Download The Iroquois Constitution

The Iroquois Constitution
1. What did the Iroquois Constitution do for the Iroquois nation?
2. Initially, who was included in the Iroquois League?
3. According to tradition, who began the league? What were the special talents of
each founder?
4.How did the Iroquois live?
5. Describe the shelters they built.
6. How did the Iroquois develop clans into the league?
7. How were decisions of the league made?
8. Who voted for the male peace chiefs?
9. What did the Iroquois Constitution provide for the Founding Fathers of the
United States?
10. How did the arrival of Europeans destroy the Native American population?
11. Who did the Iroquois side with during the American Revolution?
12. Define symbol.
13. What do symbols help a writer accomplish? Why would an author use
symbols?
14.On what terms would someone outside the Five Nations gain acceptance?
15. What acknowledgements were made at the opening of a council meeting?
16. What view should a lord take?
17. Who plants and names the Tree of the Great Peace with Dekanawidah?
18. What is the purpose of the meeting at which Dekanawidah
Speaks? Why do you think oratory skills were prized by the Iroquois?
19. To whom is Dekanawidah speaking? Who is Adodarhoh?
20. Why do think Dekanawidah refers to the assembled lords as “cousins”? Are
they literally related to one another?
21. How does a candidate lord show his pledge to the council? What does his
offering symbolize?
22. According to the constitution, what qualities should a leader have? What
qualities should a leader put aside?
23. With what is the confederate lord expected to fill his heart?
24. According to the constitution, who will be welcomed to take shelter beneath
the Tree of the Long Leaves?
25. How many nations participated in the confederacy?
26. Whose welfare must a confederate consider at all times?
27. What is the significance of the seating arrangements for Adodarhoh and his
cousin lords?
28. What is the alternate name for the Tree of the Long Leaves?
29. What is placed at the top of the tree and what is it able to do?
30. Give three examples of imagery used in this selection.
31. In what ways does this excerpt from the Iroquois Constitution incorporate
nature in the ritual it describes?
32. What does the selection reveal about the relationship the Native Americans of
the Five Nations had with nature?
33. In the Iroquois Constitution, what does the tree symbolize? its roots? What
does it mean to take shelter under the leaves of the tree?
34. What does the eagle perched at the top of the tree symbolize?
35. Is the language of the selection formal, informal, or a mixture? Why?
36. In the first paragraph, the speaker uses the first-person singular I, but
afterward uses only the plural we. What does this reveal?