Hiawatha and the Iroquois Confederation / A Study in Anthropology. A Paper Read at the Cincinnati Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in August, 1881, under the Title of "A Lawgiver of the Stone Age."

The essay examines whether makers of the earliest stone implements possessed substantial intellectual ability, using the Iroquois as a case study. Though material remains resemble Stone Age artifacts, the tribes developed elaborate political institutions and diplomatic skill; much of their federal constitution and legislative methods are attributed to a single reformer whose historical figure has been mythologized. The author evaluates documentary and oral evidence—wampum records, native memorials, and annalists—to reconstruct the confederacy's origins, organization, and practices, highlighting representation, federation, local self-government, and successful interstate diplomacy despite limited military numbers.