One of the features of the Great Law of Peace and the alliance of
nations in the Confederacy is that each nation maintained control over
affairs within its own territory. It was in the area of dealings
between the nations of the Confederacy, and dealings of the
Confederacy with other nations that the Grand Council became involved.
Within the individual nations, there was respect for the autonomy and
the independence of local settlements. Within the settlements, there
was still some autonomy for each of the clans as well. Clans had their
own meetings, settlements had their own meetings, nations met in a
national council, and all of the nations met in the Grand Council as
the occasion warranted.
Differences of opinion and arguments could always be resolved within
the system outlined by the Great Law of Peace. When an individual had
a disagreement with another individual of the same clan, it was
resolved by the clan. When individuals of different clans had
disagreements, it was resolved by the local settlement. When
settlements had difficulties, these difficulties were resolved by the
national council. Finally, when nations within the Confederacy had
differences amongst themselves or with a nation outside of the
Confederacy, solutions were worked out by the Grand Council
representing all of the nations of the Confederacy.
The organization of the Mohawk Nation within the Confederacy looked
like this:
-Confederacy (Grand Council)
-Mohawk Nation (National Council)
-Mohawk Settlements
-Kahnawake- Kanesatake- Akwesasne
-Canajoharie - Tiononderoge (All settlements
with their local councils)
-Mohawk Clans (Turtle - Wolf - Bear)
-The Individual
Every individual belonged to a clan, or was protected by a clan. These
clans were organized within each of the settlements of the nation.
Each settlement was the responsibility of a particular nation, and
each of these nations belonged to the Confederacy.
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