1. They considered themselves a commonwealth of

freemen.

2. All decisions and the selection of leaders had to be with

the consent of the people, preferably by full consensus,

not just a majority.

3. The laws by which they were governed were considered

natural laws given by divine dispensation, and were so

well known by the people they did not have to be

written down.

4. Power was dispersed among the people and never

allowed to concentrate in any one person or group.

Even in time of war, the authority granted to the

leaders was temporary and the power of the people to

remove them was direct and simple.

5. Primary responsibility for resolving problems rested

first of all with the individual, then the family, then the

tribe or community, then the region, and finally, the

nation.

6. They were organized into small, manageable groups

where every adult had a voice and a vote. They divided

the people into units of ten families who elected a

leader; then fifty families who elected a leader; then a

hundred families who elected a leader; and then a

thousand families who elected a leader.

7. They believed the rights of the individual were

considered unalienable and could not be violated

without risking the wrath of divine justice as well as

civil retribution by the people's judges.

8. The system of justice was structured on the basis of

severe punishment unless there was complete

reparation to the person who had been wronged. There

were only four "crimes" or offenses against the whole

people. These were treason, by betraying their own

people; cowardice, by refusing to fight or failing to fight

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courageously; desertion; and homosexuality. These

were considered capital offenses. All other offenses

required reparation to the person who had been

wronged.

9. They always attempted to solve problems on the level

where the problem originated. If this was impossible

they went no higher than was absolutely necessary to

get a remedy. Usually only the most complex problems

involving the welfare of the whole people, or a large

segment of the people, ever went to the leaders for

solution.