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st of the Susquehanna; a region now containing the flourishing towns of Chambersburg; Gettysburg; Carlisle; and York; where the descendants of these early settlers are still very numerous。 In modern times; however; they have spread out widely; they are now to be found all over the State; and they no longer desire so strongly to live by themselves。

The Ulstermen; owing to the circumstances of their earlier life; had no sympathy whatever with the Quaker's objection to war or with his desire to deal fairly with the Indians and pay them for their land。 As Presbyterians and Calvinists; they belonged to one of the older and more conservative divisions of the Reformation。 The Quaker's doctrine of the inward light; his quietism; contemplation; and advanced ideas were quite incomprehensible to them。 As for the Indians; they held that the Old Testament commands the destruction of all the heathen; and as for paying the savages for their land; it seemed ridiculous to waste money on such an object when they could exterminate the natives at less cost。 The Ulstermen; therefore; settled on the Indian land as they pleased; or for that matter on any land; and were continually getting into difficulty with the Pennsylvania Government no less than with the Indians。 They regarded any region into which they entered as constituting a sovereign state。 It was this feeling of independence which subsequently prompted them to organize what is known as the Whisky Rebellion when; after the Revolution; the Federal Government put a tax on the liquor which they so much esteemed as a product; for corn converted into whisky was more easily transported on horses over mountain trails; and in that form fetched a better price in the markets。

After the year 1755; when the Quaker method of dealing with the Indians no longer prevailed; the Scotch…Irish lived on the frontier in a continual state of savage warfare which lasted for the next forty years。 War; hunting the abundant game; the deer; buffalo; and elk; and some agriculture filled the measure of their days and years。 They paid little attention to the laws of the province; which were difficult to enforce on the distant frontier; and they administered a criminal code of their own with whipping or 〃laced jacket;〃 as they called it; as a punishment。 They were Jacks of all trades; weaving their own cloth and making nearly everything they needed。 They were the first people in America to develop the use of the rifle; and they used it in the Back Country all the way down into the Carolinas at a time when it was seldom seen in the seaboard settlements。 In those days; rifles were largely manufactured in Lancaster; Pennsylvania; and there were several famous gunsmiths in Philadelphia。 Some of the best of these old rifles have been preserved and are really beautiful weapons; with delicate hair triggers; gracefully curved stocks; and quaint brass or even gold or silver mountings。 The ornamentation was often done by the hunter himself; who would melt a gold or silver coin and pour it into some design which he had carved with his knife in the stock。

The Revolution offered an opportunity after the Ulstermen's heart; and they entered it with their entire spirit; as they had every other contest which involved liberty and independence。 In fact; in that period they played such a conspicuous part that they almost ruled Philadelphia; the original home of the Quakers。 Since then; spread out through the State; they have always had great influence; the natural result of their energy; intelligence; and love of education。

Nearly all these diverse elements of the Pennsylvania population were decidedly sectional in character。 The Welsh had a language of their own; and they attempted; though without success; to maintain it; as well as a government of their own within their barony independent of the regular government of the province。 The Germans were also extremely sectional。 They clung with better success to their own language; customs; and literature。 The Scotch…Irish were so clannish that they had ideas of founding a separate province on the Susquehanna。 Even the Church of England people were so aloof and partisan that; though they lived about Philadelphia among the Quakers; they were extremely hostile to the Quaker rule and unremittingly strove to destroy it。

All these cleavages and divisions in the population continue in their effects to this day。 They prevented the development of a homogeneous population。 No exact statistics were taken of the numbers of the different nationalities in colonial times; but Franklin's estimate is probably fairly accurate; and his position in practical politics gave him the means of knowing and of testing his calculations。 About the year 1750 he estimated the population as one…third Quaker; one…third German; and one…third miscellaneous。 This gave about 50;000 or 60;000 to each of the thirds。 Provost Smith; of the newly founded college; estimated the Quakers at only about 40;000。 But his estimate seems too low。 He was interested in making out their numbers small because he was trying to show the absurdity of allowing such a small band of fanatics and heretics to rule a great province of the British Empire。 One great source of the Quaker power lay in the sympathy of the Germans; who always voted on their side and kept them in control of the Legislature; so that it was in reality a case of two…thirds ruling one…third。 The Quakers; it must be admitted; never lost their heads。 Unperturbed through all the conflicts and the jarring of races and sects; they held their position unimpaired and kept the confidence and support of the Germans until the Revolution changed everything。

The varied elements of population spread out in ever widening half circles from Philadelphia as a center。 There was nothing in the character of the region to stop this progress。 The country all the way westward to the Susquehanna was easy hill; dale; and valley; covered by a magnificent growth of large forest treesoaks; beeches; poplars; walnuts; hickories; and ashwhich rewarded the labor of felling by exposing to cultivation a most fruitful soil。

The settlers followed the old Indian trails。 The first westward pioneers seem to have been the Welsh Quakers; who pushed due west from Philadelphia and marked out the course of the famous Lancaster Road; afterwards the Lancaster Turnpike。 It took the line of least resistance along the old trail; following ridges until it reached the Susquehanna at a spot where an Indian trader; named Harris; established himself and founded a post which subsequently became Harrisburg; the capital of the State。

For a hundred years the Lancaster Road was the great highway westward; at first to the mountains; then to the Ohio; and finally to the Mississippi Valley and the Great West。 Immigrants and pioneers from all the New England and Middle States flocked out that way to the land of promise in wagons; or horseback; or trudging along on foot。 Substantial taverns grew up along the route; and habitual freighters and stage drivers; proud of their fine teams of horses; grew into characters of the road。 When the Pennsylvania Railroad was built; it followed the same line。 In fact; most of the lines of railroad in the State follow Indian trails。 The trails for trade and tribal intercourse led east and west。 The warrior trails usually led north and south; for that had long been the line of strategy and conquest of the tribes。 The northern tribes; or Six Nations; established in the lake region of New York near the headwaters of the Delaware; the Susquehanna; and the Ohio; had the advantage of these river valleys for descending into the whole Atlantic seaboard and the valley of the Mississippi。 They had in consequence conquered all the tribes south of them as far even as the Carolinas and Georgia。 All their trails of conquest led across Pennsylvania。

The Germans in their expansion at first seem to have followed up the Schuylkill Valley and its tributaries; and they hold this region to the present day。 Gradually they crossed the watershed to the Susquehanna and broke into the region of the famous limestone soil in Lancaster County; a veritable farmer's paradise from which nothing will ever drive them。 Many Quaker farmers penetrated north and northeast from Philadelphia into Bucks County; a fine rolling and hilly wheat and corn region; where their descendants are still found and whence not a few well…known Philadelphia families have come。

The Quaker government of Pennsylvania in almost a century of its existence largely fulfilled its ideals。 It did not succeed in governing without war; but the war was not its fault。 It did succeed in governing without oaths。 An affirmation instead of an oath became the law of Pennsylvania for all who chose an affirmation; and this law was soon adopted by most American communities。 It succeeded in establishing religious liberty in Pennsylvania in the fullest sense of the word。 It brought Christianity nearer to its original simplicity and made it less superstitious and cruel。

The Quakers had always maintained that it was a mistake to suppose that their ideas would interfere with material prosperity and happiness; and they certainly proved their contention in Pennsylvania。 To Qua

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