" So late as
1835, De Tocqueville, the French commentator on America, declared that
Americans who quit the posts of the Atlantic to plunge into the western
wilderness were adventurers, impatient of restraint, greedy of wealth,
and frequently men expelled from the State in which they were born.
But he had no doubt that in time society would assume as much stability
and regularity in the remote West as it had done upon the coast of the
Atlantic ocean.
At the time, the action of Congress called fresh attention to the
attractiveness of the back country and the possibilities there when
population should warrant the erection of States. Stanzas of Philip
Freneau represent the feeling of the day:
"What wonders there shall Freedom show,
What mighty _States_ successive grow.
What charming scenes attract the eye
On wild Ohio's savage stream.
Here Nature reigns, whose works outvie
The boldest pattern art can frame.
The _East_ is half to slaves consigned,
And half to slavery more refined."
CHAPTER IV
FAILURE OF THE CONFEDERACY
Scarcely a failure of the Confederation Government can be found which
does not lead in the last analysis to the financial situation both
during and following the war.
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