The lawless and
shiftless folk, and the extreme separatists, as a whole, wished for
complete and absolute independence of both State and Nation, because it
would enable them to escape paying their share of the Federal and State
debts, would permit them to confiscate the lands of those whom they
called "nonresident monopolizers," and would allow of their treating
with the Indians according to their own desires. The honest,
hardworking, forehanded, and farsighted people thought that the best way
to defeat these mischievous agitators was to take the matter into their
own hands, and provide for Kentucky's being put on an exact level with
the older States. [Footnote: State Dep. MSS. Madison Papers, Wallace to
Madison, Nov. 12, 1787.]
Renewal of the Disunion Agitation.
With Wilkinson's return to Kentucky, after his successful trading trip
to New Orleans, the disunion agitation once more took formidable form.
The news of his success excited the cupidity of every mercantile
adventurer, and the whole district became inflamed with desire to reap
the benefits of the rich river-trade; and naturally the people formed
the most exaggerated estimate of what these benefits would be.
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