In developing this consciousness of her past, the West, naturally enough, has found a grievance against the historians of America who have somewhat neglected this important phase of the national development. Before the eyes of the historian educated under the shadow of the gilded dome of the Puritan Capitol, the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers looms larger on the historical horizon than the occupation of the Old Northwest during the Revolutionary War, so that he gives a more careful and extensive description to the former than to the latter event. The westerner gazes upon another horizon, where the relative importance of events are differently grouped. To him many events confined to New England, the description of which fills pages of our national histories, appear of local interest; and events belonging to other parts of the country assume national importance.
This grievance is not altogether fictitious, as a glance at any of our large histories and particularly at the text-books used in our schools will disclose. The signs of the times, however, point to a healthful change; for in the last many-volumed American history, chapter after chapter is devoted to the history of the West. The correction of the error in proportion, moreover, lies in the hands of the western historians, who can bring to prominence the events of their section only by producing serious and scientific studies on the development of the West; and consciously or unconsciously the recent movement in the study of western history is directed toward that end. Besides the popular interest in the subject, already noted, the universities are turning the attention of their graduate students to the field; the scientifically-trained instructors of these institutions are conducting researches into the history of the valley; in other words, western history is already recognized as a legitimate field for research work. Time alone is needed for the results of this activity to become a part of the national consciousness, when the relative importance of western events will be correctly given in our larger histories and be finally disseminated through text-books and popular works to the public.
The Teacher’s Duty.
The development of a popular knowledge of the history of the West will largely be the work of the teachers in our public schools. This is fortunate, for the subject is suited in a remarkable degree for the purposes of instruction. In the great central valley the romantic, religious, political, and economic growths have been luxuriant, and every student, whatever his character, will find events to arouse his historical imagination. The glamour around the wild life of the forest and prairie appears most brilliant to children. The lurking Indian, the silent Jesuit, the song-loving voyageur, the hardy trapper—these are figures that give a picturesque touch to our early history which never fails to retain the attention of the class.
Fortunately the earliest phase of western history inspired the brilliant pen of Francis Parkman, and his accounts of the discovery and occupation of the Mississippi Valley have become parts of the common knowledge of our people, so that the figures of Marquette, Lasalle, and Frontenac stand out relatively clear in the memories of the school days. Since, in Parkman’s works, literature, romance, and good historical narrative are so well combined, the teacher should make the most of these, for where he ends, there is no work or set of works, comparable to his, to continue the narrative.
Many have been the attempts to tell the story of the advance of the English pioneers across the mountains, but we still await the well-equipped and inspired historian. There are, of course, books to which the pupils can turn with profit and interest. Particularly has the frontiersman with gun and axe been glorified, and his picturesque figure is fully as attractive as Jesuit priest or French voyageur. But the fundamental motives of the westward movement should not be lost in the romantic story of a Boone or Sevier. The first impulse westward came from the Englishman’s desire to participate in the fur trade which the French threatened to monopolize. During the reign of Charles II the movement, extending from Hudson Bay to the Carolinas, was started. Almost as early as Lasalle, Virginians were on the waters of the Upper Ohio, and were trading among the Indians of the Southwest. The fight for the fur trade had begun.
Land speculation was a second impulse for the westward movement. Boom towns were not an invention of yesterday. The far-famed American pioneer played his part in these enterprises, but he was often only a pawn in the hands of the gentleman speculator of the East, who is to be found in every period of western development. The speculative energy of such men as George Washington, the Lees, and George Morgan advertised the advantages of the valley lands far and wide. Then followed the wild rush of homeseekers which rapidly built the Western States.
The story of the West in the Revolutionary War is not well told in the usual text-books of the schools, for the description of the events which decided whether this vast territory should be British or Spanish or belong to the United States are generally relegated to a few lines of a paragraph. The settlement of Kentucky and Tennessee, the occupation of the Old Northwest by the Virginians, the successful campaigns of Governor Galvez which gave the Floridas to Spain, the defeat of the various British campaigns to recover their hold on the central Mississippi; these are all events of stupendous importance for the future development of the American people.
Western Tendencies.
The first and most marked characteristic in the history of the West is its unity. This sets it off from the East, where particularistic development was the rule. On the seaboard, well marked peculiarities separate the inhabitants of the different sections. In the Mississippi Valley, State boundaries have little meaning, and divide in no way the people living on either side. Even when broader areas than those of the States are considered, diverse development is not so well marked as it is east of the mountains. Throughout the early pioneer period the emigration westward was the same in character north and south of Mason and Dixon’s line. The Ohio River was the great channel by which the tide of immigration flowed over the prairies of the Old Northwest and the blue grass region of Kentucky; and accident frequently led one man to the slave-holding States and his neighbor to the North.