Great Law of Peace

And it's the birthplace of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, or what some call the Iroquois.

original five nations that at this lake accepted the great law of peace and became

the Haudenosaunee or the people of the longhouse The Haudenosaunee are comprised of six nations.

According to oral tradition, these nations used to be at war, but then a man called the Peacemaker came to the house of an Onondaga leader named Hiawatha to help him forge a lasting peace between these people.

It was here at Lake Onondaga that they buried their weapons of war and created the Great Law of Peace, a set of principles and governance that the Haudenosaunee nations live by to this day.

Some say it's the earliest example of a representative democratic government in North America, in which delegates from each nation are sent to a grand council.

The Hiawatha belt represents the unified Haudenosaunee nations.

And kind of this like oral constitution.

So the Six Nations Confederacy traces its founding back to this idea or the prophet of a peacemaker who united warring nations under the great law of peace.

And essentially, it's this oral constitution that's emphasizing righteousness, justice, and kind of communal welfare.

And it's interesting because it's established prior to any European contact, somewhere between the 12th and 15th centuries.

And according to Haudenosaunee tradition, the Constitution provided a framework for this collective action and diplomacy.

And I think it's very important when we kind of juxtapose this against what is about to happen when the British and the French start waging war against each other.

And obviously, European contact brings a whole host of new complexities that are really going to stress test or pressure test how well this great law of peace can actually adapt to these rapidly changing times in diplomatic relations.

And I think the European influence is so fascinating here because, again, we think war immediately.