The year is 1720 and there are rumblings along the 240-mile stretch of the Mohawk Trail (which is today upstate New York) creating fissures that are dividing the five tribes belonging to the Iroquois Confederacy that has dominated the area in peace and prosperity since the arrival of The Peacemaker in the 11th Century. The Confederacy divided the land into five regions under the control of one of the five tribes-the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida and Onondaga. Each tribe was sovereign but aligned with the other tribes in a system of government based on three principles.
-Land ownership based on stewardship rather than military might.
-Empowerment of women-The members of the Confederacy were matrilineal with material wealth and lands controlled by the Klan mothers. The Klan mothers also appointed the men who represented the tribes at the Grand Council and could remove these men from office if they violated any of the terms of the covenant agreements. The women also had absolute veto over any decision to go to war.
-Diplomacy and settlement of disagreements at the yearly council meetings and settling these agreements in treaties called covenant chains.
The members of the Confederacy had welcomed the "thirteen fires" into their League when the English first arrived at Jamestown and Plymouth, but by 1720 the Confederacy was falling apart. This was due, in part, to the continual violation of treaties made in good faith with the English concerning ownership of land. In addition, the members of the Confederacy were pulled back into competition for control of the beaver trade and ever-growing dependence on manufactured goods. The introduction of firearms and firewater further seduced the men from their commitment to peace. The tribes were also decimated by the disease of small pox which had reduced their numbers in 1720 to about half of what they were before the arrival of the Europeans.
