ORGANIZATION OF THE SIX NATIONS CONFEDERACY

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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Last modified: December 15, 2004