Out of Many, One

I wish each of you good health and sweet companionship with those you love, friendship with your neighbors, and wisdom to navigate the questions facing all.

The Entiat Community Historical Society is so very grateful for your support. Please know that your donations are well received and will be used to continue the legacy of sharing the stories of Entiat past, and of making the Albert Long Museum a welcoming and interesting home for our artifacts and history. We are like a forest of strong trees. The entwined roots and web of life beneath and between us are the stories. Stories ground, connect and give us strength.

We invite you join in celebration of Out of Many, One, a project sponsored the Washington State Historical Society that is described below:

2026 is America’s semi quincentennial – 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Out of Many, One is a project that invites museums to partner with their commun"ities to identify an object, image, or artwork from their collection that reflects the American experience.

Out of Many, One

The challenge for us will be to choose an item that represents the Entiat experience as related to the founding of the United States of America. What item do we have in our collection that illustrates the Entiat, Washington American experience?

Life in the Entiat Valley 250 years ago; in 1776 was faraway, across the continent of North America, when the European colonists met in Philadelphia and pledged their lives, fortunes and honor in signing the Declaration of Independence from British rule, to begin a new democratic form of government, whose defining ethic is stated in this sentence.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness

In reference to the story told by Wendell George in Last Chief Standing, the Entiat Valley was long inhabited by his ancestors and "is the result of slow evolution of an environment that included gigantic uncut tree, raging rivers and streams full of trout and salmon, and plentiful wildlife such as deer, bear, coyotes and beaver"

The Entiat tribe were nomadic people who followed the availability of food along the rivers. "They migrated to the mountains in the summer to get away from the oppressive heat and dust storms to the lowlands, and to follow the ripening of the berries, camas and other plant foods. The Columbia attracted the natives because of the salmon and moderate winter weather. In aboriginal north central Washington the confluence of the Wenatchee and Columbia rivers became a gathering places for the tribes. From Rock Island to East Wenatchee were the campgrounds and meeting places of our ancestors."

Meanwhile, the writers of the Declaration of Independence were meeting in Philadelphia forming the new government of the United Stares of America. Benjamin Franklin and others became aware of the centuries old democratic form of government of the Iroquois nations. The following is a quote from the blog of the Library of Congress.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the Constitution | In Custodia Legis

"The Senate recognized the influence of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy on the construction of the Constitution in a resolution read on September 16, 1987, that noted, “the original framers of the Constitution, including most notably, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, are known to have greatly admired the concepts, principles and governmental practices of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Whereas the confederation of the original Thirteen Colonies into one republic was explicitly modeled upon the Iroquois Confederacy as were many of the democratic principles which were incorporated into the Constitution"

As Wendell George writes in his later book, Peace Warriors of America, "the Iroquois were not the only tribes to create a confederacy. ... Other Indian Confederacies were the Creek, Cherokee, Delaware and ... the Columbia Confederacy, now expanded to the Colville Confederated Tribes. ...

One of Franklin's first meetings with the Iroquois was on June 28, 1742, when one hundred and eighty-eight Indians gathered first in Stanton, Pennsylvania,

After much urging by Franklin, the Virginia colonial government finally met with the Five Nations at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on the ironic date of July 4, 1744.

Conasatego [one of the Iroquois chiefs] advised, " Our wise forefathers established union and amity between the Five Nations. This has made us formidable. This has given us great weight and authority with our neighboring Nations... We are a powerful Confederacy and by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken, you will acquire strength and power."

Franklin was so impressed with the Iroquois constitution that he recommended it in his Albany Plan of 1754. He explained that " Indians operate under a democratic , federal system with local clans, communities and bands coming together for Grand Councils' as needs require."

If you are interested in the history of the role and influence of the Iroquois confederacy in the writing of the constitution, I would suggest the book Debating Democracy, by Bruce E. Johansen.

The challenges to our democracy bring us closer to a reckoning in our collective future. Respect and compassion for each other as neighbors, elders and young people will bring us through this time as we learn from each other and embrace and celebrate the diversity of who we are.

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