arnestly
insisted upon by the master-minds of Virginia. The earlier population of
Kentucky was peculiarly inclined to adopt and cherish such opinions, by
the promptings of that nature which seems common to all men descended
from the stock of the "Old Dominion," that craving for the largest
individual independence, and disposition to assert and maintain in full
_measure_ every personal right, which has always made the people of the
Southern and Western States so jealous of outside interference with
their local affairs. It was natural that a people, animated by such a
spirit, should push their preference for self-government even to
extremes; that they should esteem their most valued franchises only safe
when under their own entire custody and control; that they should prefer
that their peculiar institutions should be submitted only to domestic
regulation, and that the personal liberty, which they prized above all
their possessions, should be restrained only by laws enacted by
legislators chosen from among themselves, and executed by magistrates
equally identified with themselves and appreciative of their instincts.

In short, they were strongly attached to their State Governments, and
were not inclined to regard as beneficent, nor, even exactly legitimate,
any interference with them, upon the part of the General Government, and
desired to see the powers of the latter exercised only for the "common
defense and general welfare."

Without presuming to declare them correct or erroneous, it may be safely
asserted that such were the views which prevailed in Kentucky at a
period a little subsequent to her settlement.

This decided and almost universal sentiment was first shaken, and the
minds of the people began to undergo some change, about the time of, and
doubtless in consequence of, the detection of the Burr conspiracy. Burr
had been identified with the party which advocated the extreme State
Rights doctrines, and his principal confederates were men of the same
political complexion.

The utter uselessness of his scheme, even if successful, and the little
prospect of any benefit accruing from it, unless to the leading
adventurers, had disposed all the more sober minded to regard it with
distrust. And when it became apparent that it had been concocted for the
gratification of one man's ambition, the very people whom it had been
part of the plan to flatter with hopes of the most brilliant advantages,
immediately conceived f