by W H Miner. 1917. 169p

The social organization of North American Indians was based on clans and gentes, kinship groups that determined social status and relationships within tribes. Clans and gentes were organized based on lineage, with descent traced through either the male or female line. Exogamy, the prohibition of marriage within the same group, was a central rule within these kinship units. Clans and gentes were further organized into phratries for ceremonial purposes and tribes for political governance. Chiefs and councils held specific powers within the tribes, with some having loose organizational structures while others had clearly defined groups with strict exogamic rules. The tribe was the primary unit of political and social life among Native Americans, with separate military and civil functions.