Native Americans do not get the credit they deserve for fundamentally changing the way the Europeans viewed things like government, equality, and what it means to be human. The European mentality initially couldn’t comprehend how Native Americans functioned without institutions like the police, churches, or monarchs. However, after much debate, the Native American way of life began to permeate into European culture.

We know that Europeans had a sense of equality, but it was more equality through subjugation. European people were used to serving a master, whether God via a Pope, a king, an emperor, a lord, etc. There was a stratified hierarchy that was all but impossible to break through. Europeans used money and property ownership as a symbol of power, and it could be used to coerce people to do one's bidding. This was very different from the autonomy felt by a Native American. Native Americans had no central authority, and there was no punishment for disobeying an order. Native Americans hated the idea of money and thought it enslaved anyone who used it. How much someone could give to others was a better sign of power because only a rich person could give away or share a lot.

Native Americans had chiefs or figureheads of the tribe. Still, their authority over people was only earned through the willingness of the people to follow and the ability of the chief to persuade. Individuals were not compelled to follow any order under the threat of law or punishment, a freedom that Europeans from the past (or even peoples of today) couldn’t comprehend. The ability to exist as a sovereign entity not bound by a god or ruler and that people were fundamentally good was a radical idea only being played around with by "Enlightened" thinkers as the Natural State of Law. Native Americans taught Europeans to resist arbitrary power, which could have been the seed that grew into revolutions in Europe and colonial America.

When we think about some of American citizens' most fundamental and sacred beliefs, such as freedom and equality, it would be impossible for a European mind to create these concepts out of thin air. This is not how they lived when they were in Europe, so to spontaneously think of these concepts doesn't stand to logic. Instead, when we think of the Enlightenment, it stands to reason that many of these great thinkers were actually pondering what Native Americans had already been doing for centuries. Native Americans had to model concepts of freedom and equality to Europeans to believe that it could exist in nature and that it was worth pursuing in the experiment of a new American country. Women would gain the right to vote in Europe, but only after they were exposed to Iroquois women who had autonomy. The parity of the sexes was previously thought of as blasphemous. Independent, autonomous states working together for the good of them all, or how the United States has organized itself, is inspired by the Iroquois Confederacy.

When the students play this game, we hope to dispel some of the sacred cows that Europeans created all the revolutionary ideas of the United States out of thin air. Instead, we need to give credit where credit is due. This game will stretch your middle school students' abilities to comprehend game theory and adjust to changing rules. However, it perfectly complements your student's studies on North American colonization, the early United States, and Native Americans.

Materials:

• A large play area

• Four goals, hoops, baskets, or targets

• Corresponding sports balls for whatever material is being used above

  o For this lesson plan, mini soccer goals and dodgeballs

• Rubber disc dots or other means of separating playing areas

  Minimum Number of Students Needed: This game should be played with at least eight people or four teams of two so each team can experience the social differences expressed by different game objectives.

Age: Middle School or advanced upper elementary