PREFACE 



npHE material used herein is that mentioned in 

 1 the preface to the first volume, save that I have 

 also drawn freely on the Draper Manuscripts, in 

 the Library of the State Historical Society of Wis 

 consin, at Madison. For the privilege of examin 

 ing these valuable manuscripts I am indebted to 

 the generous courtesy of the State Librarian, Mr. 

 Reuben Gold Thwaites; I take this opportunity of 

 extending to him my hearty thanks. 



The period covered in this volume includes the 

 seven years immediately succeeding the close of the 

 Revolutionary War. It was during these seven 

 years that the Constitution was adopted, and act 

 ually went into effect; an event if possible even 

 more momentous for the West than the East. The 

 time was one of vital importance to the whole na 

 tion; alike to the people of the inland frontier and 

 to those of the seaboard. The course of events 

 during these years determined whether we should 

 become a mighty nation, or a mere snarl of weak 

 and quarrelsome little commonwealths, with a his 

 tory as bloody and meaningless as that of the Span 

 ish-American States. 



At the close of the Revolution the West was 

 peopled by a few thousand settlers, knit by but 



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