WEST (THE) AS A FACTOR IN AMERICAN POLITICS. The great West rather than the Atlantic Coast is the true point of view in American history—in which the controlling influence of the frontier is the strongest factor. The West has been Amer iea's great ; - the problem of ex poisiem by winning a cries of frontiers, the last of wl h the completion of the caciquest of the continent. Its opportunity of sew lands, its presentation of new lessons and duties, its training in adaptation to new condi tions and in the creation of new institutions to wee new needs, and its new optimistic visions and ideals. enabled Americans to achieve a larger conception of American destiny and democracy. It has been a constructive force of die highest significance in the evolution and adaptation of political organs in response to donned environment. In the face of Eastern opposition which feared its influence might control the destiny of the republic, its forest philosophy became the basis of a revised Amer man democracy. James Bryce in his
Increasing in importance by settlements made in opposition to the king's proclamation line, the western frontier became the rear guard of the Revolution and the advance guard of the republic, influencing the negotiations of 1782-83 which established the western boundary at the Mississippi. A large western territory, whose ownership was a source of both diplomatic and interstate controversy, fortunately (through treaty and subsequent state cessions) became national public domain, .1te first property of the
new nation, a common Interest and the first tangible sir. national unity.
At thy close of MC rIevolution the frontier conflicts with the east coast were especially noticeable in western Pennsylvania, western Vir ginia and in the transmontane territory of North Carolina which after the Revolution demanded independent statehood, appealing to the record of their conquest of the wilderness from sav agery to civihzation. In Massachusetts the con test was marked in the signincant movement known as Shay's Rebellion of laih-which awak ened the apprehension of conservative men in the constitutional convention and resulted in re strictions on suffrage which were removed in time only by the development of the interior regions.
In the new constitution frontier influence ap peared in the liberal territorial relations and equality of statehood for western communities whose desire for political autonomy had been expressed in various efforts before Congress ob tained full control of western lands claimed by the various tidewater State governments.
Jefferson, born on the frontier region of his day, became the prophet of democracy, and, by a series of legislative measures in Virginia, pre pared the way for the larger influence and domi nance of the interior class — which, however, was only slowly attained by the slow but steady tide of settlements farther and farther toward the interior.
After the Revolution the advancing frontier of transmontane settlements marked the growth of a new and greater West more influ ential in the nation's destiny. By 1800 the trans-Appalachian region had become the home of about one-tenth of the population. In the decade before 1800 it exercised an important in fluence in foreign relations in connection with the foreign plans to acquire control of the Mis sissippi Valley and the Great Lakes. In the decade and a half after 1800 it became a more powerful influence, notably in the purchase of Louisiana in 1803 and the War of 1812 which insured new areas for advance in three direc tions.