D2.Civ.8.9-12: Evaluating Self-Government in Athens, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the New England Town

Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Open with a judgment students will have to defend.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A society lets every member vote on every law in person, but only one-fifth of the adults living there are members. A second society lets all its nations take part, but decisions require everyone to agree, and leaders hold their offices for life. Which is more democratic? What would you need to know before you could answer?"

   Collect the "what would you need to know" answers: they are the beginnings of criteria, the standards used to judge something. D2.Civ.8.9-12 asks students to evaluate social and political systems, which means judging them against stated criteria with evidence, not just describing them. The systems must come from different contexts (kinds of community, such as a city, a confederacy of nations or a small town), times and places, and the question is how well each promotes civic virtues (habits such as public participation, deliberation and restraint) and enacts democratic principles (puts into practice ideas such as popular rule, equality before the law and consent). Today: Athens in 431 BCE, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy of northeastern North America, and the New England town of the 1830s.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: The criteria. Introduce the four criteria. Stress two rules for fair evaluation across times and places. First, separate description (what the system did) from judgment (how well it did it, by a stated standard). Second, judge a system both by the standards of its own time and by the democratic principles used today, and say which standard you are using; mixing them without saying so is a common source of weak arguments.

   Four criteria for evaluating a system of self-government (a working framework for this lesson)

   Criterion	Guiding question	Evidence to look for
   1. Inclusion	Who could take part in deciding, and who was left out?	Rules on citizenship and voting; groups the source does not mention
   2. Decision-making	How were decisions made: by majority, by unanimity, by lot, by inherited office?	Procedures described in the source; how disagreement was handled
   3. Civic virtues	Which habits did the system expect of members and help them learn?	Duties, praise and blame in the source; how members were trained
   4. Limits and accountability	What protected individuals and minorities, and how could leaders be checked or removed?	Laws, rights, removal from office, appeals

   Part 2: Athens, 431 BCE. Athens was a Greek city-state (a city that governed itself as an independent state). In its democracy, citizens met in the Assembly to vote on laws and war in person, many officials were chosen by lot (random drawing), and large juries of citizens decided court cases. Citizens were adult men with Athenian parents; women, enslaved people and resident foreigners (metics) could not vote. Source 1 begins with the historian Thucydides explaining how he wrote the speeches in his history, then gives part of the speech that the Athenian leader Pericles gave at a public funeral for soldiers killed in the first year of the war with Sparta. Gloss: "constitution" (here, the whole system of government), "administration" (running of the state), "obscurity of his condition" (being poor or unknown), "magistrates" (officials), "originate" (propose new policies) and "indispensable preliminary" (necessary first step).

   1With reference to the speeches in this history, some were delivered before the war began, others while it was going on; some I heard myself, others I got from various quarters; it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in one’s memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said.

   [...]

   2“Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favours the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbour for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless as citizens. Against this fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws, particularly such as regard the protection of the injured, whether they are actually on the statute book, or belong to that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace.

   [...]

   3Our public men have, besides politics, their private affairs to attend to, and our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters; for, unlike any other nation, regarding him who takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless, we Athenians are able to judge at all events if we cannot originate, and, instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all. [...]

   • Evaluating with a criterion: civic virtues (Source 1)

     Which civic virtues does Pericles say Athenian democracy expects of citizens, and how strong is this source as evidence of what Athenians actually did?

     Result: Pericles names participation and deliberation: Athenians regard a man who "takes no part in these duties not as unambitious but as useless," and they see discussion not as "a stumbling-block in the way of action" but as "an indispensable preliminary to any wise action" (paragraph 3). As evidence, the speech has two limits. It is a funeral speech meant to praise the city during a war, so it shows ideals more than practice. And Thucydides admits in paragraph 1 that he made speakers say "what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions," keeping only "the general sense of what they really said." A strong evaluation uses the speech as evidence of Athenian ideals and checks practice against other facts, such as who was allowed to vote.

   Part 3: The Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Haudenosaunee ("People of the Longhouse"), called the Iroquois by the French and English, joined five nations in a league: the Mohawk (Hale's "Caniengas"), Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. The Tuscarora joined in the early 1700s, making the Six Nations. Haudenosaunee tradition credits the founding to the Peacemaker (Dekanawidah) and Hiawatha. Estimates of the date differ widely: many historians place it between about 1450 and 1600, while Barbara Mann and Jerry Fields (1997) argued for 1142, linking the founding to a solar eclipse remembered in tradition. Diagram 2 shows the whole range. The Grand Council still meets at Onondaga today. Source 2 is from an 1883 account by the ethnologist Horatio Hale, based on what Haudenosaunee councillors told him and on older records. Gloss: "assigned" (given), "of little consequence" (unimportant), "unanimity was exacted" (everyone had to agree), "suffrage" (vote), "deliberated apart" (discussed separately), "veto" (the power to block a decision), "deposed for incapacity or misconduct" (removed for being unable to serve or for bad behavior), "chief matron" (the leading woman of a family, often called a clan mother) and "ratifying" (approving).

