Button - Two Row – Honor The Treaties

The Two Row Wampum belt (pictured on the button) is the symbolic record of the first agreement between Europeans and an Indigenous Nation on Turtle Island/North America. Usually dated to 1613, this treaty is the foundation on which all subsequent treaty relationships were made by the Haudenosaunee and other Native Nations with settler governments on this continent. 

The agreement outlines a mutual, three-part commitment to friendship, peace between peoples, and living in parallel forever (as long as the grass is green, as long as the rivers flow downhill and as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west). Throughout the years, the Haudenosaunee have sought to honor this mutual vision and have increasingly emphasized that ecological stewardship is a fundamental prerequisite for this continuing friendship. 

It's long past time for settler peoples and governments to do the same. Learn more from our friends at the Onondaga Nation. Or from our activist ally friends at Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation.