Comparing the Swiss and the Iroquois to the old U.S.
Added 2024-02-09 20:40:20 +0000 UTCI compare the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation (1781–89) to the old Swiss Confederacy (1291–1798) and the Iroquois Confederacy (1600s–1700s). Each of these was a loose federation of semi-autonomous polities (states/cantons/nations, respectively). I look at similarities and differences in how they were set up constitutionally.
Comments
I’m an 8th grade US history teacher and I do a mini-unit on the Haudenosaunee. Also, I teach excerpts when applicable of Indigenous People’s History (Young Readers edition) by Roxana Dunbar So, the indigenous perspective is trickling down to the general public in drips and drabs (depending on the school district’s politics of course!)
Kevin Love Hewitt
2024-05-22 00:39:10 +0000 UTCI agree, it's fascinating. I've been researching North American indigenous nations for future YouTube videos.
Premodernist
2024-04-02 21:25:39 +0000 UTCI would LOVE to see more content on the indigenous point of view. I read 1491 by journalist Charles C. Mann many years ago and it really sparked my interest in seeing more of that representation.
Dan
2024-04-02 20:57:51 +0000 UTCI remembered one of the earliest New York’s governor argued Five Nations is a federal republic. But I think at that time that just mean a confederal country without any monarchs.
ty zj
2024-03-03 17:36:56 +0000 UTCI don't think they used that language, but yes, there were limits to the authority of the chiefs. But I'd say the difference you point out is even more far reaching, because the Iroquois didn't even have a State as such. As I understand it, the only governance an Iroquois person felt was their clan elders and the elders of the village they lived in, and villages typically numbered in the hundreds of people. So it would have been interpersonal relationships rather than state-subject or state-citizen relationships. Or to put it another way, the responsibilities and obligations that individuals were constrained by were social and cultural in nature rather than coerced by a State.
Premodernist
2024-02-26 00:09:14 +0000 UTCDid the Iroquois Confederacy have bourgeois/liberal rights? In other words, were there certain natural rights upon which the State could not violate? If not, perhaps that would be a major difference. I know the Swiss Confederacy had that to some degree - though perhaps not as fully as the U.S. - since it was considered by Rousseau to be the freest place in the world at that time.
Thomas Prieto
2024-02-25 17:19:48 +0000 UTCThat might come from Japanese translation.But I am not sure.
ty zj
2024-02-19 09:39:29 +0000 UTCYes.Now is “美利坚合众国”.
ty zj
2024-02-19 05:33:27 +0000 UTCAre there still different translations used today? I see that Wikipedia calls it 美利堅合眾國. Has that become the standardized form now?
Premodernist
2024-02-19 02:05:49 +0000 UTCAnd even “United States of America” have different translations,I think in a book published in 1924,author translated it as “北美合眾國” or “北美聯邦”（United States of North America or North American Union），some translators translated as “美利堅聯邦”（American federation or American Union).
ty zj
2024-02-18 09:37:03 +0000 UTCInteresting! The term 主席 is fitting, since it's usually translated as "chairman."
Premodernist
2024-02-17 21:00:46 +0000 UTCI think in Chinese translation of the Articles of Confederation and US Constitution.Translators often use “主席” to translate the President of confederal congress, use “总统“ to translate the President under federal constitution.
ty zj
2024-02-16 13:14:47 +0000 UTCThank you!! Looking forward for next month's video
Mahmoud
2024-02-14 11:53:17 +0000 UTCI think “A Concise History of Switzerland” and “Discourse Delivered Before the New-York Historical Society: At Their Anniversary Meeting, 6th December, 1811 “ are great books.
ty zj
2024-02-12 20:01:44 +0000 UTCThe iroqouois definitely would merit a full / public video!
Faraz Masroor
2024-02-11 22:28:57 +0000 UTCThanks for the great video as always! Definitely agree with your assessment on the general publics view of indigenous populations during colonization.
Alistair Woodcock
2024-02-10 07:16:33 +0000 UTCGreat!
ty zj
2024-02-10 03:22:10 +0000 UTCI agree! Someone on the presidential elector tier suggested it. I wouldn't have thought of it myself.
Premodernist
2024-02-10 02:41:34 +0000 UTCThis is such a cool premise for a video!
Daniel Gill
2024-02-10 02:08:02 +0000 UTC
