Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/17

 THE AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

VOLUME IV JULY, 1898

Number i

A RETARDED FRONTIER.

M ERIC AN history has been described ab very largely a record of the westward movement of a frontier ; not a geograph- ical boundary, but a type of social life which has reacted upon and modified the ideals and political institutions of the nation. Beginning in earnest after the Revolution, and get- ting a further impetus with the close of the war of 181 2, this frontier swept on like a wave seeking channels of least resistance. It followed water courses — the Hudson, the Mohawk, and the Ohio ; it penetrated mountain passes, pouring through Cumber- land and Big Stone gaps into Tennessee and Kentucky, and sweeping around the foothills of the Blue Ridge into Alabama. Having passed the Appalachian barrier, it spread over the prairies of the Mississippi basin until it broke against the Rockies. But this on-rushing tide left quiet pools in the mountains of Vir- ginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee. There the frontier has survived in practical isolation until this very day. Only recently have we fully realized this fact, made vivid by the stories of Miss Murfree, Mr. John Fox, Jr., and other writers.