Who elects Haudenosaunee sachems?

• A. Men of the confederacy
• B. Clan mothers
• C. British authorities
• D. The Grand Council

Answer: (B)

In Haudenosaunee governance, the people who hold the authority to appoint and decommission leaders are the clan mothers. They select sachems—leaders who sit in the Grand Council—out of eligible male elders, and they can remove them if needed. This matrilineal system places real political power in the hands of the clan mothers, rather than in men or in external authorities. The Grand Council is the assembly of those sachems once chosen, not the group that selects them. So the proper answer reflects the clan mothers as the electors who determine who serves as sachem.