{156} LETTER XIII
Comparative Advantages of several Parts of the United States—Temperature of the Climate at Philadelphia and at Cincinnati—Pennsylvania—Ohio—Kentucky, and the Western Part of Virginia—Indiana—Illinois—Missouri—Reflections on Slave-Keeping.
Jeffersonville, (Indiana,)
October 16, 1819.
To determine the most proper parts of America for new settlers, is a proposition interesting in its nature, but one that cannot be solved with precision. This general fact is to be kept in view, that, in the old populous settlements, land is already too dear to admit of that spontaneous increase in value so profitable in back-wood districts. The sea-board then is to be rejected by those who would go in search of the most profitable investment of their capital, and some part of the interior country is to be selected. The vast migration from the eastern States to the western, is satisfactory evidence of this state of the land market; and, besides, countenances the opinion, that the country first peopled by Europeans is not destined to such population and wealth as that rationally anticipated in the more fertile western States.
In the most inland parts of the old States, there are still abundance of good woodlands reserved for future cultivation, embracing an extensive range of climate, and a great diversity of vegetable products; but the natives of the temperate climes {157} of Europe will, for the most part, be averse to live under the scorching sun of Georgia, or the intense frosts of the province of Maine. Somewhere between the extremes, probably between Hudson River and Chesapeake Bay, affords the best approximation. At Philadelphia, for example, the mean temperature of the year may be stated at 53.66°, that quantity being a mean of the results obtained by the observations of Dr. Rush, Dr. Cox,[86] and Mr. Legoux;—a determination nearly coinciding with that of Mr. Playfair,[87] (53.58°) for the mean temperature of the vegetative season, from the 20th of March to the 20th of October, at Edinburgh, and only 5.86° higher than the mean temperature of the latter place for the whole year. It is true that the extreme variations are much greater at Philadelphia than at Edinburgh, but it will be in vain to search for a situation in the United States, possessing that equability of heat, that characterizes the British islands.
From the tract of country under consideration, Maryland and Delaware will be deducted, as ineligible to the man who does not wish to live amongst slaves. He may, indeed, live in either of these parts without employing the involuntary labourer, but the man of acute sensibility will usually be unwilling to injure the feelings of his neighbours, who may conceive that his abstaining from the detested practice implies a practical censure on their conduct. Slaves being addicted to theft and other immoralities, form a strong objection against settling amongst them. The whole stretch of country on the coast, including Maryland, Delaware, part of Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, may be rejected, on account of the high price of land. The inland parts of Pennsylvania and New York States remain free from the objections just mentioned, and {158} are believed to possess comparative advantages in respect of climate and soil.
The winter of New York State is the more severe of the two, and seems to point out Pennsylvania as preferable. With the single defect of distance from market, Western Pennsylvania possesses great advantages. The most prominent are, a healthy climate, a good soil, abundance of coal, iron-ores, limestone, sandstone, and salt springs, circumstances that render this country susceptible of a dense population, and a very high state of improvement.
It being assumed that Pennsylvania lies between parallels of latitude, the most temperate of any on the eastern coast, the inference is natural, that the States Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and part of Kentucky, must have a climate of similar warmth, slightly modified, no doubt, by the elevation and prevalent winds of particular parts. Accordingly, observations made at Cincinnati, (which lies fifty minutes south of Philadelphia) show, that its annual mean temperature is only six-tenths of a degree higher than that of the latter place.[88]
The lands of the State of Ohio are understood to be more fertile than those of Pennsylvania.—With good culture, from sixty to a hundred bushels of maize per acre, are produced. On an acre of land, near the mouth of the Little Miami, one of the first settlers raised the extraordinary quantity of one hundred and fourteen bushels. The advanced state of population, in the southern part of the State, has withdrawn the most choice tracts of ground from the land-office; good lots, however, may still be bought from private individuals at a moderate price. The higher country, lying nearly {159} equidistant from the river Ohio and lake Erie, is understood to be healthy, fertile, abounding in springs of water, and possessing a good navigation downward, in wet seasons of the year, by means of the rivers Muskingum, Scioto, and Miamis. The northern part of the State is described as having many large prairies, of a rich quality, but unhealthy.
