Growing up, going to school, my favorite course was
American History. At that time, I was not interested in history that was past
the 1880’s era. I was mostly interested in 17th and 18th
century history with a lesser interest in the upper 1800’s. Although I did and
still continue to read books from that era as well. I have a great respect for
books like “When Buffalo Ran” by George Bird Grinnell, as well as the book “Geronimo”
{actual native name Goyahkla},
by Charles Morrow Wilson as well as
others. I however like the afore mentioned era’s better. With this in mind,
during my formative years in this class, I was taught as most were, that the
Iroquois Confederacy, the Hau de no sau nee (ho dee noe sho nee), were a big
part to the development of the country that we live in today. However, I didn’t
realize how much more instrumental this really was. This governance of this confederacy,
was an actual true democracy that is still being taught today. However, the
United States cannot state this as being the same. The Iroquois League were so
instrumental that they even gave a native name to John Hancock, the president
of the U.S. Congress, http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/.
I think that I learned something very valuable in that if you go to this site
as well as other links associated, you can find some very in-depth aspects of
all of these nations that are members of the confederation. I especially like
the link that will take you to the Mohawk Nations site, and where there is a very
intense effort to teach the Mohawk language to the members. I believe that it
would be a shame to lose another language in our society. Think how much we can
still learn from the confederation and how much we as a society as a whole can
benefit.
