33 6 The Winning of the West 



But all these matters were really of small conse 

 quence. The woes of the Creoles, the trials of the 

 American squatters, the friction between the regular 

 officers and the backwoodsmen, and jealousy felt 

 by both for the Spaniards, all these were of little 

 real moment at this period of the history of the 

 Northwest. The vital point in its history was the 

 passage by Congress of the Ordinance of 1787, and 

 the doings of the various land companies under 

 and in consequence of this ordinance. 



The wide gap between the ways in which the 

 Northwest and the Southwest were settled is made 

 plain by such a statement. In the Northwest, it was 

 the action of Congress, the action of the represen 

 tatives of the nation acting as a whole, which was 

 all-important. In the Southwest, no action of Con 

 gress was of any importance when compared with 

 the voluntary movements of the backwoodsmen 

 themselves. In the Northwest, it was the nation 

 which acted. In the Southwest, the determining 

 factor was the individual initiative of the pioneers. 

 The most striking feature in the settlement of the 

 Southwest was the free play given to the workings 

 of extreme individualism. The settlement of the 

 Northwest represented the triumph of an intelligent 

 collectivism, which yet allowed to each man a full 

 measure of personal liberty. 



Another difference of note was the difference in 

 stock of the settlers. The Southwest was settled 

 by the true backwoodsmen, the men who lived on 

 their small clearings among the mountains of west- 