Kentucky, and the western part of Virginia, have much land of the first rate quality; but the influx of new settlers is greatly prevented by the insecurity of titles. Surveyed at an early period, when the country was in the possession of the hostile aborigines, and before the new method of laying out public lands was adopted, much confusion as to boundaries prevails.[89] Many conflicting claims are frequently made on the same tract, and a degree of litigation has ensued that appears to be almost interminable. There is another cause tending to retard the ingress of new comers which it would be invidious to repeat.
Indiana is a State more recently settled than any of the foregoing. The part where the Indian title was extinguished, was, till lately, comparatively small. Non-resident purchasers have shut up a large proportion of it from immediate cultivation; some judicious entries may still be made in the land-office, particularly by White River, and in some other parts at a considerable distance from the Ohio. The land office map for Jeffersonville district has many more vacancies in it than that at Cincinnati, showing that it contains much more land not yet appropriated by individuals. Here, as in Ohio State, the high lands are considered the most healthy. A recent purchase from the Indian tribes will make a valuable addition to the State of Indiana.[90] The tract is supposed to contain about six {160} millions of acres, and is to be soon abandoned by the natives. Already upwards of a hundred families have entered it, for the purpose of rearing cattle and hogs. These will have excellent opportunities for selling their stock when purchasers take possession of the newly acquired territory, and will have the advantage of becoming acquainted with the most valuable lands previous to the sales. The surveyors, and other persons, who have visited the new purchase, represent it to be rich, diversified in surface, with the advantage of navigable waters in spring and autumn; and that it is much better adapted to pasturage than the country adjoining to the Ohio.
In the State of Illinois there are vast quantities of land to be disposed of by the Government, besides the residuary of former sales, standing open in the land-office maps at Shawneetown[91] and Edwardsville.[92] The recent surveys bring about 3,730,000 acres into the market. A great portion of this land lies on the Sangamon, a southern branch of Illinois river; and I am informed by a gentleman who has lately been there, that the country is the best that he is acquainted with. At a period not far distant, a communication between Lake Erie and Illinois river may be opened through the river Plein, which empties itself into the lake.[93] Craft are said to have already passed out of the one river into the other. A large portion of Illinois, lying between Illinois river and the Mississippi, is a military grant given to the troops who fought in the late war, and divided amongst them at the rate of a hundred and sixty acres to each man.[94] Shares of this land have been sold since its partition at a dollar, and even so low as half a dollar per acre. The military grant is chiefly low and flat. The soil is rich, and interspersed with {161} prairies[95] but subject to agues: this, with a great proportion of non-resident owners, must greatly retard the improvement of the district. The northern parts of Illinois are understood to possess a healthy climate.
In the Missouri Territory, large surveys are just completed, these consist of about a million of acres near Osage river, and about two millions toward the Mississippi, including the old settlements. The reports of the Missouri country which I have heard, convince me, that it contains a large quantity of good lands, and that it is favoured with a fine climate. A gentleman who wintered at St. Louis, near the mouth of the river Missouri, assured me that the cold is more severe there than in the Ohio country. Although his opinion was formed from his sense of feeling, without reference to the thermometer, it is probably just, as the situation of St. Louis is relatively high, and as much of the neighbouring country is without wood, admitting a free circulation of winds, from higher and more northerly parts.
In the countries adjoining to Arkansau and Red rivers, about two millions of acres are laid out for sale. The former of these rivers is understood to be larger than the Ohio, and passes through a fertile country. The post of Arkansau is situated a little northward of latitude 34°.[96] A parallel that must be felt uncomfortably hot by most Europeans. Cotton is the most profitable product; a vegetable that has hitherto been almost exclusively cultivated by involuntary labourers.