   1[...] Of this council, nine members (or ten, if Dekanawidah be included) were assigned to the Caniengas, a like number to the Oneidas, fourteen to the lordly Onondagas, ten to the Cayugas, and eight to the Senecas. Except in the way of compliment, the number assigned to each nation was really of little consequence; inasmuch as, by the rule of the league, unanimity was exacted in all their decisions. This unanimity, however, did not require the suffrage of every member of the council. The representatives of each nation first deliberated apart upon the question proposed. In this separate council the majority decided; and the leading chief then expressed in the great council the voice of his nation. Thus the veto of Atotarho ceased at once to be peculiar to him, and became a right exercised by each of the allied nations. This requirement of unanimity, embarrassing as it might seem, did not prove to be so in practice. Whenever a question arose on which opinions were divided, its decision was either postponed, or some compromise was reached which left all parties contented.

   2The first members of the council were appointed by the convention--under what precise rule is unknown; but their successors came in by a method in which the hereditary and the elective systems were singularly combined, and in which female suffrage had an important place. When a chief died or (as sometimes happened) was deposed for incapacity or misconduct, some member of the same family succeeded him. Rank followed the female line; and this successor might be any descendant of the late chief's mother or grandmother--his brother, his cousin or his nephew--but never his son. Among many persons who might thus be eligible, the selection was made in the first instance by a family council. In this council the "chief matron" of the family, a noble dame whose position and right were well defined, had the deciding voice. This remarkable fact is affirmed by the Jesuit mission-ary Lafitau, and the usage remains in full vigor among the Canadian Iroquois to this day. [...] If there are two or more members of the family who seem to have equal claims, the nominating matron sometimes declines to decide between them, and names them both or all, leaving the ultimate choice to the nation or the federal council. The council of the nation next considers the nomination, and, if dissatisfied, refers it back to the family for a new designation. If content, the national council reports the name of the candidate to the federal senate, in which resides the power of ratifying or rejecting the choice of the nation; but the power of rejection is rarely exercised, though that of expulsion for good cause is not unfrequently exerted. [...]

3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes

   • Evaluating with a criterion: decision-making (Source 2)

     How did the Great Council make decisions, and what are the strengths and risks of that procedure by the democratic principles used today?

     Result: Each nation's representatives "first deliberated apart," the majority decided within each nation, and its leading chief "expressed in the great council the voice of his nation"; the league then required unanimity among the nations (paragraph 1). Hale reports that when opinions were divided, a decision "was either postponed, or some compromise was reached which left all parties contented." Strengths: every nation's consent was required, so no nation could be outvoted on a matter it opposed. Risks: one nation could block action for a long time, and individual members who lost the vote inside their nation had no separate voice.

   Pair task: Fill in the evaluation matrix (Activity 1) for Athens and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, one row per criterion. Each cell needs a short description, a quotation or fact as evidence, and a score from 1 (weak) to 4 (strong) with the standard you used ("by its own time" or "by today's principles").

   Teacher model for the pair work: Athens, criterion 4 (limits and accountability): description, the laws applied to all citizens and officials could be checked; evidence, Pericles says the laws "afford equal justice to all in their private differences" (paragraph 2), and Athenian officials faced a public review of their conduct and accounts at the end of their year in office (the euthyna); score by its own time, 3, with the note that these protections covered citizens only. Pairs do the remaining cells.

   Part 4: The New England town, 1830s. The French magistrate Alexis de Tocqueville traveled through the United States in 1831-1832 and published Democracy in America in 1835. He was especially struck by the New England township, the local unit of government, whose voters met in a town meeting to elect officers and decide local taxes and laws. In the 1830s only men voted in town meetings, and in some New England states only white men: Connecticut's constitution of 1818, for example, limited the vote to white men. Gloss: "municipal" (of a town or city), "despotic" (ruling with absolute power), "infallibly" (without fail), "emanates from" (comes from) and "imbibes" (absorbs).

   • Checking how close each source is to its system (Diagram 2)

     How close in time was each author to the system he describes, and what does closeness tell an evaluator?

