Native American Tribe
What would it be like to live in a place where there was no theft? No reason to steal? No burglaries, no robberies? Where you had access to all the land you could use so long as you kept it productive and well tended?
What if there was no reason to be jealous of your neighbors’ possessions? What if there was no need for money because everything was shared equally or traded for something in kind? I’ll baby-sit for you tonight if you’ll mow my lawn in the morning?
This place would be the historical Iroquois Confederacy, where each Native American tribe that was part of the confederacy worked together in cooperation and consideration, sharing all the work and all the riches.
Life in a Native American tribe like these must have been pretty free of stress and worry. Everyone shared the work and everyone shared the production from those labors.
Once the European settlers arrived, their letters and diaries express a certain envy. The Iroquois peoples didn’t struggle for food and shelter the way the settlers did. They didn’t live in fear of attack or danger from their neighbors.
Women in a Native American tribe like these shared all the work that involved food, farming, household upkeep, and child rearing. Each year an elderly woman was selected as the leader and all women worked under her guidance. All women shared the work and divided up the returns equitably at the end of the day and under the guidance of the leader.
Men in such a Native American tribe held the same shared standards. Men tended to the needs of the forest, hunting, fishing, and protection from outsiders when war threatened. All men hunted and fished together and shared the catch. They all worked together to clear land as needed and they fought side by side on the battlefield.
And the land was available to anyone willing to take care of it and make it productive. If a plot of land was abandoned or neglected, someone else was allowed to take it over.
The community lived in multifamily dwellings called longhouses. Many families within one Native American tribe or another belonging to the Iroquois Confederacy lived under the roof of one longhouse. All food, clothing, and other items produced or otherwise procured by the residents of the dwelling were shared with all others.
There was no need to steal or be jealous. Everyone shared.
Isn’t that what the rest of are taught in Sunday school?
Please send any comments directly to the author, Joseph Paige.