uriosity of the
fact--that if any evil, physical or moral, arise in any of the
states south of us, it never takes a northerly direction, or
taints the Southern breeze; whereas, if any plague originate
in the North, it is sure to spread to the South and to invade
us sooner or later; the influenza--the smallpox--the
varioloid--the Hessian fly--the Circuit Court
system--Universal Suffrage--all come from the North, _and they
always cross above the falls of the great rivers_; below, it
seems, the broad expanse of waters interposing, effectually
arrests their progress.

Nothing could more clearly bring out the sense of contrast between
upland and lowland Virginia, and the continued intimacy of the bond of
connection between the North and its Valley and Piedmont colonies, than
this unconscious testimony.

In North and South Carolina the upland South, beyond the pine barrens
and the fall line, had similar grievances against the coast; but as the
zone of separation was more strongly marked, the grievances were more
acute. The tide of backwoods settlement flowing down the Piedmont from
the north, had cut across the lines of local government and disarranged
the regular course of development of the colonies from the
seacoast.[116:1] Under the common practice, large counties in North
Carolina and parishes in South Carolina had been projected into the
unoccupied interior from the older settlements along their eastern edge.

But the Piedmont settlers brought their own social order, and could not
be well governed by the older planters living far away toward the
seaboard. This may be illustrated by conditions in South Carolina. The
general court in Charleston had absorbed county and precinct courts,
except the minor jurisdiction of justices of the peace. This was well
enough for the great planters who made their regular residence there for
a part of each year; but it was a source of oppression to the up-country
settlers, remote from the court. The difficulty of bringing witnesses,
the delay of the law, and the costs all resulted in the escape of
criminals as well as in the immunity of reckless debtors. The extortions
of officials, and their occasional collusion with horse and cattle
thieves, and the lack of regular administration of the law, led the
South Carolina up-country men to take affairs in their own hands, and in
1764 to establish associations to administer lynch law under the