They themselves had not yet
grasped the national idea, and could not see that the increase in power
of any one quarter of the land, or the addition to it of any new
unsettled territory, really raised by so much the greatness of every
American. However, there was one point on which the more far-seeing of
these critics were right. They urged that it would be better for the
country not to try to sell the public land speedily in large tracts, but
to grant it to actual settlers in such quantity as they could use.
[Footnote: St. Clair to Jay, Dec. 13, 1788.]
Failure of These Colonization Schemes.
The different propositions to settle large colonies in the Spanish
possessions came to naught, although quite a number of backwoodsmen
settled there individually or in small bands. One great obstacle to the
success of any such movement was the religious intolerance of the
Spaniards. Not only were they bigoted adherents of the Church of Rome,
but their ecclesiastical authorities were cautioned to exercise over all
laymen a supervision and control to which the few Catholics among the
American backwoodsmen would have objected quite as strenuously as the
Protestants.
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