     Result: Thucydides lived in Athens during the war and wrote within his own lifetime of the speech, though he reconstructed it. Tocqueville visited in 1831-1832 and published in 1835, about three years later, as an eyewitness. Hale published in 1883, between 283 years (after the latest founding estimate, about 1600) and 741 years (after the earliest, about 1142) after the League began, so for its founding he depends on Haudenosaunee tradition; for how the council worked in his own day, he could ask experienced councillors. Closeness in time helps with facts, but it does not remove bias: an eyewitness can still be an admirer, or an outsider. An evaluator weighs both.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Source 3 and complete the New England column of the matrix on their own. They then answer the quiz, which uses Sources 1-3 and Diagram 2. Remind them to ask of Tocqueville the same questions they asked of Thucydides and Hale: who he was, why he wrote, and which facts beyond his account they would need to check.

   1[...] Nevertheless local assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty. The transient passions and the interests of an hour, or the chance of circumstances, may have created the external forms of independence; but the despotic tendency which has been repelled will, sooner or later, inevitably reappear on the surface.

   [...]

   2In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are kept alive and supported by public spirit. The township of New England possesses two advantages which infallibly secure the attentive interest of mankind, namely, independence and authority. Its sphere is indeed small and limited, but within that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its independence gives to it a real importance which its extent and population may not always ensure.

   [...]

   3In New England no tradition exists of a distinction of ranks; no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder; and the abuses which may injure isolated individuals are forgotten in the general contentment which prevails. If the government is defective (and it would no doubt be easy to point out its deficiencies), the fact that it really emanates from those it governs, and that it acts, either ill or well, casts the protecting spell of a parental pride over its faults. [...]

   4The native of New England is attached to his township because it is independent and free: his co-operation in its affairs ensures his attachment to its interest; the well-being it affords him secures his affection; and its welfare is the aim of his ambition and of his future exertions: he takes a part in every occurrence in the place; he practises the art of government in the small sphere within his reach; he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone ensure the steady progress of liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a taste for order, comprehends the union or the balance of powers, and collects clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of his rights.

5. Closure10 minutes

   Exit ticket: On an index card, answer: "Which of today's three systems did the most to train members in civic virtue, and which did the most to include people? Are they the same system? Give one piece of evidence for each answer."

   Teacher note on the sources and their limits: All three passages are quoted exactly from the editions named. Source 1 is a speech reconstructed by Thucydides, as he says himself, and a wartime funeral speech praising Athens. Source 2 was written by a non-Native scholar in 1883; Haudenosaunee communities today keep their own accounts of the Great Law of Peace, which differ in detail, and the role of the clan mothers is central in them. Hale uses "Iroquois" and "Indian," the terms of his time; use "Haudenosaunee" and the names of the nations in class. Hale's comparisons with the English House of Lords were his own framing. Whether the Haudenosaunee Confederacy influenced the U.S. Constitution is not part of this lesson. If students raise it, present it as a debated question with evidence on more than one side: scholars such as Donald Grinde and Bruce Johansen point to contacts such as the Onondaga leader Canassatego's 1744 advice that the colonies unite and to Benjamin Franklin's interest in the league, and in 1988 Congress passed a concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 331) acknowledging the Confederacy's contribution; other historians, such as Elisabeth Tooker, argue that the evidence of direct influence on the Constitution is thin. Tocqueville elsewhere in the same book writes at length about slavery and about the treatment of Native nations, which the township passages do not mention. These three cases are vehicles for practicing evaluation; the skill transfers to any system, past or present.

   Homework passage. Source 4 is a sample evaluation written for this page to be critiqued. It contains overstatements and errors in reasoning.

   1Athens was the most democratic society in history, because every citizen voted on the laws in person and Pericles says its government "favours the many instead of the few." The Haudenosaunee Confederacy was not democratic at all, since its chiefs inherited their positions, just like English lords. The New England town of the 1830s was a perfect democracy: Tocqueville, who saw it himself, says that "no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder." All three systems therefore show that small communities always produce better citizens than large nations do.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Source 1, paragraph 1, Thucydides says of the speeches in his history that "some I heard myself, others I got from various quarters." Because of this, which question should a careful evaluator ask about the Funeral Oration?

   ADid Thucydides hear it himself or get it from others? BDid Pericles give the speech in Greek or in another language? CWas the speech longer than the other speeches in his history? DDid the Assembly vote to approve the speech after it was given?

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Pericles says that in Athens "advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit" (Source 1, paragraph 2). Which democratic principle does he claim Athens enacts?

