OCR Text |
Show BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 were jealously guarded by the clans, and are the germs of democracy as expressed by the American aborigines. Among the Iroquois, however, the tribe occasionally stepped in and deposed a sachem for unworthy behavior, without waiting for the action of the clan. In such cases the latter appears to have been powerless to resist. The term " chief," as applied to leading men among the Indians, is so indefinite as to be almost meaningless. \ There was, however, one qualification of great significance- namely, personal fitness. There were, in other words, chiefs rather than chieftainships, since personal prowess or ability were the conditions of the position, and the office usually died with the holder. \ T h e number of chiefs in a clan, or in a tribe without clans, was quite indefinite and depended much upon the personnel of the group. N In stocks such as the Iroquois there was one chief to about every seventy- five or one hundred persons^ but this cannot be taken as a criterion. In tribes with well- organized councils one of the main functions of the chief was to sit officially as a member of that body. In other more loosely constructed tribes, such as appear in the west, his duties and authority were very indefinite. There is much misconception regarding Indian chieftainship in general. The chief was the preeminent figure only in times of great emergency, such as war; and as those were precisely the occasions upon which the Indians were usually seen by the |