No originality is claimed for this collection of the annals of the American people. That honor belongs to the pioneers, those hardy men and women who gave some of their all too few leisure hours to chroni. cling the events of their arduous lives. It is obvious that these untrained historians were not infallible. The lapse of time between the event and its being described may account for certain discrepancies; the variations in different communities may explain others. Whenever possible the compiler has endeavored to correct these aberrations by comparison with official papers. Yet, even here, statistics vary so widely that discrepancies can not be avoided. Similarly, the spelling of proper names will be found to differ in many instances since the original spelling has been retained as far as possible. No apology is made for giving to one people of the new world a monopoly of the word "American.” By their deeds they have justified it. If objection be made to a cold-blooded view of territorial expansion, one which omits sentiment and the ethical aspect of civilization, the writer rests his case upon past history; not on what ought to be but upon what is. If partisan treatment seems to characterize any question, it is not so designedly. The intention has been to collect the local history of the American people 'in one volume, trusting that its perusal will inculcate additional reverence not alone for American statesmen but also for the plain people, whose names perish, but whose work remains in the structure of the great republic. NATIONAL BOUNDARIES AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN THE BEGINNINGS OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE INCREASE OF WELL-BEING AMONG THE PEOPLE XXXV. THE BEGINNINGS OF A COLONIAL SYSTEM INTRODUCTION Expansion is a necessary law of human develop. ment and progress. It must be assumed in the common explanations of man's creation. If mankind originated from one species or in one place, there must have been dissemination, growth, and expansion. The earliest glimpses show activity, change, and migration. This expansion would naturally extend in concentric circles or equally diverging lines from the common place of origin if surrounding conditions were the same. But even the primary division of the globe into land and water is a disturbing factor in this outward movement. A body of migrants, for instance, meeting the ocean or what is to them an impassable sea, is diverted into a new line of travel, or further progress is barred until necessity, aided by constant contact with the water, has persuaded them to venture on its trackless waste. In the same way mountains may change direction of migration, or a lofty chain compel a halt of decades until passes are discovered or roads constructed. Wanderers may chance upon a particularly fertile valley where nature supplies their wants in return for a minimum expenditure of labor. Agriculture arises and supplements or replaces the earlier occupation of herding. Another group may by some accident learn a simple use of the mineral treasures hidden in mother earth and a rude development of arts and manufacture arises. Flint for arrowheads, jasper for axes, or native copper for sheathing may make a permanent residence of what was but a temporary halting place. Climate must also be reckoned among these determining causes. An attractive hillside in the early year becomes a bleak and barren spot in autumn; a valley enchanting in the rigors of winter becomes unendurable in the heat of summer. Springs and brooks, affording water and food at one season of the year, are dangerous at another season from malaria. To such disturbing influences must be added plenty or scarcity of food; distribution of trees and game; chance droughts or floods. Any one of these reasons may cause divergence from direct routes of migration. But the one cause which has determined the lines of migration and place of settlement more than another is the influence of tribes and nations upon each other. The primary law governing man is the same as that governing the lower animals; namely, the survival of the fittest. It is persistent, It is persistent, relentless, and savage, until it is tempered by the higher sentiments of civilization and the accompanying forms of religion. This law is rarely seen in our present life-usually only in war and in certain commercial restrictions; but it prevailed in the earlier and lower life of man. The general struggle for existence is now rendered easy for any one willing to labor. Indeed, society |