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Freedom of religion and freedom of speech were already common in at least some European governmental systems and certainly in the philosophy of enlightenment. I

Freedom of religion and freedom of speech were already common in at least some European governmental systems and certainly in the philosophy of enlightenment. I am not quite sure what you mean by ‘2 state legislature’, if you refer to two chambers/houses of parliament: Britain had two chambers since at least 1706, and ancient Greece and Rome often also had two chambers. The Holy Roman Empire was a strongly federal state/union with very independent member states. The annual state of the union address can be found in basically every remotely civilised form of government, be it the speech from the throne in monarchies (e.g. the UK) or those in the Roman republic. I don’t think ideas from native Americans were of particular importance, or, even if they were, substantially newer than those from Europe.

btilly 13y ago
Historical accounts of both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin make it very clear that both looked to the Iroquois for inspiration and considered them important. Franklin in particular became inspired by the idea of combining the colonies into a federation after reading about the Iroquois. And did much to raise awareness of their culture, and get involved with them. (Including becoming an envoy to them, and being involved in treaty negotiations.) The fact that these ideas had plenty of European precedents does not diminish the fact that, historically, it appears that key figures in the US revolution and the later writing of the Constitution actually took inspiration from the Iroquois.
- claudius 13y ago
  >> However the USA introduced important ideas from the native Americans that had not previously been part of the European tradition. The last part is the bit that annoyed me. Of course I don’t know how or where the founding fathers got their ideas, but saying that these important cornerstones were non-existent in Europe before is simply wrong.

btilly 13y ago

Historical accounts of both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin make it very clear that both looked to the Iroquois for inspiration and considered them important. Franklin in particular became inspired by the idea of combining the colonies into a federation after reading about the Iroquois. And did much to raise awareness of their culture, and get involved with them. (Including becoming an envoy to them, and being involved in treaty negotiations.) The fact that these ideas had plenty of European precedents does not diminish the fact that, historically, it appears that key figures in the US revolution and the later writing of the Constitution actually took inspiration from the Iroquois.

claudius 13y ago
>> However the USA introduced important ideas from the native Americans that had not previously been part of the European tradition. The last part is the bit that annoyed me. Of course I don’t know how or where the founding fathers got their ideas, but saying that these important cornerstones were non-existent in Europe before is simply wrong.