192 The Winning of the West 



so that both Kentucky and Vermont became States 

 of one indissoluble Union. 



This final triumph of the Union party in these 

 first-formed frontier States was fraught with im 

 measurable good for them and for the whole nation 

 of which they became parts. It established a prece 

 dent for the action of all the other States that sprang 

 into being as the frontier rolled westward. It de 

 cided that the interior of North America should 

 form part of one great Republic, and should not be 

 parceled out among a crowd of English-speaking 

 Uruguays and Ecquadors, powerful only to damage 

 one another, and helpless to exact respect from alien 

 foes or to keep order in their own households. It 

 vastly increased the significance of the outcome of 

 the Revolution, for it decided that its after-effects 

 should be felt throughout the entire continent, not 

 merely in the way of example, but by direct impress. 

 The creation of a nation stretching along the At 

 lantic seaboard was of importance in itself, but the 

 importance was immensely increased when once it 

 was decided that the nation should cover a region 

 larger than all Europe. 



While giving unlimited praise to the men so clear 

 sighted, and of such high thought, that from the be 

 ginning they foresaw the importance of the Union, 

 and strove to include all the West therein, we must 

 beware of blaming overmuch those whose vision 

 was less acute. The experiment of the Union was 

 as yet inchoate; its benefits were prospective; and 

 loyalty to it was loyalty to a splendid idea the real- 



