In the Current of the Revolution 317 



breed of horses," for from the very outset the 

 Kentuckians showed the love for fine horses and 

 for horse-racing which has ever since distinguished 

 them. Squire Boone was the author of a law "to 

 protect the range" ; for the preservation of the range 

 or natural pasture over which the branded horses 

 and cattle of the pioneers ranged at will, was as 

 necessary to the welfare of the stock as the preser- 

 vation of the game was to the welfare of the men. 

 In Kentucky the range was excellent, abounding not 

 only in fine grass, but in cane and wild peas, and the 

 animals grazed on it throughout the year. Fires 

 sometimes utterly destroyed immense tracts of this 

 pasture, causing heavy loss to the settlers; and one 

 of the first cares of pioneer legislative bodies was to 

 guard against such accidents. 



It was likewise stipulated that there should be 

 complete religious freedom and toleration for all 

 sects. This seems natural enough, now, but in the 

 eighteenth century the precedents were the other 

 way. Kentucky showed its essentially Ameri- 

 can character in nothing more than the diver- 

 sity of religious belief among the settlers from 

 the very start. They came almost entirely from the 

 backwoods mountaineers of Virginia, Pennsylvania, 

 and North Carolina, among whom the predominant 

 faith had been Presbyterianism ; but from the be- 

 ginning they were occasionally visited by Baptist 

 preachers, 24 whose creed spread to the borders 



24 Possibly in 1775, certainly in 1776; MS. autobiography of 

 Rev. Wm. Hickman. In Durrett's library. 



