The Great Law and the Longhouse: a political history of the Iroquois Confederacy

William N. Fenton

University of Oklahoma Press, 1998 - History - 786 pages

This masterful summary represents a major synthesis of the history and culture of the Six Nations from the mid-sixteenth century to the Canandaigua treaty of 1794. William N. Fenton, the dean of Iroquoian studies, has used primary sources extensively, in both French and English, to create a very readable narrative and an invaluable reference for all future scholars of Iroquois polity.

The Great Law, a living tradition among the conservative Iroquois, is sustained by celebrating the condolence ceremony when they mourn a dead chief and install his successor for life on good behavior. This ritual act, reaching back to the dawn of history, maintains the League of the Iroquois, the legendary form of government that gave way over time to the Iroquois Confederacy. Fenton verifies historical accounts from his own long experience of Iroquois society, so that his political ethnography extends into the twentieth century as he considers in detail the relationship between customs and events. His main argument is the remarkable continuity of Iroquois political tradition in the face of military defeat, depopulation, territorial loss, and acculturation to European technology.

Fenton's style of writing combines Iroquois and American English in a way that no one else has been able to do. His analysis and comparison of multiple versions of the same myth is a valuable contribution in itself, while his distillation of previous cultural and historical studies will be of special interest to historians of anthropology as well as those concerned with the American Indian.

Contents

• The Five Nations and Their Traditional History: 3
• PART: 17
• PART: 133
• PART THREE: 241
• Accommodation by Trade and Treaty: 269
• Voices of the Five Nations: 277
• The English Takeover 16641700: 296
• The Grand Settlement at Montreal 1701: 330
• The English Renew the Chain 1701: 349
• PART FOUR Balancing Onontio and the English Crown 17021759: 361
• Kings in the Court of Queen Anne: 363
• Tuscarora the Sixth Nation: 382
• The Council Brand Passes to Pennsylvania: 398
• The Treaty at Lancaster 1744: 416
• New Treaties Precarious Balance: 434
• The Chain Is Broken: 448
• The Albany Congress Mends the Chain: 465
• Johnson Remakes the Confederacy: 481
• Iroquois Policy Vacillates as Power Shifts: 496
• PART FIVE Balancing Crown and Colonies 17601777: 515
• The Six Nations Fenced In: 517
• The Big Giveaway at Fort Stanwix 1768: 533
• The Reverend Samuel Kirkland: 548
• Dark Clouds over Onondaga: 564
• The Struggle for Neutrality: 582
• PART SIX The Federal Treaty Period 17771794: 599
• Bitter Medicine at Fort Stanwix 1784: 601
• Prelude to Canandaigua: 622
• The Tortuous Road to Canandaigua: 641
• Pickering Kindles a Fire at Kanandaigua: 660
• The Council Fire Grows Warm: 678
• The Treaty Concludes: 691
• CONCLUSION: 707
• The Later Evolution of the League and Confederacy: 709
• Summary of Elements of the Condolence Council: 725
• The Songs: 733
• Condolence Ceremonies Involving Sir William Johnson: 738
• Bibliography: 743
• Index: 765

About the author

In a new introduction to this edition, William N. Fenton, an emeritus professor of anthropology at SUNY-Albany, writes about Parker's unparalleled contribution to the preservation of Iroquoian folklore.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Great Law and the Longhouse: a political history of the Iroquois Confederacy; Volume 223 of The Civilization of the American Indian series
• Author: William N. Fenton
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0806130032, 9780806130033
• Length: 786 pages
• Subjects: History / Native American