Ah, July 4th, when we honor the great white men who forged an astounding democracy in North America. A democracy that considered black folks to be livestock (except when it came to apportioning representatives to Congress, of course, when they were counted as 60% human). And a ‘democracy’ that didn’t consider women – not even the white ones – as worthy of the vote. And, really, people like Adams were so terrified of the common people (the dirty fucking hippies of the time, I suppose), that they came up with the electoral college nonsense, with which wee are still saddled.

Problem is, there already was a democracy in North America – a confederation of the six Haudenosaunee nations – upon which the government of the United States of America (absent that pesky equal rights and womens’ vote stuff) would eventually be based.

Anyhow, back in 1763 or so, the Haudenosaunee had secured from the British a royal proclamation outlawing intrusions by the colonies onto Haudenosaunee land and creating formal procedures by which native nations could, if they desired, sell territory – as long as the sale was endorsed by the British government.

Needless to say, this pissed off our forefathers to no end (maybe even more than that tea tax you hear so much about). After all, this was their goddamn land to steal and kill for, and those bloody redcoats should just stay the fuck out!

So, the fine leaders of the colonies (mostly a bunch of land speculators), in the finest tradition of god fearing white men everywhere, ignored the new laws and encouraged settlement into native lands. Although they were far superior warriors (especially on their native land), the Haudenosaunee, wishing to avoid involvement in a conflict that would strain their confederacy (the Oneidas and Tuscaroras tended to side with the rebels, while the rest of the six nations sided with the British), made two treaties with the colonies in order to guarantee its neutrality.

The colonies, of course, failed to live up to their end of the treaties, and in 1777 the Haudenosaunee took up arms to thwart an illegal military venture into their territory by the “Americans” at the Battle of Oriskany.

The great white father George Washington decided to send General John Sullivan into Haudenosaunee territory in a “preemptive attack” (sound familiar?) to break the back of the Six Nations. In fact, the most significant US military venture of 1779 was not against the British, but Sullivan’s raids against the Haudenosaunee.

Sullivan and his 3,500+ troops were ordered by Washington to “lay waste all settlements around…so that country may not only be overrun but destroyed.” Sullivan launched a “scorched earth campaign” (a lot like US tactics in Vietnam), torching over 40 Haudenosaunee communities and destroying thousands of acres of crops. During the following winter of 1779-80 – among the most severe of the time – thousands of Haudenosaunee men, women and children – deprived of food and shelter – died of starvation and exposure. Their determination to carry on the fight remained, but the British eventually decided to cut their losses, and the 1783 Treaty of Paris between the US and Britain ended the war, but neglected to offer any protection to the Haudenosaunee. Veterans of the Sullivan raids snatched up huge amounts of Haudenosaunee territory, and the rest, as they say, is history

So, happy Independence Day, everybody! Well, to all us descendants of white Europeans, anyway.