Debating Democracy

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There is substantial evidence that the framers of the major documents and institutions of the American republic were influenced by the long-established democratic traditions of the Iroquois Confederacy. For many, however, this notion represents an attempt to deny American intellectual, cultural, and racial "credentials." A furious and often unseemly debate on this proposition has resulted. Bruce E. Johansen follows the controversy from its beginnings, providing highlights of the battle. Johansen notes that in the past few years academic opposition has largely grown quiet as the historical evidence has become known to a more general audience. The controversy, however, has been taken up by right-wing media, which have linked non-European "influence" to a multitude of ills besetting contemporary American society, from the rise in teenage pregnancies to the fall in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores.