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Government is the basis of the welfare and prosperity of human society.
A government is an organic institution formed to secure the
establishment of justice by safeguarding rights and enforcing the
performance of duties in accordance with the experience and the
established customs and rules of conduct of the governed. The
superlative measure of justice obtainable by government is found in the
care and protection of the young and the aged, the ready assistance
rendered to comrades and the unfortunate, the maintenance of peace, the
preservation of the equivalency of rights, the recognition of the
equality of persons, the liberty of judgment and personal activity, and
the substitution of mercy for vengeance in the punishment of crime.
Among primitive folk rules of conduct, formulated by common consent or
by customs derived from high ancestral usage, are observed, and these
are enforced ultimately by corrective punitive measures. But justice is
not secured thereby, and so some other method whereby causes in
contention may be more promptly adjudicated is devised, and governments
are organized.
Among the Indians of North America there are found many
planes of culture, every one of which is characterized by widely
differing forms of government from the simplest family group and village
community to the most complex confederation of highly organized tribes.
In this area there are scores of distinct political governments, all
differing widely in degrees of structural complexity. These differences
in organization are determined largely by the extent to which the
functions of government are discriminated and by the correlative
specialization of organs thus made necessary.
For most of the tribes of
North America a close study and analysis of the social and political
organization are wanting, hence the generalizations possible may as yet
be applied safely only to those peoples that have been most carefully
studied. However, it may be said in general that kinship, real or
fictitious, is the basis of government among the Indians of North
America, for the fundamental units of the social structure are groups of
consanguine kindred, tracing descent of blood through the male or the
female line.
The known units of the social and political
organization of the North American Indians are the family, the clan or
gens, the phratry, the tribe, and the confederation (q. v.). Of these
the tribe and the confederation are the only units completely organized.
The structures of only two or three confederations are known, and that
of the Iroquois is the type example. The confederation of tribes was not
usual, because the union of several tribes brought together many
conflicting interests which could not be adjusted without sacrifices
that appeared to overbalance the benefits of permanent confederation,
and because statesmanship of the needed breadth and astuteness was
usually wanting. Hence tribal government remains as the prevailing type
of social organization in this area. In most tribes the military were
carefully discriminated from the civil functions.
The civil government
was lodged in a chosen body of men usually called chiefs, of whom there
were commonly several grades. Usually the chiefs were organized in a
council exercising legislative, judicial, and executive functions in
matters pertaining to the welfare of the tribe. The civil chief was not
by virtue of his office a military leader. Among the Iroquois the civil
chief in order to go to war had to resign his civil function during his
absence on the warpath.
In tribal society every structural unit has, so far as
known, the right to hold a council. The ohwachira (q. v.) can hold a
council, the family can hold a council, and the united ohwachira
councils with their officers form the council of the clan or gens. The
clan or gens has the right to hold a council. The chiefs of the clans
and gentes are the tribal chiefs, who form the tribal council; but on
occasions of great emergencies a grand council is held, composed of the
chiefs and sub-chiefs, the matrons and head warriors of the ohwachira,
and the leading men of the tribe. Besides, there is the council
confederation. So there are family councils, clan councils, gentile
councils, tribal councils, and confederation councils, respectively
exercising sway in separate independent jurisdictions.
In some regions nature is so niggard of her bounties to
man that savagery and barbarism had not devised means to enable their
sons to dwell there in organized political communities; hence here may
be found some of the lowest forms of social organization, if such it may
be named. Kroeber says: "In general rudeness of culture the California
Indians are scarcely above the Eskimo; and whereas the lack of
development of the Eskimo on many sides of their nature is reasonably
attributable in part to their difficult and limiting environment, the
Indians of California inhabit a country naturally as favorable, it would
seem, as might be. If the degree of civilization attained by people
depends in any large measure on their habitat, as does not seem likely,
it might be concluded from the case of the California Indians that
natural advantages were an impediment rather than an incentive to
progress" (Univ. Cal. Publ., Am. Archmol. and Ethnol., ii, no. 3, 81,
1904). This question of the effect of environment on the activities and
development of peoples is one still requiring much scientific study.
Dixon (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xvii, pt. 3, 1905),
in treating of the northern Maidu of California, describes a state of
society largely similar to that of the Hupa as noted in general terms by
Goddard. Among the Maidu he finds no trace of gentile or totemic
grouping. Aside from the village communities there was no definite
organization. Every village or group of small villages had a headman or
chief (the office being in no case hereditary), who was chosen largely
through the aid of the shaman, who was thought to reveal to the electors
the choice of the spirits. Mature years and wealth, ability, and
generosity were strong recommendations in making a selection. Tenure of
office lasted only during good behavior. The functions of the chief were
largely advisory, although force of character and ability might in some
cases secure a larger measure of respect and obedience. There also
appears to have been "a rather indeterminate council, composed of the
older members of the Secret Society."
Goddard (Univ. Cal. Puhl., Am. Archaeol. and Ethnol., i,
no. 1, 1903) says there were no organization and no formalities in the
government of the village or tribe among the Hupa. "Formal councils were
unknown, although the chief might, and often did, take the advice of his
men in a collected body." Each village had a headman, whose wealth gave
him the power of a chief and maintained him in that power, and he was
obeyed because from him food was obtained in times of scarcity. If
trouble arose, he settled the dispute with money. While the people
obeyed him, whatever he had was at their service. "His power descended
to his son at his death, if his property also so descended. On the other
hand, anyone who, by industry or extraordinary abilities, had acquired
more property might obtain the dignity and power." The family and the
village communities were the units of the social organization.
According to Powers (Overland Mo., viii, 530, 1872),
among the Karok of California the chief exercises no authority beyond
his own village, wherein his functions are chiefly advisory. He can
state the law or the custom and the facts, and he may give his opinion,
but he can hardly pronounce and execute judgment.
Kroeber (op. cit., 83), in speaking of the Indians of
California generally, says that the social structure was simple and
loose, there being no trace of a gentile organization and that it is
hardly correct to speak of tribes. Above the family the only units of
organization were the village and the dialect; the common bond was
similarity of language or frequency and cordiality of intercourse; in
most cases the larger groups were nameless, while the village
communities were usually named from localities; the lack of organization
generally made the systematic classification of the divisions of any
large body of Indians difficult; in population and social life the
village approximated a localized clan, but, being the largest political
unit, it corresponded in a measure to a tribe. In so simple a condition
of society difference of rank naturally found but little scope. The
influence of chiefs was small, and no distinct classes of nobles or
slaves were known.
Mooney says that the Kiowa government was formerly
lodged in a council of chiefs, composed of the presiding chief, the
chiefs of the several bands, and the war chiefs. Women had no voice in
the government. The Cheyenne have no head chief, but instead have a
council composed of 40 chiefs and 4 ex-chiefs.
Some of the tribes, like the Five Civilized Tribes, the
eastern Cherokee, and the Seneca of New York, have written constitutions
patterned largely after European ideas. That of the Seneca is confirmed
by the legislature of New York.
Handbook of American Indians, Frederick W. Hodge,1906
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/history/indiangov.htm
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