How have Native Americans contributed to American society in government and science?

Question

How have Native Americans contributed to American society in government and science?

Answer 1

Government

The Iroquois played a key role in the evolution of American democracy.

Morgan likened the federalism of the Iroquois to that of the newly united British colonies: "The [six] nations sustained nearly the same relation to the [Iroquois] league that the American states bear to the Union. In the former, several oligarchies were contained within one, in the same manner as in the latter, several republics are embraced in one republic." Morgan also noted checks and balances in the Iroquoian system that acted to prevent concentration of power: "Their whole civil policy was averse to the concentration of power in the hands of any single individual, but inclined to the opposite principle of division among a number of equals.

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nati...

FORGOTTEN  FOUNDERS

http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nati...

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There are 64 Native people serving in legislatures in 14 states.

These sites will give you some names of Native American

Politicians.

Elected Officials

http://indnslist.org/elected_officials

• Charles Curtis, Senator (R-Kansas), 1907-13; 1915-29 (Kaw)

- Vice President of the United States (1929-33)

• Robert Owen, Senator (D-Oklahoma), 1907-1925 (Cherokee)

• Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Senator (R-Colorado), 1993-2005 (Northern Cheyenne)

• Ben Reifel, served five terms as U.S. representative (R- South Dakota), 1960-1970 (Sioux)

American Indian/Native American Politicians

http://politicalgraveyard.com/group/amer...

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Science

Many pharmaceuticals in current use were first discovered by Indian healers centuries before the Europeans came to the Americas.

The active ingredient in pain relievers such as Aspirin was known to Native people for centuries.

Pine trees were used to make a tea that helped relieve coughs. Many cough syrups today use the same ingredient.

A tea made with the whole blackberry plant was used to treat sicknesses such as dysentery, cholera and upset stomach.

Native people shared their cure for scurvy with Europeans. The bark and needles of the hemlock or pine tree are boiled to make a vitamin C tonic.

Native people used olefin hydrocarbons and methane to make petroleum jelly, and used it to hydrate and protect animal and human skin.

Native Americans of North, Meso, and South America were the first to cultivate 75% of the varities of food grown in the world today.

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John Bennett Herrington - Chickasaw - U.S. Astronaut

http://www.spacetoday.org/Astronauts/Nat...

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Answer 2

By providing European immigrants with an entire continent. Most people forget that it was illegal immigration that built North America, and considering how little North Americans whine, they should be praised. Considering how devestating it was for their people, they hardly white or promote hatred on white people.

Props to you for asking a controversial question!