Michigan and north-west territories are understood to be fertile, and well adapted to rearing cattle. Detroit is the capital of Michigan.[97] In {162} the north-west territory there are two settlements; one at Fort Howard, and the other Prairie du Chiens.[98] A military post is to be formed at the mouth of St. Peter’s river, below the Falls of St. Anthony.[99] These extensive regions lie in a latitude corresponding with that of the New England States; and will probably be peopled by a hardy race of freemen, when the lands of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, can be no longer procured at a low rate.
Those who would go in search of healthy situations may keep in view, that their object can only be attained, at a distance from swamps, and rivers which overflow their banks; it being well known, when the former are dried up, and when the latter recede within their low-water boundaries, vast quantities of mud and vegetable matters are exposed to the heat of the sun, and a rapid decomposition immediately commences. The gaseous constituents evolved give a perceptible taint to the air, and are understood to form the miasmata that occasion agues, bilious fevers, and liver complaints. The best navigable waters, and the most healthy parts of the country, are, in some measure, incompatible, and seldom admitting of immediate proximity to one another. Happily, a moderate height of land is usually sufficient to prevent the accumulation of stagnant waters, and to promote a motion in rivers, that lessens the scope of their inundations, or retains them altogether within their banks. A degree of elevation conducive to a comparatively healthy climate, may be usually found within two or three miles of the river; but as the contaminated air is liable to be transported by winds, and probably not sufficiently diluted with the atmosphere in passing over such small spaces; a greater distance from the source of contagion {163} is no doubt preferable. I have, on various occasions, seen persons from the higher country, about forty miles north of this place, whose complexions are apparently more healthy than those of the people who live on the banks of the Ohio; and several of late who profess to have a reluctance to come down to the river on business, at the present season of the year.
In the preceding part of this letter I mentioned the high country lying near the heads of the northern tributaries of the Ohio, as having a good climate. That part of it watered by the Muskingum, the two Sciotas, and the two Miamis, possesses a downward navigation in spring, and in the latter end of autumn, but as these rivers enter the Ohio above the falls at Louisville, the upward navigation is interrupted there during the summer months. This single circumstance amounts to a weighty objection against the eastern part of the country under consideration.
The western part has two great navigable streams, the Wabash, and the Illinois. The Wabash is navigable for boats drawing three feet of water, to the distance of about 400 miles from its mouth, and in floods about 200 miles farther. Its largest tributary is White River, which is navigable to a great distance upward. It waters a fertile and delightful country, and joins the Wabash below all its rapids except one run, which forms no great obstruction to the navigation. The new seat of government is to be erected on the bank of one of the streams of White River.[100] The Illinois is esteemed one of the best navigations in western America. So early as 1773, a Mr. Kennedy sailed upward to the distance of 268 miles from its confluence with the Mississippi.[101] Sangamon river, one {164} of its principal streams, is said to be navigable for 180 miles by small craft.
From the best information that I can procure, this western division of the country, north of the Ohio, appears to be highly eligible to new settlers. It unites the advantages of having high lands and navigable waters in immediate contact, and a shorter and a better communication with the ocean than any part of western America, that is to be exclusively cultivated by freemen.
