KENTUCKY POPULATION NEW ENGLANDERS. 427 



every State in the Union, and every country in Europe. The 

 inhabitants of the south, are understood to have come from 

 Kentucky, a slave-holding State, and were induced to settle in 

 this district from their dislike of slavery. The emigrating 

 Kentuckians approving of slavery, take up their residence in 

 the adjoining State of Missouri, where this bondage is tolerated. 

 The Kentuckians possess different dispositions from the inha 

 bitants of the other States, and, like the New Englanders, they 

 seem to inherit the characters of their forefathers. The first 

 settlers of Kentucky, for a period of between thirty and forty 

 years, waged a cruel and savage warfare with the Indians. 

 Many thousands perished in the strife, and the features which 

 such a mode of life could not fail of imparting to their charac 

 ters, have descended, with some modification, to their progeny. 

 The Kentuckians of the present day are men of warm tempe- 

 rarnerit, high-souled, and fearless ; but, at the same time, 

 generous and hospitable in the extreme. They have been 

 termed the Irishmen of America. With ill-regulated tempers, 

 they can have little medium of character, and will be good or 

 bad members of society, according to the principles they have 

 imbibed. The Kentuckians are said to go armed with knives, 

 a practice which is thought to be on the decline, and which I 

 cannot corroborate from observation. This practice has in 

 all probability descended from the first settlers, and would 

 originate from the unfortunate circumstances in which they 

 were placed. A few boys in Britain, who mistake true honour 

 and courage, provide themselves witlTpistols and sword-sticks. 

 Perhaps only the fiery youths of Kentucky wear knives. 



In the northern part of Illinois almost all the inhabitants 

 appeared to have come from New England, and possessed the 

 characteristics of that people. During my intercourse with 

 them I received some impressions of their dispositions and 

 movements at variance with what I had been led to expect. 

 It has been usual to represent this people void of the best 

 feelings of humanity the parent with little aifection for his 

 offspring the boy without filial love, impatient of restraint, 

 and scampering off from school to obtain independence in the 

 distant wilderness. But when I found many unmarried young 

 men, after twelve months residence in Illinois, anxiously 



