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https://theconversation.com/before-the-american-revolution-native-nations-guarded-their-societies-against-tyranny-242363>
"When the founders of the United States designed the Constitution, they were
learning from history that democracy was likely to fail – to find someone who
would fool the people into giving him complete power and then end the
democracy.
They designed checks and balances to guard against the accumulation of power
they had found when studying ancient Greece and Rome. But as I discuss with Ken
Burns in his new documentary, “The American Revolution,” there were others in
North America who had also seen the dangers of certain types of government and
had designed their own checks and balances to guard against tyranny: the Native
Americans.
Although most Americans today don’t know it, there were large centralized
civilizations across much of North America in the 10th through 12th centuries.
They built massive cities and grand irrigation projects across the continent.
Twelfth-century Cahokia, on the banks of the Mississippi River, had a central
city about the size of London at the time. The sprawling 12th-century
civilization of the Huhugam had several cities of more than 10,000 people and a
total population of perhaps 50,000 in the Southwestern desert.
The ruins of these constructions remain, more than 1,000 years later, in places
as far-flung as Phoenix, St. Louis and north Georgia.
The American Colonists and founders thought Native American societies were
simple and primitive – but they were not. As research has found, including my
own, and as I explain in my book, “Native Nations: A Millennium in North
America,” Native American communities were elaborate consensus democracies,
many of which had survived for generations because of careful attention to
checking and balancing power.
Powerful rulers led many of these civilizations, combining political and
religious power, much as monarchs of Europe in later centuries would claim a
divine right to rule.
In the 13th century, though, a global cooling trend began, which has been
called the Little Ice Age. In part because of that cooling, large-scale farming
became more difficult, and these large civilizations struggled to feed their
people. Elites began hoarding wealth. The people wanted change."
Via Muse.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
