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.By the early years of the twentieth century, the role ofagriculture at Six Nations had declined.Small farms weregradually abandoned because they were no longer financiallyprofitable.However, several large farms were quite prosperous.These farms produced various kinds of grains, includingcorn, oats, and wheat.People also kept livestock, such as dairyand beef cattle, poultry, hogs, and sheep.They sold surplusproduce, milk, and animals in nearby Canadian cities.Unfortunately, these businesses soon began to face financialdifficulties.The 1930s the years of the Great Depression wereespecially hard.In order to continue to produce surpluses, SixNations farmers realized that they needed money to invest innew equipment.But Indians living on reserves had problemsobtaining bank loans.Their land was held in trust by the band(the Canadian word for tribe) and therefore could not be used ascollateral for a loan.Since the Great Depression, farming hascontributed less and less to tribal incomes.By the late nineteenth century, Mohawk men not engagedin farming were employed in a variety of occupations.Theyworked at Six Nations or nearby towns and cities as black-smiths, carpenters, builders, and factory laborers.During this period, conflicts arose over the local form ofgovernment.The hereditary chiefs who formed the councilsA Nation Divided 71Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Mohawk men increasingly partook inoccupations such as bridge building (shown here).One such project was theconstruction of the International Bridge, which connects Sault Ste.Marie, Ontario,and Sault Ste.Marie, Michigan.tended to be traditionalists.They spoke their native languageand opposed the rapid assimilation of Canadian practices.Some were Christians; others followed the traditional religion.These differences often caused rifts within their ranks andmade consensus difficult.As a result, some Mohawk Indiansbegan to petition for a change in government.Instead ofleadership by hereditary chiefs, they wanted to establish acouncil of elected representatives.This group called itselfthe Dehorners, after the traditional method of dehorning orimpeaching clan chiefs.The Dehorners thought that an electedcouncil would be less divided and more responsive to thepeople.Others at Six Nations preferred to keep the traditionalcouncil.They supported the Iroquois Confederacy and argued72 THE MOHAWKthat hereditary chiefs symbolized the continuity and sovereigntyof the league.For many years, Canadian authorities refused to mediate thedispute.Then, in 1924, the Canadian Parliament unilaterallydissolved the hereditary system of leadership.The Canadiangovernment wanted to establish an elective system at SixNations because it believed that such a government wouldhelp modernize the reserve.The government also knew thathereditary leaders were more likely to fight to hold on to theirlands and traditional cultural practices.It called for electionsbeginning in October 1924.During the Six Nations Council meeting that September,one month before elections, officers of the Royal CanadianMounted Police locked the doors to the council chamberduring a lunch break while hereditary leaders were absent.The chiefs were thus unable to return to the council hall.Manypeople, both supporters and opponents of the traditionalsystem, were angered by this display of force.But the electionswere held as scheduled.Six electoral districts were set up,each choosing two representatives.In this council of twelvemembers, each official served for a two-year term.At first,only men could vote in reserve elections.Suffrage was finallyextended to women in 1951.Most residents of the three original mission settlementsof Kahnawake, Kanesatake, and Akwesasne were Catholic.Tyendinega and Six Nations were founded by people whofollowed either the traditional Mohawk religion or variousProtestant faiths.However, shortly after these two communitieswere established in the late eighteenth century, a new religionwas introduced on a Seneca reservation in New York.In 1799,a Seneca man named Handsome Lake became deathly ill afteryears of sickness.During his illness, he received a vision fromsupernatural messengers instructing him to preach a new faith,or the Good Word, among his people.He recovered andproceeded to make known the message he had received.KnownA Nation Divided 73today as the Handsome Lake Religion or the LonghouseReligion, the Good Word advises people to return to traditionalIroquoian ethics of cooperation, generosity, and kindness.Manyaspects of traditional culture were reinforced by HandsomeLake, including the Four Sacred Rituals and the annual cycleof calendric ceremonies.(For additional information on thisreligion, enter Handsome Lake Religion into any searchengine and browse the many sites listed.)Handsome Lake also stressed the importance of sobriety.His statements against alcohol greatly contributed to hispopularity and influence.Handsome Lake was responsible forstrengthening the temperance movement not only among theSenecas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras but also among non-Indiansin western New York State.The religious leader encouraged his people to adopt someCanadian and American practices as well.Among these werenon-Indian gender roles and relationships.Handsome Lakefavored organizing households of nuclear rather than extendedfamilies.He also advocated weakening the bonds betweenmothers and daughters and strengthening male authority inmarital relationships.In addition, he encouraged the use ofnon-Indian farming methods, especially making farm work theresponsibility of men.Handsome Lake opposed beliefs and practices related towitchcraft.In fact, accusations of witchcraft were often madeagainst prominent women who resisted attempts to curtailtheir economic and political activities.The Handsome Lake Religion spread rapidly, first amongthe Seneca reservations in New York and then to Six Nations inCanada
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