Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-01-19
FOREFATHERS' ADDRESS
Delivered at Annual Celebration
by Prof. A. D. Wetherell.
(Concluded.)

tOOncluueu.)
But an even greater expansion had
already begun outside. The making of
greater New England was in process.
The course of Puritan Empire was
travelling westward.
will summarize briefly:
BY 1890, some New England settle
ments had been established in New
Jersey, Northeastern Pennsylvania and
Central New York; by 1900, Northern
Pennsylvania and Central New York
were filling rapidly; by 1910, Northern
New York and the rich Genessee coun-
try south of Lake Erie were taken; by
1920, New Englanders had settled large
areas in Ohio and were crossing into
Northern Indiana; by 1880, they were
entering Illinois and Michigan; by 1910,
they were possessing Wisconsin, and by
1850, they were crossing the Mississippi,
"the strong bent of their spirits" lead
ing them on, as in Cotton Mather's day.
How strongly the tide was setting
from the East is shown by the census
figures for Vermont in 1850. Six of
thirteen counties show loss of popula-
ton, but in eight states at the west,
100, 900 settlers born in Vermont were
living, which figures would be much in
creased if the second generation were
included. And in 1860, over 400, 900
settlers born in New England were liv-
ing in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois.
Michigan and Wisconsin.
Since 1860, New Englanders have still
journeyed westward, until one may
now find in the far off valleys of the
Northern Pacific coast, towns which
possess "white houses with green blinds
set gable end to the street around a
public square,"
And so, stretching from Massachu-
sets Bay to the Columbia River a
greater New England has been created,
an east and west band of Puritan set
Element paralleled at the south by other
great race strains.
do not claim that New Englanders
have been the only settlers of this vast
northern area. The nations of the
earth have nearly all contributed. But
New Englanders have been present in
sufficient numbers to establish their
peculiar institutions, and institutions
set up and maintained are sure evil
dence of comparative power.
| hr -,
this great area of New England methods
of land survey and community settle
ment; the Congregational church, some
times merging into the Presby
widely scattered schools and colleges,
whose history links closely with the
older New England; and modified town
ship government from sea to sea.
Truly has it been said: 1.-THE history
of New England is not confined to six
states; it is contained in greater and
broader New England wherever the
children of the Purtans are found"
The profound significance of the
westwardly advancing frontier in Amer
lea, our conquest of continent with all
the enormous economic, social, and po-
litical results involved, is just now be-
ing realized by American historians.
And in the most northern band of settle.
ment, east and west the New Eng
lander and his children have led the
way For three centuries. his log cabin,
or its equivalent. has marked the west.
ern edge of civilization.
Such, in brief, has been the territorial
expansion of New England. What OF
its effects in American History?
The most precious things which mer
carry with them as they journey over
the earth are their ideas-potential in
situations. Plant the Englishman ir
America, in South Africa, in Australia,
in the Islands of the Sea, and he will
establish in essential outline, if in mod
flied details, one of the greatest gifts tC
the modern world-the English system
of government and law. Plant the
Puritan in America from Massachusetts
Bay to Columbia River and he, because
he is an Engnshman, Will estaDnsn
English government and law, but he
will add something in spirit which en-
titles him to be called type of English
man. What, then, was this distinguish
ing mental quality? What, in other
words, was Puritanism? For an answer,
one must go to seventeenth century
England.
Too sharp a distinction has been
drawn between the Puritans who came
to America, and those who remained in
England, and too much emphasis has
been laid upon the purely religious ele-
ment in the Puritan's thought, dominat-
ing his life as it seemed to be. In
other words, Puritanism goes wider in
space and thought than has often beer
su1posed