. Rel., X, 235; XVII, note 7; XXVI, 155; XXXVIII, 265; LII, 223; LXIV, 91.

1

2

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2 Morgan, "Anc. Soc.," p. 74; Morgan, "Houses and House Life," p. 66.

Lafitau, I, 474-475-" Leur emploi est de veiller plus immédiatement aux interêts de la Nation: d'avoir l'oeil au fisc ou trésor public, de pourvoir à sa conservation et de présider à l'usage qu'on doit faire de ce qui y est contenu." Cf. ibid., I, 506.

+ Jes. Rel., LV, 55; Morgan, "Anc. Soc.," p. 144.