By Sasha Alex Lessin, Ph.D. (Anthropology, UCLA) THE IROQUOIS’ GREAT LAW OF PEACE — AMERICA’S ORIGINAL MODEL OF DEMOCRACY Long before Europeans envisioned a modern republic, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois Confederacy) had already established a functioning, stable, and centuries-old democracy. They lived across what became northern and western New York, calling themselves People of the Longhouse—a …








