American Constitutional History...

Saturday, May 3, 2003 by joetheblow | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk

I am wondering if anybody knows this or was taught this in k-12 grades:

Is it true that the Constitution is mostly based off of native american laws and beliefs? Is it true that many of the ideas of equality are based on a specific Native American tribe called _______ (I can't remember now)

Just wondering if anybody knows this are knows counter to this. It seems strange to me that it could be true.

(This looks like a job for....
Frogboy )
eieio
Reply #1 Saturday, May 3, 2003 10:28 PM
joe, for some reason I'm thinking it was based on the Magna Carta. I don't remember the reference, but it seems to be back there in the cobwebs I call memory
Mr_Ph00ey2u
Reply #2 Saturday, May 3, 2003 10:47 PM
The U.S. Constitution is not based on that of the Iroquois Confederation, it's based on the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, the English Bill of Rights among numerous other documents...none of them being native Indian laws. That is a fable made up by those with their own agendas, I certainly hope some teacher didn't try to fill your head with that urban legend! Just the facts ma'ma...leave the tall tales to around the campfire!

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strizzy123
Reply #3 Sunday, May 4, 2003 12:04 AM

/r/

sig101
Reply #4 Sunday, May 4, 2003 12:32 AM
The original US Constitution is actually a relatively brief document, given it's significance. I find many people talk about it but have never looked at it or understood what it was about. Here's a link to the Constitution that includes the amendments: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.txt

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cosmo-alpha
Reply #5 Sunday, May 4, 2003 11:46 AM
»"correct me if i'm wrong... but i'm pretty sure that the constitution was created accordingly to the bible as well "

Strizzy- Although most of the writers of the Constitution held many religious beliefs, the Constitution didn't borrow anything from the Bible. It is a compilation of the Virginia state charter, Pennsylvania charter, and the English Bill of Rights, and parts of 4-5 other documents. Just the facts Mama!!(For ph00ey )
joetheblow
Reply #6 Sunday, May 4, 2003 1:44 PM
hmmmmm... he sounded so convinced... he said most scolars on the subject agree that since the creaters of the constitution were in North America, they went to the closest source for a type of governemnt syle. In that case it was the native americans.

I wonder... looks like an internet search for me. Hard work weeding through the agendas of different people.

I do know some of certain tribes cultures and it was very equal fo specific nation tribes (repect for all life and such). Then again it would be easy to believe that it came from the Romans because thier government was based somewhat on democratic grounds...

It will be a week before I can get results from this... I was just wondering if anybody else knew about this subject.
sig101
Reply #7 Sunday, May 4, 2003 2:16 PM
Sorry, but most scholars on the subject agree? What scholars? Since when?

So according to this theory, the European colonials just up and forgot centuries of cultural and political heritage, English common law, Magna Carta (and yes, Rome had a Senate and in theory at least, a republican form of gov't and Greece was the birthplace of democracy), etc and had no influences whatsoever from the European philosophers and writers of the past and of their time? Amazingly, they were suddenly struck with a tabula rasa, severed from their European heritage and contemporaneous culture, and could only look to the Native Americans for a model of governance?

Might as well say the Native Americans were themselves influenced by the democracies of the ancient Greek city states.

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sig101
Reply #8 Sunday, May 4, 2003 2:23 PM
Also, as mentioned above, it's not as if there were no governmental systems in place in the colonies prior to the Revolution. They weren't starting out entirely from scratch, with no familar structures to work with. Here's just a quick blurb from a website for an example: http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_018200_colonialgove.htm

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Frogboy
Reply #9 Sunday, May 4, 2003 2:26 PM
Ph00ey is correct. The US constitution was the product of existing English law and various European philosophies on government and even some classical greek concepts.

It is not based on native American laws.

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