Influence of the Iroquois League of Nations on Thomas Paine's Political Thought

Abstract

This diploma paper is interested in a relatively new academic hypothesis which asserts that the Iroquois League of Nations profoundly influenced the political constructs of the early American Republic. The diploma paper primarily deals with the Anglo-American radical democrat Thomas Paine's political thought as it was expressed in his pamphlet Common Sense (1776) and Agrarian Justice (1797) in the context of this general hypothesis. The aim of this diploma thesis is to demonstrate a possible influence of the Iroquois League of Nations on Paine's political constructs of an early American Republic such as the state of nature, human rights and notion of property.