Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 213 



were careful to avoid embroiling themselves with 

 the neighboring colonial legislatures ; and in dealing 

 with non-residents they made them give bonds to 

 abide by their decision, thus avoiding any necessity 

 of proceeding against their persons. On behalf of 

 the community itself, they were not only permitted 

 to control its internal affairs, but also to secure lands 

 by making treaties with a foreign power, the In- 

 dians ; a distinct exercise of the right of sovereignty. 

 They heard and adjudicated all cases of difference 

 between the settlers themselves ; and took measures 

 for the common safety. In fact the dwellers, in this 

 little out-lying frontier commonwealth, exercised 

 the rights of full statehood for a number of years ; 

 establishing in true American style a purely demo- 

 cratic government with representative institutions, 

 in which, under certain restrictions, the will of the 

 majority was supreme, while, nevertheless, the larg- 

 est individual freedom, and the utmost liberty of 

 individual initiative were retained. The framers 

 showed the American predilection for a written con- 

 stitution or civil compact; and, what was more im- 

 portant, they also showed the common-sense Ameri- 

 can spirit that led them to adopt the scheme of gov- 

 ernment which should in the simplest way best serve 

 their needs, without bothering their heads over mere 

 high-sounding abstractions. 26 



26 The original articles of the Watauga Association have 

 been lost, and no copies are extant. All we know of the mat- 

 ter is derived from Hay wood, Ramsey, and Putnam, three 

 historians to whose praiseworthy industry Tennessee owes 



