A Peacemaker for Warring Nations: The Founding of the Iroquois League

The League of the Iroquois was a true representational democracy—so much so that the United States Constitution is said to have been modeled on some of its tenets. But how, perhaps a thousand years before the time of Columbus, did the Five Iroquois Nations (the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca) come to end the bitter eye-for-eye warfare among them? What brought them together in an alliance based on the Great Law of Peace? And how was it that a system of Clan Mothers was instituted in which women are seen as the center of the nation and still today choose the 50 royaners, or peace chiefs, who speak for their respective communities in meetings of the League? In A Peacemaker for Warring Nations, renowned Native author Joseph Bruchac draws from the teachings of both contemporary and past Iroquois tradition bearersin telling the inspiring story of how “the Peacemaker,” a divine messenger sent by the Creator, helped to bring reconciliation to warring nations. The book is beautifully and accurately illustrated by David Kanietakeron Fadden, a respected Mohawk artist whose work honors his deep indigenous roots.