American democracy... modeled after who?

I just finished reading Mother Earth Spirituality by Ed McGaa. Great book and guide through the seven ceremonies of the Sioux/Lakota nations.

I was equally fascinated by the author's approach to history. In chapters 3 & 4, he expounds on the idea that American democracy was not so much founded on the concept of French, British, Roman or even Greek societies; rather on the Iroquois and Algonquian Leagues.

As I did a bit of research on the subject, I discovered that Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and other founders were greatly influenced by Native American .... A quote from the book:

The first person to call publicly for a union of the thirteen American colonies was Chief Canassatego, speaking in 1744 to a Pennsylvania assembly negotiating the Treaty of Lancaster. Canassatego spoke for the Hodenosaunee, the Iroquois Leauge and urged the colonies to follow the example of the Hodenosaunee and unite a single government with one voice... Ben Franklin, who was at the time a Pennsylvanian Indian agent, took Canassatego's words seriously at the Albany Congress in 1754 by repeating a call for union. [pgs. 21 & 22]

There was also a fascinating section on Native American's compassion for blacks during the time of slavery. And how slave owners told their slaves fearful stories about savagery and that all Indians were cannibals that would eat them if they ran off the plantations. As the book points out, how different could history have been if slaves chose not to believe this.

I guess the Euro-centric ego had too much influence on our history books as I don't remember reading or discussing the foundations of American democracy as being modeled by the Native Americans.