328 The Winning of the West 



Northwesterners were allowed to take the land only 

 upon certain definite conditions. The National 

 Government ceded to settlers part of its own do 

 main, and provided the terms upon which States 

 of the Union should afterward be made out of this 

 domain; and with a wisdom and love of righteous 

 ness which have been of incalculable consequence 

 to the whole nation, it stipulated that slavery should 

 never exist in the States thus formed. This con 

 dition alone profoundly affected the whole develop 

 ment of the Northwest, and sundered it by a sharp 

 line from those portions of the new country which, 

 for their own ill fortune, were left free from all 

 restriction of the kind. The Northwest owes its 

 life and owes its abounding strength and vigorous 

 growth to the action of the nation as a whole. It 

 was founded not by individual Americans, but by 

 the United States of America. The mighty and 

 populous commonwealths that lie north of the Ohio 

 and in the valley of the upper Mississippi are in a 

 peculiar sense the children of the National Govern 

 ment, and it is no mere accident that has made 

 them in return the especial guardians and pro 

 tectors of that government; for they form the heart 

 of the nation. 



Before the Continental Congress took definite 

 action concerning the Northwest, there had been 

 settlements within its borders, but these settlements 

 were unauthorized and illegal, and had little or no 

 effect upon the aftergrowth of the region. Wild 

 and lawless adventurers had built cabins and made 



