Deganawidah Biography

Our journey along the “arc” begins on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Sometime in the mid-fifteenth century, a boy was born into the Huron Nation. He was given the name Deganawidah, but he would eventually become known simply as the Great Peacemaker. One day, the boy received a vision for a pathway to broadly shared peace. Deganawidah explained his ideas to his native people, but they were unmoved. He, thus, chose to leave his family and the Huron people to pursue his vision elsewhere.

He headed east toward modern-day New York State where he found the strife-ridden territories of the Iroquois, which included the nations of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca. Venturing through the woodlands, Deganawidah met a deeply depressed, wandering Onondaga man whose family had been wiped out at the hands of Atotarho, their nation’s own chief. Despite the vengeful rage in the wanderer’s heart, Deganawidah convinced the wanderer to choose forgiveness and accept the vision for peace.

Together the duo managed to convince all of the Iroquois nations except the powerful Onondaga to accept the vision. Their wicked chief Atotarho, whose hair was said to crawl with snakes, rebuked any plans for peace. Deganawidah convinced the wanderer that he would be the one to “comb the snakes” from Atotarho’s hair. In so doing the wanderer would earn the name Hiawatha, or “He Who Combs.”

Hiawatha by Augustus Saint-Gaudens Metropolitan Museum of Art

With brilliant stagecraft, diplomacy, song, and oratory, Deganawidah and Hiawatha converted Atotarho and the Great Law of Peace was struck. Thus, these Iroquois nations formed the League of Five Nations—the first democratic confederation in history.

Some three centuries after the confederacy was established, Europeans began making regular contact with the Iroquois Nations in North America. Early colonists expected these “savage” societies to be uncivilized and lawless. What they found instead were well-organized, lawful communities with impressive gender balance, no slavery, no prisons, and above all, a passion for personal freedoms.

Many colonists were strongly influenced by the Iroquois, notably Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. These Founding Fathers would play significant roles in declaring independence, uniting the colonies into a confederation, and writing the Constitution.

Many colonists were strongly influenced by the Iroquois, notably Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

In 1988 the U.S. Congress formally recognized the contributions of the Iroquois Confederacy. House Concurrent Resolution 331 acknowledged the profound Iroquois influence:

Whereas the confederation of the original Thirteen Colonies into one republic was influenced by the political system developed by the Iroquois Confederacy as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution itself.

Interestingly, Iroquois society is matrilineal and matrifocal. As we shall see later, this would also play a decidedly influential role in bending another important segment of our arc.

For a more in-depth presentation of this history, please click here.