The founders of the New England Confederation could not have learned about confederations from the Iroquois; the colonists in New England first made diplomatic contact with an Iroquois nation (the Mohawks) in 1677. Instead, they drew upon European experience with confederations . . . . They also drew upon their own experience. Already by 1643, New England colonists had had considerable practice in forming communities, making compacts, and writing constitutions. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut had been drafted in 1638–1639 by the leading citizens of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield to unite those towns under a single government. There is a simple, logical progression from several towns joining together in a colony to several colonies joining together in a confederation. What evidence does the author present to refute the Iroquois influence thesis? The Iroquois League did not have an organized form of government. Colonists created confederations prior to encountering the Iroquois League. Colonial governments had only one feature in common with the Iroquois League. The Iroquois system of government was very different from colonial governments.
