THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



thousand, in 1820. The movement went on without 

 pause until the outbreak of the great rebellion. It was 

 even more plainly marked with the home-seeking char- 

 acter than the earlier settlement of the seaboard States. 

 We need not in this instance seek the home-loving in- 

 stinct under the religious motive. The circumstances 

 and the methods of the new army of settlers revealed 

 the supreme object of their emigration. 



The lands along the coast and in the rich valleys of 

 tidal rivers had been well occupied by a people who en- 

 joyed substantial prosperity, not only as the reward of 

 their industry, but also as the result of their priodty 

 of settlement. The country had grown. It was plainly 

 upon the verge of a larger and more rapid expansion. 

 These circumstances enhanced the value of property 

 and laid the foundation of many family fortunes, espe- 

 cially where the colonial hamlets had grown to be towns, 

 and promised to become populous cities. The early- 

 comers and their descendants were being steadily en- 

 riched by the unearned increment. Those who were 

 thus established had no occasion to move, but their less 

 fortunate neighbors longed for homes of their own, and 

 were ready to take quick advantage of the opportunity 

 which the war and the Ordinance of 1787 had opened 

 for them in the West. These people were almost uni- 

 versally poor in a worldly sense, but rich in courage and 

 intelligence and full of the spirit of empire-builders. 

 They were no more a class of greedy speculators than 

 were the pioneers of New England. They emigrated 

 in order that they might improve their condition. They 

 were home-seekers pure and simple. Placed completely 

 beyond the influence of Europe, and acting under a new 



16 



