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The Declaration of Independence and Constitution sought to guarantee human and civil rights to all in the United States. As we all know, that did not always happen. The Founding Fathers primarily drew on the democracy in Greece and the Iroquois Confederacy for the information they used to write those documents.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy (the preferred name of the Six Nations, which means “People of the long house”), one of the world’s oldest participatory democracies, influenced the US Constitution. It is made up of a historic, powerful alliance of six Native American nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and later Tuscarora—located in modern-day New York and parts of Canada.
The Confederacy’s structure of uniting separate nations under one council for common affairs provided a model for the federal system used in the United States.
Founded millennia ago, the Confederacy is one of the first and longest-lasting participatory democracies in the world.
However, over two thousand years ago, after defeating Babylon in 539 BC, the Persian warrior Cyrus the Great, who considered himself a liberator chosen by the gods, was the king when the Cyrus Cylinder was inscribed. The Cyrus Cylinder is considered a founding text of human rights.
Created after the conquest, the cylinder was inscribed in Akkadian cuneiform following Babylonian royal tradition: praising the new king, delegitimizing the deposed ruler, and framing the transition as divinely sanctioned.
The text condemns the previous king, Nabonidus, as impious and tyrannical, claiming that Marduk, the supreme patron deity of Babylon, chose Cyrus to restore temples, return exiled peoples, and end forced labor, presented as divine justice.
Buried for over two millennia, the cylinder was excavated in March 1879 by Hormuzd Rassam for the British Museum. The cylinder was incomplete. Over decades, additional fragments emerged, including a duplicate text fragment identified in 1970 and reunited with the original in 1972. Though broken into pieces, the cylinder remains substantially legible across its 45 lines of cuneiform.
A UN replica display exists, with the text translated into all six official UN languages.
Today, there are two viewpoints on the Cylinder’s purported reputation as a human rights charter, especially after Iran promoted it as proof of Persian moral legacy.
Supporters highlight Cyrus’s declarations of religious freedom and return of exiles. Critics argue it is merely Babylonian propaganda to legitimize Persian rule through local tradition rather than universal principles.
Of course, the current-day Iran does not respect the human rights of its citizens, especially women and protestors.
Of course, the present-day United States is still not fully respecting the human and civil rights of its citizens and non-citizens residing in the country.
Over 2,500 years later, the Cyrus Cylinder remains history’s most debated object, illustrating the enduring difficulty in distinguishing propaganda from principle.
Almost 250 years later, the same can be said for the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
Our goal is to make “We Are Speaking” a best-selling publication by July 1, 2026, increasing our reach and influence! To achieve our goal, we will need 15 new paid subscribers every week, or 5 paid subscribers per day for the three days a week we publish. If you value our publication, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5/month or $50/year. We appreciate your financial support!
