As European colonization of the Americas took place, the European explorers regarded some newly contacted indigenous chieftainships as a form of monarchy, wherein warriors were under the command of a hereditary chief. However, though they may have been the holders of power, all chiefs were not necessarily free to mobilise troops without the consent of a council of elders, similar to the situation in a modern constitutional monarchy; for example, in the Cherokee nation, the approval of the council of women was required before war could be declared.