6. A Rifle, an Ax and a Bag of Corn (2)

Americans are always proud of their mobility, geographical or social. Can we find its roots in the past experiences of the pioneers? What other American qualities were shaped by the westward movement?

Don't suppose that, having once reached a place and settled down, the travelers stayed put. Oh, no. They must be up and moving again as soon as news reached them of good land farther west. They moved, settled down, packed up, sold to a newcomer, and moved on again. Moving was in their blood. J. M. Peck, who traveled in the West in the 1830's wrote a book called A New Guide For Emigrants to the West. In it he wrote that moving "has become almost a habit in the West. Hundreds of men can be found, not 50 years of age, who have settled for the 4th, 5th, or 6th time on a new spot. To sell out, and remove only a few hundred miles, makes up a portion of the variety of backwoods life and manners."

Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became President of the United States, tells the story of having passed the house of a man who moved so often that even his animals had the habit; every year in the spring his chickens would come up to him and cross their legs, ready to be tied for their regular journey west.

The family of Abraham Lincoln moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, where he was born in 1809. In 1816, when Lincoln was seven, his family crossed the Ohio in a raft to Indiana. In 1830, when Lincoln was twenty-one, his family moved again, from Indiana to Illinois. This was typical of life in the West.

When the backwoodsman and his family finally reached the spot where they decided to build, there was plenty of hard work ahead. They had to have food and shelter immediately. The land must be cleared of trees, the logs cut to suitable lengths for a cabin, a well dug for water, and the ground plowed for planting. Wild animals and unfriendly Indians were often lurking about in the dense wood.

The pioneer needed tools. He had a rifle, an ax, and a bag of corn.

His rifle served two purposes; it was protection against the Indians, and also the means of procuring food. The pioneer family often existed for long stretches of time on the meat of deer, wild turkey, and other animals killed by the ever-present rifle.

The ax, of course, was absolutely essential for chopping down the trees. It was very carefully looked after.

Indian corn was very important to the first settlers. They had so much to do and so little time in which to do it. Corn could be planted either by tilling the soil a little or even without tilling it at all; once planted, it took very little care while growing; once grown, it need not be harvested immediately; while other grains have to be gathered at just the right moment, corn might remain standing for several months; the same amount of farm work on corn as on wheat gave twice as much corn; the whole family ate it, and if there were horses, cows, hogs, or sheep, they too, fed on it. Nothing could have taken its place, neither wheat nor barley nor potatoes—it was the perfect grain for the pioneer.

What were the things this battle with the wilderness taught the pioneer?

It taught him to be independent. With his own hands, relying on his own strength, he had faced a strange situation and conquered it. He fed himself, sheltered himself, clothed himself. When he left the East he broke his ties with his old home. It is an interesting fact that while the people east of the mountains faced Europe and thought of the land in the West as the "back country", the pioneer faced west and called the East the "back country". He knew what he wanted and set out to get it; he did not like interference of any kind. He had proved that he was able to take care of himself. He was his own master.

It gave him a feeling of self-confidence; his had been a hard fight against tremendous odds, and he had won out; the failures either went back home or died, but the pioneer who stayed and lived and succeeded was proud of himself. He had fought an uphill fight and come out on top; he was ready to tackle anything. He believed in himself and in his ability to get along. His was a young country. He had the confidence and enthusiasm of the young.

He believed that one man was as good as another. In most of these new western states the right to vote was given to all white men alike. The pioneer learned to measure men not by who they were, but by what they could do. Into the West poured Germans, Scotch-Irish, French, men from all parts of the world. In the West they were all equal; rich or poor, educated or uneducated, coarse or refined, to all the task was the same. If you made a go of it, no matter who you were, you were equal to the next man.

In a crowded meeting in the West certain officials were trying to force their way through to the platform. "Make way there," they cried. "We are the representatives of the people."

"Make way yourselves," came the quick retort. "We are the people."

Men who could answer in that fashion knew their own strength; they would kowtow to no one.

People who must meet new situations learn to be inventive. At the same time they learn not to be afraid of the new. The pioneer became a Jack-of-all-trades. He had to learn to fit himself to the unusual. He did—so he was not afraid to try anything once.

The pioneer lived a plain, simple life; he had a passionate hatred for pomp; he disliked ceremony; he was direct in his manner; he believed in equality and freedom; he was independent, proud, boastful, energetic, unafraid, eager to succeed. The life in the wilderness helped to make him what he was.

Abridged from Chap. VI

of the book We, the People by Leo Huberman,

New York, 1960.