CONTINENTAL CONQUEST 



It is not to be denied that the fact that the United 

 States was heralded throughout the world as a "free 

 country" attracted millions of immigrants, nor that 

 popular government and complete immunity from the 

 demands of royal tribute left enterprise unhampered to 

 a degree hitherto unknown. But a vast commerce can 

 no more find sustenance solely in the written constitu- 

 tion of a country than a starving prospector in the 

 mountains can satisfy his appetite with scenery. 



It seems worth while to lay strong emphasis upon this 

 point, because the somewhat general acceptance of the 

 notion that America is the product of its institutions, 

 rather than that its institutions are the product of 

 America, has obscured the causes of past prosperity and 

 belittled the importance of our undeveloped resources. 

 Not until this fact is understood and acknowledged 

 is it possible to comprehend, even vaguely, the incal- 

 culable importance of the undeveloped regions in the 

 western half of the United States. 



At the close of the Revolution the United States con- 

 sisted of a fringe of settlements mostly confined to the 

 Atlantic coast and the banks of important rivers on the 

 eastern slope of the Alleghanies. Nominally, the nation- 

 al domain extended westward to the Mississippi river, 

 but practically there was no development beyond the 

 thirteen original States. Even there the natural resour- 

 ces of the country had scarcely been touched. Boston 

 had a population of about eighteen thousand, New York 

 of about thirty thousand, Philadelphia of about thirty- 

 five thousand, Baltimore of about fifteen thousand. 

 Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah, though of some 

 importance politically, were mere straggling hamlets. 



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