the U. S.," E. L. Bogart. New York, Longmans,
1910 ed., p. 84-5.

[19] "The American Slave Trade," J. R. Spears. New York, Scribners,
1901, p. 69.

[20] "The Suppression of the American Slave Trade," W. E. B. DuBois. New
York, Longmans, 1896, p. 178-9.

[21] "The American Slave Trade," J. R. Spears. New York, Scribners,
1901, p. 84-5.

[22] "American Negro Slavery," U. B. Phillips. New York, Appleton, 1918,
p. VII.

[23] Ibid., p. 190.

[24] Ibid., p. 40.

[25] Benton, "Abridgment of Debates." XII, p. 718.

[26] "American Negro Slavery," U. B. Phillips. New York, Appleton, 1918,
p. 370.

V. THE WINNING OF THE WEST

1. _Westward, Ho!_

The English colonists in America occupied only the narrow strip of
country between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic Ocean. The interior was
inhabited by the Indians, and claimed by the French, the Spanish and the
British, but neither possession nor legal title carried weight with the
stream of pioneers that was making a path into the "wilderness," crying
its slogan,--"Westward, Ho!" as it moved toward the setting sun. The
first objective of the pioneers was the Ohio Valley; the second was the
valley of the Mississippi; the third was the Great Plains; the fourth
was the Pacific slope, with its golden sands. Each one of these
objectives developed itself out of the previous conquest.

The settlers who made their way across the mountains into the valley of
the Ohio, found themselves in a land of plenty. The game was abundant;
the soil was excellent, and soon they were in a position to offer their
surplus products for sale. These products could not be successfully
transported across the mountains, but they could be floated down the
Ohio and the Mississippi--a natural roadway to the sea. But beside the
Indians, who claimed all of the land for their own, there were the
Spaniards at New Orleans, doing everything in their power to prevent the
American Colonists from building up a successful river commerce.

The frontiersmen were able to push back the Indians. The Spanish
garrisons presented a more serious obstacle. New Orleans was a well
fortified post that could be provisioned from the sea. Behind it,
therefore, lay the whole power of the Spanish fleet. The right of
navigation was finally obtained in the Treaty of 1795. Still friction
continued with the Spanish authorities and serious trouble was averted
only by the transfer of Louisiana, first to the French (1800) and t