1863 to be maintained for several years.[387]

[Sidenote: Centrifugal forces on the frontier.]

A feeble grasp upon remote peripheral possessions is often further
weakened by the resistance of an immigrant population from beyond the
boundary, which brings with it new ideas of government. This was the
geographical history of the Texan revolt. A location on the far northern
outskirts of Mexican territory, some twelve hundred miles from the
capital, rendered impossible intelligent government control, the
enforcement of the laws, and prompt defence against the Indians.
Remoteness weakened the political cohesion. More than this, the American
ethnic boundary lapped far over eastern Texas, forming that border zone
of two-fold race which we have come to know. This alien stock,
antagonistic to the national ideals emanating from the City of Mexico,
dominant over the native population by reason of its intelligence,
energy, and wealth, ruptured the feeble political bond and asserted the
independence of Texas. Quite similar was the history of the "Independent
State of Acre," which in 1899 grew up just within the Bolivian frontier
under the leadership of Brazilian caoutchouc gatherers, resisted the
collection of taxes by the Bolivian government, and four years later
secured annexation to Brazil.[388]

Even when no alien elements are present to weaken the race bond, if
natural barriers intervene to obstruct and retard communications between
center and periphery, the frontier community is likely to develop the
spirit of defection, especially if its local geographic, and hence
social, conditions are markedly different from those of the governing
center. This is the explanation of that demand for independent statehood
which was rife in our Trans-Allegheny settlements from 1785 to 1795, and
of that separatist movement which advocated political alliance with
either the British colonies to the north or the Spanish to the west,
because these were nearer and offered easier access to the sea. A
frontier location and an intervening mountain barrier were important
factors in the Whisky Rebellion in western Pennsylvania, just as similar
conditions later suggested the secession of the Pacific States from the
Union. Disaffection from the government was manifested by the Trek Boers
of early South Africa, "especially by those who dwelt in the outlying
districts where the Government had exerted and could exert little
control." In 1795 the people of