   ARule by a hereditary class of nobles who serve for life BSeparation of the city's temples from its government CPublic office open on the basis of ability, not class DEqual rights for every resident, including all foreigners

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Pericles says Athenians obey not only the laws "on the statute book" but also "that code which, although unwritten, yet cannot be broken without acknowledged disgrace" (Source 1, paragraph 2). What does this suggest about how Athens promoted civic virtue?

   AThrough shared customs kept by public honor and shame BThrough harsh punishments written into every single law CThrough rules made and enforced by a single wise ruler DThrough religious leaders who judged every case brought

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which fact most weakens an evaluation of Athens that relies only on paragraph 2 of Source 1 to judge its inclusion?

   AThe speech was given at a public funeral for soldiers BMost Athenians enjoyed games and festivals all through the year CWomen, enslaved people and resident foreigners could not vote DAthens was fighting a long and costly war against Sparta at the time

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 2, paragraph 1, why was the number of council seats assigned to each nation "really of little consequence"?

   ABecause the Onondaga chief alone could overrule every decision made BBecause the full council met only once in a whole generation CBecause the seats were handed out again by lot every year DEach nation spoke with one voice, and decisions needed unanimity

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The council in Source 2 had 9 Mohawk (Canienga), 9 Oneida, 14 Onondaga, 10 Cayuga and 8 Seneca members. If decisions had instead been made by a simple majority of all members, what is the smallest number of nations whose members could have outvoted the rest, if each nation voted as a bloc?

   AOnly one nation BTwo nations CThree nations DFour nations

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Hale writes that when opinions were divided, "its decision was either postponed, or some compromise was reached which left all parties contented" (Source 2, paragraph 1). Which civic virtue did this procedure reward?

   AWillingness to compromise, and patience BSpeed and efficiency in every decision CLoyalty to the largest nation in the league DReadiness to outvote the smaller nations

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Source 2, paragraph 2, what role did the "chief matron" of a family play?

   AShe led the league's warriors in every war BShe cast the deciding vote in the Great Council itself CShe was the first person to found the whole league DShe had the deciding voice in choosing a new chief

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Using Source 2, paragraph 2, which statement best evaluates the Great Council on the accountability criterion?

   AChiefs could never be removed once installed, so accountability was weak BChiefs could be removed for misconduct, and choices were reviewed CThe people elected every chief directly in a new vote each year DChiefs answered only to the English colonial government

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Tocqueville writes that "Town-meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science" (Source 3, paragraph 1). What is his claim?

    ATown meetings were held inside the schools of each town BLiberty matters less to a nation than science does COnly educated people should vote in town meetings DTown meetings teach ordinary people to use liberty

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 3, paragraph 2, Tocqueville says the New England township has "two advantages which infallibly secure the attentive interest of mankind." What are they?

    AWealth and a large population BIndependence and authority CA strong governor and a national army DFree schools and free newspapers

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Source 3, paragraph 3, Tocqueville writes that in New England "no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder." How should a careful evaluator treat this claim?

    AAs proof that everyone in New England had equal rights in the 1830s BAs a law that every New England town was required to follow CAs an admirer's impression to check against who could take part DAs a statement Tocqueville takes back later in the same paragraph

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Source 3, paragraph 4, why is "the native of New England" attached to his township?

    AIt is independent and free, and he shares in its affairs BThe federal government pays him for each meeting he attends CThe law requires him to live there for his whole life DHis township is larger and richer than towns elsewhere

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Diagram 2 places the Funeral Oration in 431 BCE and Tocqueville's book in 1835 CE. About how many years separate them? (There was no year 0.)

    A1,404 years B2,265 years C1,835 years D2,697 years

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one criterion from the lesson. Evaluate Athens and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy on that criterion, with one piece of evidence for each, and say which did better by the standard you choose.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Hale writes that the unanimity rule, "embarrassing as it might seem, did not prove to be so in practice" (Source 2, paragraph 1). What evidence would you need to test this claim, and what would count against it?

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Hale says the Haudenosaunee method of choosing chiefs combined "the hereditary and the elective systems" (Source 2, paragraph 2). Explain what was hereditary and what was elective, and evaluate whether the method enacted democratic principles.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using Sources 1 and 3, compare how Athens and the New England town expected citizens to learn civic virtue.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Is it fair to judge Athens or the 1830s New England town by today's democratic principles? Take a position and answer the strongest argument against it.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write your overall evaluation: which of the three systems did the most to promote civic virtues and enact democratic principles? Use at least two criteria and evidence from at least two sources.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to D2.Civ.8.9-12: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013). NCSS was not involved in the production of this lesson and does not endorse it.