Hienwatha tried to think of some way to convince his enemies to accept the idea of cooperation. His solution was to weave a belt of wampum-shell strings that showed a great chain connecting the five northern Iroquois nations—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. . . . It is said that he finally won over Tadadaho with a simple demonstration: he asked the Onondaga chief to break an arrow, which he did easily; then Hienwatha tied a bundle of five arrows together which Tadadaho could not break. Thereafter, Hienwatha, Dekanahwideh, Tadadaho, and the other leaders of the Five Nations created a confederation government that Europeans later would call the League of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee). –Christopher L. Miller
"Change and Crisis: North
America on the Eve of the European Invasion”

According to the excerpt, the Iroquois Confederacy

granted political authority to a single, dominant leader.

used sachems, whose power was inherited through family lines.

created the first democratic republic in North America.

was traditionally ruled by female leaders who conducted diplomacy.