Democracy of the Iroquois Confederacy


The lessons in Unit 4 are about the system of government of the Iroquois Confederacy, a democracy.  In 1986, the United States government passed a resolution to acknowledge the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of Nations to the development of the United States Constitution.

Targets


Read the I Can statements to see what you will learn in Unit 4.

I Can...

  • Explain how the Iroquois Confederacy was structured

  • Tell about the role and status of women within the Iroquois Confederacy

  • Explain the advantages and disadvantages of consensus as a decision-making model for government

  • Tell how did the Six Nations use the consensus-building process

  • Explain how the Wampum Belt addressed collective identity

  • Explain how the social structure of the Iroquois Confederacy affected its political structure

  • Determine to what extent the decision-making process within the Iroquois Confederacy reflected democratic ideals of equity and fairness

Introduction


 Unit 4 is about democracy as practised by the Iroquois Confederacy in what is now eastern Canada and northeastern United States.

Many of us are familiar with the term Iroquois, but it is not the name these people call themselves.  The real name of the people the French settlers called Iroquois is Haudenosaunee.  You may remember learning about them in grade five in the Great Lakes region of Canada– these are the people of the longhouse.  They are also known as the Six Nations.

The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee Confederacy still exists.  You can read more about it on the Haudenosaunee Confederacy website.

Library Books


Check out the library books for this unit.

    Click here to download a PDF version of the Library List of Books

If you are not able to find these library books, look for others about the Iroquois, Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy.

Skill Builder


Click here to learn how to search for books in a library.

Notebook


Throughout this unit, you will keep a Notebook. The PDF downloads are the pages of your Notebook.

  • Create a folder on your computer or in the cloud titled "Unit 4 Notebook".

  • Save all of the PDF downloads to this folder.

Whenever you see this icon you will be directed to use the Unit 4 Notebook folder you created.