United States History Student Edition

Peoples of the Eastern and Southeastern Woodlands GUIDING QUESTION How did life in the Northeast and Southeast regions differ? A number of complex societies existed in eastern North America. For instance, a similar language connected the many Algonquian (al•GAHN•kwee•uhn) groups. That language family could be found from Canada south to what is today North Carolina and to the west of the Great Lakes. The Cherokee (CHEHR•uh•kee) and Iroquois (IHR•uh•kwoy) peoples had formal law codes and formed federations (feh•duh•RAY•shuhnz), agreements among different groups to join together. In the northeastern woodlands, the Iroquois group included many different peoples who spoke similar languages. They lived in what is today New York, Pennsylvania, and southern Canada. The Iroquois farmed the three sisters— corn, beans, and squash. Several families lived together in a longhouse, a long, rectangular frame structure covered in bark. Groups of Iroquois speakers had continually warred with one another until five Iroquois nations established an alliance, the Iroquois League or Iroquois Confederacy. The five nations were the Onondaga (ah•nuhn•DAW•guh), the Seneca (SEH•nih•kuh), the Mohawk (MOH•hawk), the Oneida (oh•NY•duh), and the Cayuga (kay•YOO•guh). Later, in 1715, the Tuscarora (tus•kuh•ROR•uh) people joined the league. But other Iroquois, including the Mahican and the Huron, were not members. The Iroquois League was formed by an oral constitution, the Great Law of Peace. The Great Law of Peace organized members of the league according to clans , or groups of related families. The women in each clan chose a clan mother. The clan mothers chose men to serve on the Grand Council, which met regularly to settle disputes among the various peoples and clans. Knowing it would be their duty to choose the council members, the clan mothers carefully observed all boys as they grew up.

temporary, lasting only for a growing season or two. The women planted maize, squash, and beans. The men hunted pronghorn—a hooved mammal somewhat like deer, but smaller—and buffalo. The people of the Great Plains lived in cone-shaped skin tents called tepees. When they moved from place to place, they used dogs to drag their homes behind them. Buffalo, or bison, were central to the lives of the people of the Plains. Native Americans used buffalo to supply many basic needs. Buffalo meat was a good source of food, and people used the bones to make tools and weapons. Buffalo skins

provided shelter and clothing. 7 CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

Comparing Why did the peoples of the Plains construct different houses from those of the Hopi people of the Southwest?

For centuries, Native American groups of the Great Plains hunted buffalo. Native Americans often painted buffalo skins and made them into robes. This buffalo robe is decorated with dyed porcupine quills.

federation a government that links and unites different groups Werner Forman Archive/Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin/Heritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

clan a group of people who have a common ancestor

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The First Americans