Blindness of the New Englanders as Regards the West.
In the northeastern States, and in New England especially, this feeling
showed itself for two generations after the close of the Revolutionary
War. On the whole the New Englanders have exerted a more profound and
wholesome influence upon the development of our common country than has
ever been exerted by any other equally numerous body of our people. They
have led the nation in the path of civil liberty and sound governmental
administration. But too often they have viewed the nation's growth and
greatness from a narrow and provincial standpoint, and have grudgingly
acquiesced in, rather than led the march towards, continental supremacy.
In shaping the nation's policy for the future their sense of historic
perspective seemed imperfect. They could not see the all-importance of
the valley of the Ohio, or of the valley of the Columbia, to the
Republic of the years to come. The value of a county in Maine offset in
their eyes the value of these vast, empty regions. Indeed, in the days
immediately succeeding the Revolution, their attitude towards the
growing West was worse than one of mere indifference; it was one of
alarm and dislike.
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