Wiliam Penn's "Holy Experiment"

 

"Now I would have you well observe, That I am very sensible of the unkindness and injustices that has been so much exercised towards you by the people of these parts of the world...to make great advantages...sometimes by the shedding of blood...But I am not such a man...I have great love and regard for you, and I desire to win and gain friendship but a kind, just and peaceable life..."                    -William Penn letter to Native Americans

William Penn, a converted Quaker, wanted to found a colony based on religious freedom and the Quaker concepts of a good and fair society.  He was able to set his “Holy Experiment” into motion when King Charles II repaid a 16,000-pound debt by deeding William land that would be named Pennsylvania (Penn's Woods) after William’s popular father. Added to this was land from the Duke of York, future James II, that would become Delaware.

Penn invited people of all religions to join him in his new colony where freedom of religion would be the law. His “City of Brotherly Love,” Philadelphia, was his dream city of Quaker ideals. He also insisted that the Native Americans be treated as equals and that their land be purchased at fair prices which lead to sixty years of peaceful relations,

Even the City of Brotherly Love needed a night-watch for those who might try to take advantage of those who believed in peace.

As with other colonies established for religious freedom, the Quaker population was soon vastly outnumbered by other religious groups. But the concepts of equality and freedom of religion remained in the fabric of the new colonies of Pennsylvania (1681) and Delaware (originally founded by the Dutch in 1638), helping establish these concepts critical to the future United States. While Penn’s ideas prospered as did his colonies, he himself received no financial gain and died in poverty.  He saw this as a small price to pay for his “Holy Experiment.”

Iroquois Confederation

The Mohawk warrior with his famous hair style that framed the European view of Native Americans for generations was one of the original five nations of the Iroquois League/Confederacy. The first five member nations were the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. In 1722, the Five Nations of the Iroquois  became the Six Nations with the addition of the Tuscarora. When it was formed, the Iroquois Confederacy became one of the earliest existing participatory democracies in history.  Ben Franklin was so impressed with the Iroquois Confederation that he incorporated many of its systems into his concepts for the fledgling American Republic.

The tribes united for peaceful relations and mutual protection as early as the 12th century (some sources say the 13th, 14th or even 15th centuries). The Confederation formed a council of up to 56 chiefs from the tribal clans and villages. In Council, each of the tribes has one vote on decisions on civil affairs relating to the Confederacy. Of interesting note is the fact chiefs were appointed by the women clan elders who also had the power to remove chiefs they felt were no longer qualified for the position.

The Clans of Six Nations were:
Mohawk-Wolf, Bear and Turtle
Oneida-Wolf, Bear and Turtle
Cayuga-Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Sandpiper, Heron and Hawk
Tuscarora-Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Sandpiper, Deer, Beaver and Eel
Seneca-Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Sandpiper, Deer, Beaver and Eagle
Onondaga-Wolf, Bear, Turtle, Sandpiper, Deer, Beaver, Hawk and Eel

The Iroquois name for their League was Haudenosaunee or People of the Longhouse. Their Confederacy was the best organized and therefore the most powerful and effective of the tribes of the North East, even with a population at its greatest of less than 20,000, in the mid-1700's. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, they were powerful Allies for the British against first the French and then the American Revolutionaries.

At the height of their power the Six Nations of the Iroquois controlled territories that stretched from modern South Eastern Canada, Western New York, to Michigan and Eastern Illinois. They, therefore, controlled more than 2,670,000 acres (4,173 square miles) of land.  In 2021, they owned only 86,716 acres, the rest was lost through treaties, wars, purchases and eminent domain. 

Over 125,000 Native American consider themselves as members of the Iroquois Confederacy today. Most are located in the United States while around 25% live in Canada.

Ancient American Cave and Rock Art

For thousands of years, Native Americans artists have expressed their thoughts, feelings, religious concepts and the like through rock wall art.

This form of art is divided into two broad categories Pictographs and Petroglyphs. 

Petroglyphs are images carved directly into the rock face and by their very nature

are more durable and long lasting then Pictographs. This is due to the fact that Pictographs are

designs that are painted onto the face of the rocks. 

The meanings of the designs can be complex, basic or even unknown in Modern World.  

In many cases various tribes have different designs for the same concept. 

Regardless of their meanings, Native American rock wall art

is a beautiful expression of the talents of long dead artists and in some cases extinct cultures of

the first peoples of the Americas.

 

Mesoamerican Jade, the Semi-Precious Stone of Choice

 

In Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, jade was the stone of choice for aristocrats, religious nobles and the wealthy.

Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Olmec and the other civilizations of Mesoamerica held jade in great respect for its beauty and artistic versatility.

                             From masks to

                                           glyphs, 

                    decorative figurines,

 

                             religious totems or

god figurines, jade was used in every aspect of life in Mesoamerica.

Pieces like this Were Jaguar Olmec mask are often over 25 centuries old.

           Some could be worn while

      others held important information.

The detail was impressive no matter the size of the object.

These artifacts give the modern world a glimpse into the art and culture

of these long-lost civilizations.

While the identity of the individual artisans that made these works will never be known, their

pieces are a haunting 21 century reminder that while civilizations may rise and fall beauty is eternal.

All these pieces were at a special exhibit at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in late 2017.

Northwest Native Americans

 

One of the dooms of independence of North American the military power of the Europeans

Gold-Gold-Gold Treasures of the Americas, Lure for the Europeans

Gold was a common artistic metal to the advanced civilizations of Pre-Columbian America.

Religious, purely decorative, status symbols or just works of art, master goldsmiths created them all.

The beauty of the works was lost on the vast majority of Europeans who saw only the monetary value of the gold items melted down into bullion, coins or jewelry more to European aesthetics.

The immense amount of gold (as well as silver and precious gems) available in the "New World" became a lure to countless European adventurers, explorers, conquistadors and the governments that encouraged them.

The untold wealth of the New World would lead to colonization, the destruction of the native civilizations and eventual Europeanization of the entire America's.

What little of the stunning gold art works that remain are but a small portion of the vast treasures that were destroyed and repurposed by the Europeans.

Little did the artisans of this golden beauty realize that their works of art would help to hasten the destruction of the world they knew.  The lure of gold-gold-gold would lead to many more mass movements of Europeans, but none would so change the world as did these wonders of the golden arts of the New World.