The States west were politically weak,
and, supposing their interests were neglected by Congress, were
restless and dissatisfied. This was especially true of Western
Pennsylvania. There were very many young and ambitious men in all the
Western States and Territories. Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio were
rapidly populating from the Eastern and Middle States. Their commercial
communication with the East was attended with so many difficulties as
to force it almost entirely to New Orleans.
"Geographically, it seemed that the valley of the Mississippi was, by
nature, formed for one nation. The soil and climate promised to
enterprise and industry untold wealth. The territorial dimensions were
fabulous. The restless and oppressed multitudes of overstocked Europe
had already commenced an emigration to the United States, which
promised to increase to such an amount as would soon fill up, to a
great extent, this expanded and promising region. The Mississippi
furnished an outlet to the ocean, and a navigation, uninterrupted
throughout the year, for thousands of miles, and New Orleans, a market
for every surplus product.
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