Page "Constitution" Paragraph 23

Historians including Donald Grinde, Bruce Johansen and others believe that the Iroquois constitution provided inspiration for the United States Constitution and in 1988 was recognised by a resolution in Congress.

The thesis is not considered credible.

Stanford University historian Jack N. Rakove stated that " The voluminous records we have for the constitutional debates of the late 1780s contain no significant references to the Iroquois " and stated that there are ample European precedents to the democratic institutions of the United States.

Francis Jennings noted that the statement made by Benjamin Franklin frequently quoted by proponents of the thesis does not support for this idea as it is advocating for a union against these " ignorant savages " and called the idea " absurd ".

Anthropologist Dean Snow stated that though Franklin's Albany Plan may have drawn some inspiration from the Iroquois League, there is little evidence that either the Plan or the Constitution drew substantially from this source and argues that "... such claims muddle and denigrate the subtle and remarkable features of Iroquois government.

The two forms of government are distinctive and individually remarkable in conception.