The country on Missouri river, has been already noticed as possessing advantages in soil and climate, but the difficulty of the navigation upward, amounts to a considerable objection against adopting that territory. A convention of the people formed a constitution, and laid before Congress their claim for being admitted as a State in the Federal Union. The new constitution asserts the right of the people to hold slaves, and of admitting more negroes from other parts of the United States. Towards the conclusion of last Session of the legislature, this question of right was warmly discussed, most of the members from the Southern States maintained, that Congress have no right to dictate to the people of any new State on this subject, viewing it as a matter of internal policy, and one that does not come under the jurisdiction of the general government,—and the treaty of Session stipulated, that the Spanish colonists remaining in the country, should retain their former rights and privileges. In opposition to these doctrines, the members from Northern States argued, that Congress has a constitutional right to interfere, and urged as a precedent, the act prohibiting the introduction of slavery into the country north-west of Ohio river, with other arguments too numerous to be recapitulated here. It is painful {165} to learn that the representatives of the nation are so much divided on this interesting question, and, in the present instance, to reflect, that in most cases their proceedings are expressions of the will of their constituents. The affair waits the decision of next Session, and, in the meantime, much solicitude prevails with regard to it. The most intelligent citizens are at a loss to anticipate the result, and the members of the Legislature are probably equally uncertain, whether the new State shall become a receptacle of slaves, and its representatives the future advocates of a Slave keeping interest. The slave keeping States, and those which have prescribed the practice, commonly called free States, seem to be struggling for predominance. There are now eleven Slave keeping, and eleven free States, so that Missouri must give a sort of numerical preponderance to one of the parties. The number of representatives for free States, are apportioned according to the number of free persons in each, and in Slave keeping States, they are regulated by the number of free persons added to three-fifths of the slaves, a method that has the effect of strengthening the influence of the Southern party.
When the Missouri question is set at rest,[102] the people of the United States will no doubt reflect on the singular line of demarkation which they have drawn. Supposing that the internal frontier was produced to the Stony Mountains, or to the Pacific Ocean, every speculative mind must contemplate it, not merely as a topographical division, but also as a sort of moral boundary, separating a great nation into two parts, very dissimilar in the habits and jurisprudence of their people, and will seriously meditate on the possible consequences of the unhappy difference. I do not {166} wish to make any disagreeable reflection on the patriots who have already done so much in circumscribing the boundaries of human misery; but regret, that such a wide field still remains for their benevolent labours, and that their opponents are pursuing a course imminently dangerous to themselves, and ill calculated to promote the future tranquillity of the republic. Many disagreeable incidents have already been occasioned by the collision of principle and interest. Negroes frequently desert from their masters, and fly into neighbouring free States. It may be, that the people amongst whom they seek refuge, do not always show much anxiety that the owners shall recover their property; and it is perhaps partly on account of this indifference, that the pursuers of slaves adopt forcible means instead of the legal redress prescribed by free States. Peaceful communities are thus invaded by small parties of armed men, who carry off blacks without certifying their right to them. In two late instances, two free blacks in Indiana were kidnapped by people from Kentucky, and the remonstrances made on the part of the former State, were not followed by any satisfactory concession on the part of the latter. The laws of free States, on this subject, are in disagreement with the usages of slave-holders; a source of contention that may not be easily removed. Hitherto no popular rupture has been occasioned by affairs of this kind; but, it may be asked, where is there any guarantee that similar discordances may not become more frequent when a more numerous population of both colours shall be crowded along the neighbourhood of the slave-line? And may not the heart-burnings and provincial pride, now manifest, be wrought up to a higher pitch at a period, perhaps not far distant, when the United States will become confident of a degree of strength that cannot require such a {167} complete co-operation as heretofore in repelling the attacks of foreign force?
If the slave-holding party persist in the extension of the abuse, it would well become them to give up their constitutional claims for calling forth the militia of northern states “to suppress insurrections,” and for protecting them “against domestic violence,” so far as slaves may be the future disturbers of the peace. Whether they make such a fair concession or not, it is for them to reflect whether their northern neighbours, who have so uniformly and so wisely opposed the evil, and who have so humanely laboured to eradicate it from amongst themselves, will be willing to imbrue their hands in the blood of the injured people who have never excited any of their feelings except pity.
So long as the Missouri question remains unsettled, a hope may be entertained that liberal sentiments may prevail. The northern people seem to be almost universally in favour of the restriction, and a part of the finest feelings, and the brightest talents in the Southern States, are ranged on the side of humanity.