Rick, Roger,
I couldn't get hold of the book I wanted referring to the Iroquios, so I
just emailed the author and now have more data than I can ever want to
research.
Rick, you say in a more recent post "Unless I missed something very large,
the general feeling of legal academia is against the theory. This is not to
disregard author's like the one quoted in Oisin's post from a few days ago,
it's just to say that supporters of the theory are generally a very small
minority.
Unfortunately, whether a particular version of history is revisionist,
or whether the historians simply got it wrong the first time, is usually an
impossible debate."
Having studied history myself many years ago, I agree with you that pinning
down the 'truth' in matters historical is a thankless task. However your
earlier suggestion that this theory is a recent emergent from NY state seems
quite wrong. I have seen quotations from Lewis Henry Morgan in 1851, and
Herbert Lloyd in 1902, to name just two, which clearly point in this
direction. These quotations can be checked in Bruce E. Johansen's 1982 book,
Forgotten Founders, which is available in full on the internet.
Johansen has written several books on this theme, as has Donald Grinde, and
they have also collaborated on 'Debating Democracy: The Iroquois Legacy of
Freedom' 1996 which covers the history of the debate until then. By late
1995 there were at least 450 published items relevant to this topic.
Now I don't intend to spend the next year of my life reading all this. I
would make the point, though, that there are reputable historians involved,
and also some shonky ones. That this version of history is not in accord
with the "general feeling of legal academia" is hardly convincing
refutation, to me, and given the parlous state of much academia almost a
recommendation. However, I leave it to others to follow the argument further
if they desire. Putting Johansen's name into a search engine will find
numerous references.
John B
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