Onondaga Lake by Andy Arthur via flickr.com

Contributions of the Haudenosaunee to the World

Most United States citizens are unaware of how profoundly their culture has been shaped by the Haudenosaunee from what took place here at Onondaga Lake.  Many of the best and most admired attributes of American society have their roots here.

In the Haudenosaunee people, the colonists saw freedom and liberty at work. It was a practical model of how a society could respect the rights of all living beings, yet have everyone work toward the common good.

Ideas such as popular initiatives, town meetings, Caucasus, women’s rights and representative government were being practiced here long before the American Revolution. The colonial leaders took great inspiration in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy practice of the Great Law of Peace.   They studied Haudenosaunee political protocols and employed them for many generations in making peace treaties with many other Native Nations.

The Haudenosaunee inspired the Founding Fathers of Western Democracy and the Founding Mothers of the Women’s Rights Movement. Settlers and contemporary agriculturalists have long recognized the importance of our food ways and medicines just as scientists continue to be inspired by our traditional ecological knowledge and practices.

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Onondaga Lake