The Great Peacemaker and The Great Law of Peace
Note before reading
In this article, I’ll be referring to the native people that the U.S. and nations from the “Old World” interacted with as ‘American Indians.’ The term ‘Indian’ was incorrectly given to the people, as Christopher Columbus originally believed he was in India as the story goes. In my research, I’ve came across the idea that the term ‘Indigenous People’ or ‘Native Americans’ are too broad of a term. These terms can essentially be applied to anyone in the North or South American continents, which isn’t fair when their cultures and people varied wildly, even cultures just within the current United States. These terms may or may not be considered insensitive or racist in todays world. However, just to be more specific in who I am talking about, the term ‘American Indian’ will be used to represent the people who were native to what is now the United States or Canada.
Making Peace With The World
The idea of world peace has been a constant talking point for who knows how long. Now, true world peace will probably never be possible, especially depending on your definition. There will probably always be criminals and random acts of violence committed. People will always have different religious or any type of viewpoints that may cause heads to butt together. Plus, the Earth won’t magically one day stop having natural disasters or harsh conditions so even if we get our stuff together - there can still be an argument that there isn’t or won’t ever be world peace. The more reasonable definition of world peace - which is the idea of no nations or countries being at war with each other - may be achievable, yet still won’t be easy. So how do we achieve this world peace?
Well organizations like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the United Nations (UN) are aimed at attempting to do this. Through diplomacy, we could put aside our differences and realize that working together to improve the world may be just the best option for everyone. However, diplomacy and treaties don’t always hold up and can be broken or renegotiated as a lot of the American Indians found out when the United States began expanding westward. Now, this article is not about the genocide or inhumane treatment the American Indians have still continued to get in someway even to this day from the U.S. - it’s about peace. Which, The Great Peacemaker or Deganawida was great at doing, hence his given name.
The Great Peacemaker
Now, what great peace did the Great Peacemaker make? He is credited, along with Hiawatha, of creating the Five Nations (of the Iroquois), later Six Nations or the Iroquois Confederacy. This brought together five warring tribes or nations that were originally constantly in some form of violence or war towards each other some time between 1142-1660. According to some legends, the Great Peacemaker was of virgin birth, was able to fly in his canoe and even helped heal the unhealable. Sounds vaguely similar to the tales of Jesus Christ. Which historically, we know both were at least real people - whether or not their legends are actually true.
He also prophesied that a “white serpent” would come to the land and be friendly but eventually deceive them later on. Potentially predicting the arrival of the immigrants that will eventually form the United States. His prediction also mentioned a “red serpent”, potentially the British, that would fight against the “white serpent.” During this, supposedly an American Indian boy would be given a great power and be chosen as a leader by the people. This boy could be interpreted as himself or Hiawatha. Eventually a “black serpent”, which I’m not sure what or who this could be - maybe the American Indians, would come and defeat both other serpents. According to the prophecy, the people would then gather under an elm tree when all three "serpents" would be blinded by a light many times brighter than the sun and humbled. Deganawida said that he would be that light and that they would accept the “white serpent” into their safekeeping like a long-lost brother.
Due to these prophecies, his purity and supposed spiritual power he managed to bring together and create the Five Nations as stated. This new confederacy had its own government dictated by its own rules. It was called “The Great Law of Peace” or Gayanashagowa in the native language. This was their oral constitution that they followed.
The Great Law of Peace
The law was represented by symbols on a wampum belt, which is a belt of shell beads that was used for storytelling, gifts or recording important events. This constitution was ratified by the original five member nations near modern-day Victor, New York. Due to this being an oral constitution and the beads being able to be interpreted somewhat differently by people, we don’t know exactly for sure what the entire constitution originally consisted of. However, according to some historians and professors, they believe the Great Law of Peace greatly influenced people like Benjamin Franklin and James Madison when creating the U.S. Constitution. However, many others have debated the actual similarities or influence of it on the U.S. Constitution. Personally, I think it’s safe to say it probably influenced it in some small way at least - good or bad - just due to the conflict between the states and the native people. Whether that means it influenced it to be more different or similar.
The Future of PEace
I came across this topic in my research due to looking into diplomatic solutions for creating peace. Depending on who you ask, American Indians were either peaceful people who tried to diplomatically save their land or heartless savages who maimed, scalped and killed anyone they could. Arguably these both can be true, especially due to the greatly varying cultures and beliefs shared tribe by tribe. Realistically, they were all just people trying to stay alive, co-exist and fight off foreign invaders who decided to lay claim to their lands. Those invaders who also unknowingly brought a great invisible force in an epidemic of disease, sometimes call “The Great Dying,” which killed up to potentially 90% of the native people.
Since WW2, we can arguably say we’ve had a decent amount of peace in the world. Whether that is brought on by mutual assured destruction caused by the creation of weapons of mass destruction, constantly making some of us live in fear of our own self inflicted demise one day… can be an argument against the worth of that so called peace. However, with tensions rising with wars in Ukraine, many unreported on (in the U.S. mainstream media) conflicts in Africa, the essentially endless conflict in the Middle-East - specifically with Israel and Gaza right now and the continuing rise of unrest in the United States we may have to ask ourselves how long can this “peace” last? Especially with the current leader of the so called “free world” threatening allies like Greenland and Canada with potentially taking over their lands.
We may not ever know the answer to that question, which would be a good thing, or we may know it tomorrow. Hopefully, we’ll all one day begin to realize peace is the best option to coexist and live on this planet we share. However, like I stated before, just peoples belief of what peace means can vary wildly. Maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get another Great Peacemaker that can go around and convince the nations of the world to truly come together as one, one day. Thank you for reading.
