<P> In the 20th century, some writers have credited the Iroquois nations' political confederacy and democratic government as being influences for the development of the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution . In October 1988, the U.S. Congress passed Concurrent Resolution 331 to recognize the influence of the Iroquois Constitution upon the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights . </P> <P> But, leading historians of the period note that historic evidence is lacking to support such an interpretation . Gordon Wood wrote, "The English colonists did not need the Indians to tell them about federalism or self - government . The New England Confederation was organized as early as 1643 ." The historian Jack Rakove, a specialist in early American history, in 2005 noted that the voluminous documentation of the Constitutional proceedings "contain no significant reference to Iroquois ." Secondly, he notes: "All the key political concepts that were the stuff of American political discourse before the Revolution and after, had obvious European antecedents and referents: bicameralism, separation of powers, confederations, and the like ." </P> <P> During the American Revolution, the newly proclaimed United States competed with the British for the allegiance of Native American nations east of the Mississippi River . Most Native Americans who joined the struggle sided with the British, based both on their trading relationships and hopes that colonial defeat would result in a halt to further colonial expansion onto Native American land . Many native communities were divided over which side to support in the war and others wanted to remain neutral . The first native community to sign a treaty with the new United States Government was the Lenape . For the Iroquois Confederacy, based in New York, the American Revolution resulted in civil war . The only Iroquois tribes to ally with the colonials were the Oneida and Tuscarora . </P> <P> Frontier warfare during the American Revolution was particularly brutal, and numerous atrocities were committed by settlers and native tribes alike . Noncombatants suffered greatly during the war . Military expeditions on each side destroyed villages and food supplies to reduce the ability of people to fight, as in frequent raids by both sides in the Mohawk Valley and western New York . The largest of these expeditions was the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, in which American colonial troops destroyed more than 40 Iroquois villages to neutralize Iroquois raids in upstate New York . The expedition failed to have the desired effect: Native American activity became even more determined . </P>

What development led great plains hunters to abandon their traditional use of spears in about ad 500