Do Now
Get
your Lit book from
the back of the room
Take
out your notebook
for Lit class
Do Now
 In the past, when stories were passed
down by oral tradition, what qualities
were necessary for the speaker to have to
keep the audience entertained?
 Who is responsible in your family for
passing down the family’s stories, and
what is one of your favorite stories?
Iroquois
Constitution
Iroquois Constitution
During the 14th Century, an Iroquoian
mystic and prophet named
Dekanawidah traveled from village to
village urging the Iroquois to band
together and stop fighting.
 His efforts led to the formation of the
Iroquois Federation of the Five
Nations, a league of five Iroquois
tribes:

Iroquois Constitution

5 tribes: Mohawk, Oneida, Seneca,
Cayuga, and Onondaga.

These tribes were democratic.

They still exist today as self-governing
bodies.
Iroquois Constitution –
Oral Tradition

In cultures without a written
language, the oral tradition captures
a group’s ideals.

Stories, poems, and songs convey a
people’s values by word of mouth.
Iroquois Constitution

As you read, note what the culture
values, fears or determines to be
important enough to pass down to its
next generation.

Literature mirrors the culture that
produces it. As you read, recognize
cultural details by noticing references to
objects, animals, or practices that signal
how the people of a culture live, think or
worship.
Iroquois Constitution:
Guided reading Question

How would this visual description on page
24 help the oral transmission of this
constitution?
◦ Use textual evidence for your support.
◦ Why does the use of the visual detail you listed
from the text help the oral relay of the story?
Guiding Reading Questions
The details also help the speaker remember
the story? Which details would help the
speaker remember the text?
 On page 25, what does the speaker say is the
nature of the Great White Roots?

◦ Use textual support for your answer
Guiding Questions
Look at the picture, what cultural values are
conveyed in the picture?
 How are these traits related to the values
and ideas set forth in the Iroquois
Constitution?

◦ Use textual support for your answer

At the top of page 26, what can you learn
about the Iroquois culture from the items
mentioned here?
◦ Use textual support for your answer
Answer each of the following questions using
textual evidence as support for your response.

1. What do the lords plant to
commemorate their meeting?

2. What do the roots of the plants
symbolize?

3. According to the constitution, what
must confederate lords do to open a
council meeting?
Answer each of the following questions using
textual evidence as support for your response.

4. What does this decree suggest about
the Iroquois?
Answer each of the following questions using
textual evidence as support for your response.
5. What three images from nature
does Dekanawidah use in the
Constitution?
 6. What do these references tell you
about the Iroquois?
 7. Summarize the qualities and
conduct required of council lords by
the Iroquois Constitution.

Answer each of the following questions using
textual evidence as support for your response.

8. How well do these qualities apply to
leaders in the modern world? Give
specific examples from today.