. They annually elected a tribunal, in rotation, of
three of their settlers, whom they called _fair play men_, who were
to decide all controversies, and settle disputed boundaries. From
their decision there was no appeal. There could be no resistance.
The decree was enforced by the whole body, who started up in mass,
at the mandate of the court, and execution and eviction was as
sudden, and irresistible as the judgment. Every new comer was
obliged to apply to this powerful tribunal, and upon his solemn
engagement to submit in all respects, _to the law of the land_, he
was permitted to take possession of some vacant spot. Their decrees
were, however, just; and when their settlements were recognized by
law, and _fair play_ had ceased, their decisions were received in
evidence, and confirmed by judgments of courts.[2]

The idea of authority from the people was nothing new; in fact, it is as
old as the Greeks. Nor is the concept of a "social compact," here
implied, particularly novel to the American scene. The theory was that
people hitherto unconnected assembled and gave their consent to be
governed by a certain ruler or rulers under some particular form of
government.[3] Theoretically justified by John Locke in his persuasive
defense of the Glorious Revolution, it had been practiced in Plymouth,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, where practical necessity
had required it for settlements occasionally made outside charter
limits. The frontier, whether in New England or in the West Branch
Valley, created a practical necessity which made popular consent the
basis of an actual government.

They were not "covenanters" in the Congregational sense of having
brought an established church with them to the Fair Play territory. But
the Fair Play settlers understood and subscribed to the principle of
popular control, which was fundamental to such solemnly made and
properly ratified agreements. Separated from the authority of the crown,
detached from the authority of the hierarchy of the church by the
Protestant Reformation, possessing no American tradition of extensive
political experience, these settlers could only depend upon themselves
as proper authorities for their own political system.

Furthermore, the great majority of the settlers who came to the Fair
Play territory came from families who had left their homes in the old
country to escape political, economic, and soc