82 Preface 



the slenderest ties to the Federal Government. A 

 remarkable inflow of population followed. The 

 warfare with the Indians, and the quarrels with the 

 British and Spaniards over boundary questions, 

 reached no decided issue. But the rifle-bearing 

 freemen who founded their little republics on the 

 Western waters gradually solved the question of 

 combining personal liberty with national union. 

 For years there was much wavering. There were 

 violent separatist movements, and attempts to es 

 tablish complete independence of the Eastern 

 States. There were corrupt conspiracies between 

 some of the Western leaders and various high 

 Spanish officials, to bring about a disruption of 

 the Confederation. The extraordinary little back 

 woods State of Franklin began and ended a career 

 unique in our annals. But the current, though 

 eddying and sluggish, set toward Union. By 1790 

 a firm government had been established west of 

 the mountains, and the trans-Alleghany common 

 wealths had become parts of the Federal Union. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



SAGAMORE HILL, LONG ISLAND, 

 October, 1894 



