Reply #10: Right.

[H2O Man]

Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, and Washington met many times with members of the Grand Council of Chiefs. If you read Franklin's Albany Plan of Union -- which became the Articles of Confederation, which was transformed into the Constitution -- the influence is particularly clear.

"Records" were kept in two general ways. Oral traditions are the most common; Paul, for example, was fluent in nine languages, and could recite oral traditions that ranged from ceremonies that went on for several days, to the complete list of men who had served in the position of Tadodaho.

Wampum was used in treaty belts, both before 1492 and after. A smaller group of individuals today are able to read the older belts. Part of the issue -- at least in my opinion -- is that fewer people speak the various native languages. Things do not always translate so accurately into English.