有些人却能更轻松、更安全地从大西洋海岸迁移到俄亥俄的这些地区。他们带着自己的马车，自己的黑奴以及家人；在出发前的一天，他们的斧工就已经在丛林中为他们开辟好了道路；当夜幕笼罩他们时，随队前行的猎人已经选好宿营的地点，准备好林中供应充足的美食；当他们抵达时，篝火耀眼的亮光引领着他们的脚步，不绝于耳的欢呼声使他们确信一切准备就绪。水牛肉、熊肉、鹿肉很快都做成了又大又好吃的肉排，挂在尚未燃尽的火堆前；已经准备好的蛋糕存放在恰当的地方，并且很快就伴着浓浓的油汁烤好。马车里有床，尽管拉着他们赶路的马匹已经松开了拴绳（有些马儿可能仍然拴着脚），吃着森林里繁茂的矮树丛，但是更多的马儿却只是在脖子上挂一串铃铛，领着它们的主人清晨便前往它们可能已经到过的地方。人和马在经过一天疲惫的旅行之后，此时都乐在其中。
与预想的一样，一切都轻松愉快，这些迁移大军欣喜地享受着集体生活，丝毫不觉得还有比他们从无路可走的丛林前往肥美之地的途中所能遇到的更大的危险。尽管走完全程需要数月时间，他们和印第安人之间也不时地会发生一些小冲突，因为印第安人经常会悄无声息地潜入他们居住的营地，但这些弗吉尼亚人仍然会快乐地朝着西边的地平线走下去，直到不同路的各类人群全都到达俄亥俄。到那时，在震惊于那里气势磅礴的溪流展现出的美的同时，他们会立即着手开拓土地，以便建立一个永久定居点。
另一些可能由于行李过多而行动不便的人，则更愿意顺流而下。他们准备好一些底部不平的方舟，在平缓的水流上滑行，然而，他们却比那些经由陆地到达、受到跟踪他们行动的印第安人攻击的人更为苦恼。
许多旅行者都描述到这些先是叫做方舟，如今又叫做平底船的小船，但是他们有没有告诉过你：在那个时代，一艘长为三四十英尺、宽为10？12英尺的小船，便被人视为一个庞然大物？这艘船上装有男人、女人和孩子，拥挤着随船迁移的马、家畜、猪和家禽，剩下的地方还塞满了蔬菜和种子袋？船的顶篷和甲板有点像农家院，上面覆盖着干草、犁、农用车、手推车以有各种各样的农具，此外还有数不清的其他物件，其中，家庭主妇用的纺车最为显眼。即便在随船漂浮的一侧，也固定着种种交通工具的轮子，乱七八糟地摊在上面。
他们有没有告诉你：这些船上还有这些勇敢移民每家每户的所有孩子？这些移民由于害怕被印第安人发现，总是在夜幕降临时在黑暗中前行，在这些流行住所上来回奔走、摸索前进，抵挡住生火或发出亮光以方便前进的诱惑，以免从对岸观察他们行踪的敌人袭击并杀死他们。他们有没有告诉你：这些用过的小船在枯燥漫长的航行结束之后，仍然是这些新移民们刚到达目的地时居住的地方？
我不必描写不同白人和印第安人团体之间在前者到达俄亥俄的过程中发生的多次大屠杀，因为我向来不太喜欢暴力，实际上，我一直希望世界比现在更加和平；我只想加上一句话：肯塔基这块土地，是它最早的居民经过千辛万苦，通过不同方式才得到的。
R VII
A Federal Republic
1.What a Constitution Is.We remember that a government is chosen by the people to do the public business.But when some men are chosen to make laws，for instance，and others to carry those laws out，if they are left wholly at liberty they may make and execute very bad laws.We do not think that a very safe kind of government.Indeed，if we should permit it we might soon be no better off than Russia，whose tsar makes whatever laws he pleases.So，in order to prevent this sort of thing from happening，the people of the United States made first of all one great set of laws which everybody must obey.This set of laws tells how the government shall be formed，what the legislature shall be，and the administration，and the courts.Then it goes on to say what things each branch of government may do，and what sort of things they must not do.That makes us safe.If the legislature tries to make a law which it is forbidden to make，the court says that their act is no law at all，and then nobody is bound to obey it.
2.This set of laws which provides for the form of government，and for what it may do and for what it must not do，is called the Constitution .
3.The people of no country can be really free，or safe from a selfishand cruel government，without a good constitution.We are very proud①of the Constitution of the United States.
It was made soon after the
revolutionary war was ended，and has served to protect our liberty andto insure us a good government now for more than a century.
4.Many in One.Before the revolutionary war the thirteen colonies each had a government of its own.To be sure，these governments were not independent，but had to obey the government of Great Britain，in①The Constitution will be found in the Appendix.
INDEPENDENCE HALL PHILADELPIIIA
In this building met the congress of the thirteen colonies which adopted the Declaration of Independence，July 4，1776.
London.But，of course，with the war this dependence ceased，a n d t h e co l o n i e s g o v e r n e d themselves.However，they had to act together in the war，and in order to do that they each of them sent representatives to what they called a congress ，at Philadelphia.Congress was a sort of common government for all the colonies，so far as the war was concerned.It was this congress which made the Declaration of Independence，Jul y 4，1776.After that the co l o ni es c a l l e d t h e m s e lv e s states ；their union they called the United Stales of America .
5.After the war was over the states found it necessary to make a better government for the new republic.So they made①the Constitution
of which
we have spoken，But meanwhile each of the states kept its own separate constitution and government.Thus we see at once that the United States has one government for the whole country and another for each one of the fortyfive states.Thus our republic is “many in one”many states forming one republic.This sort of government“many in one”is called a federation.So the United States is a federation.We also call it the Union.
①The convention which framed the Constitution met at Philadelphia in May，1787，and finished its labors in the following September.Washington was president of the convention，and among its members were many of the wisest and best men in the young republic.Mr.Gladstone，the great English statesman，has said：“The American Constitution is the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
6.The government for the whole countryfor the Unionis called the federal government，or，which is the same thing，the national government.
7.The place where the laws are made is called the capital .The capital of the United States is the city of Washingtonnamed for the hero of the revolutionary war.There the national legislaturealso called “congress，”like that of the revolutionary colonies meets every year and makes laws for the republic.Besides that，each state has its own capital，where the state legislature meets and makes laws for the state.
8.The capital was in New York for a short time，but longer in Philadelphia，before the city of Washington was built.The first time the government met at the present capital was in 1801，and there it has been ever since.It is a beautiful city，with magnificent public buildings，wide streets，parks，and numerous statues and monuments of the great men of the republic.Washington is not in a state，but lies in a territory given to the United States by the state of Maryland，and called the District of Columbia.So the national capital belongs to the nation.