ribes spoke different dialects of the Iroquoian stock
language, but each could understand the other sufficiently for all
purposes of deliberation and discussion. Each tribe was governed by
its {121} own council of sachems and chiefs--the latter inferior in
rank--elected by their respective clans, but invested with office by
the whole tribe. For all purposes of tribal government the tribes had
separate territories and jurisdiction. For common purposes they united
in a confederation in which each tribe occupied a position of complete
equality--the exception being the Tuscaroras--Dusgaoweh or
"shirt-wearing people"--who came from the south at the beginning of the
eighteenth century, and made up the "Six Nations." If a tribe made
peace it would not bind the other tribes unless they had given their
consent in formal council, or by the presence of their representatives.
A general council of fifty sachems, equal in rank and authority,
administered the affairs of the confederation. These sachems were
created in perpetuity in certain clans of the several tribes and
invested with office by the general council. They were also sachems in
their respective tribes, and with other clan-chiefs formed the council
which was supreme over all matters appertaining to the tribe
exclusively. Women, too, had their clan and other councils, and could
make their wishes known through the delegates they appointed to the
council of the league. In the federal council the sachems voted by
tribes, and unanimity was essential before action was taken or a
conclusion arrived at. The general council was open to the whole
community for the discussion of public questions, but the council alone
decided. The council of each tribe had power to convene the general
council, but the latter could not convene itself. {122} With the
object of preventing the concentration of too much power in one man's
hands, the federal council appointed two war chiefs, equal in
authority. The council fire or brand was always burning in the valley
of the Onondagas, where the central council met as a rule in the
autumn, or whenever a tribe might consider a special meeting necessary.
The Onondagas had also the custody of the "Wampum," or mnemonic record
of their structure of government, and the Tadodae'ho, or most noble
sachem of the league, was among the same tribe. The origin of the
confederacy is attributed in legendary lore to Hae-yo-went'-hae, the
Hiawatha of Longfellow