The Iroquois Confederacy consisted of six major tribes from the upper area. The confederacy had a lasting impact on American politics and governance. Several historians believe the confederacy inspired the American forefathers to write the CONSTITUTION. In the confederacy, each tribe had a representative, called a SACHEM, to vote on important matters on its behalf.
Some American Indians and scholars have indeed pointed out that the democratic constitution that the Iroquois conceived, but never put in writing, in order to manage their Confederacy was of great importance in the composition of the United States Constitution. Furthermore, during the presentation of his Albany Plan of Union in 1754, a proposal for unifying the Thirteen Colonies under one government that was eventually rejected by the British, Benjamin Franklin mentioned the Iroquois model of an unified government as an example.
The sachems were the chiefs, the leaders, who, interestingly, were selected by the Iroquois women.