History and Government

So, after starting to read Paula Gunn Allen's The Sacred Hoop earlier this week, I have come to the realization that I do not know a lot about the history of the United States or Government in general. In the beginning of the book, she addresses a "petticoat government" which I knew nothing about. I guess I have known or thought that I knew that women were treated as more of an equal in Native tribes than in European societies. I didn't know that women were held in such high regard. I didn't know that many tribes had female chiefs who essentially made decisions for the tribes. I didn't know anything about the Beloved Women title and all that it held. It was interesting to read the story about the Jesuits and the Montagnais. It made me chuckle when I read the part about how a male could not do something that he said he was going to do and use the reason that his wife did not want him to do it. It made me think of an old saying "a happy wife is a happy life".
I also wondered what life would have been like if the Indians had not adopted a patriachial society but instead kept a matriachial one. The big questions of "what if..." come into play. What if Le Jeune did not try to "civilize" the Montagnais but instead embraced their way of life? What if European women had more rights instead of fulfilling the roles under the authority of their husbands? What if the Montagnais had not assimilated as much as they did? These questions ultimately would have rewritten the history books. Instead of a male-dominated, white view of history we may have gotten a very different report of the events of history.
The first part of Allen's book was interesting but definitely gave me a sense that I may need more background to fully understand some of the things that she talks about. My lack of historical knowledge made me need to reread some things to try to understand them.