Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy

By Donald A. Grinde, Jr. and Bruce E. Johansen, 1991.

The primary focus of this groundbreaking work, according to its authors, is “to let American Indian voices be heard on the issue of Iroquois political theory and its role in the development of American governmental structures.” Using archival research, the authors illustrate the impact of Iroquois and other Native American political theories on the creation of fundamental American doctrines of government, such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Exemplar of Liberty is a definitive study of how the founders of the United States combined European, American, and Indian ideas into a new and revolutionary political system.

320 pp.

$15.00 paper; ISBN 978-0-935626-35-2

from the foreword of

Exemplar of Liberty: Native America and the Evolution of Democracy

by Donald A. Grinde Jr. and Bruce E. Johansen

This book, Exemplar of Liberty, has not only set a high standard of scholarship but has also offered a model for future historical writing on the role and influence of American Indians in American history. The accomplishments of Indians and their actual place in the story of the United States have never been remotely touched by other historians. . . . I wish that I were a generation younger so that I might take up the scholarly challenge posed by Grinde and Johansen and get into the archives to follow up on their magnificent achievement.
Vine Deloria Jr.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1: Vox Americana
2: Perceptions of America's Native Democracies
3: Natural Man in an Unnatural Land
4: Ennobling "Savages"
5: Errand in the Wilderness
6: The White Roots Reach Out
7: Mohawks, Axes, and Taxes
8: A New Chapter
9: An American Synthesis
10: Kindling a New Grand Council Fire
11: The Persistence of an Idea
12: Conclusion
References
Index