. Historic towns of the Southern States. sought the West, conscious of theirstrength, burning with ambition, each dream-ing that he would be the master-spirit of thenew empire that was springing from the wil-derness. When they found that instead ofbeing unquestioned leaders among ignorantfrontiersmen they were pitted against foemen Little Rock 547 worthy of their steel, and equally determinedto rule the destinies of the infant common-wealth, the rivalries were fierce, the animosi-ties bitter, the struggle in-tense. Politicsran high, andconflicting am-bitions led to adegree of per-sonal
. Historic towns of the Southern States. sought the West, conscious of theirstrength, burning with ambition, each dream-ing that he would be the master-spirit of thenew empire that was springing from the wil-derness. When they found that instead ofbeing unquestioned leaders among ignorantfrontiersmen they were pitted against foemen Little Rock 547 worthy of their steel, and equally determinedto rule the destinies of the infant common-wealth, the rivalries were fierce, the animosi-ties bitter, the struggle in-tense. Politicsran high, andconflicting am-bitions led to adegree of per-sonal virulencein writing andin speech sur-pass i n g any-thing that wehave t o-d a theseyoung men firstmet, fire flashedas when flintand steel are struck together, and in the ter-ritorial days their quarrels were too oftensolved by the duel. After the admission ofthe State in 1836 affairs became more tran-quil. The strong men gradually learned todwell together in peace ; but their rivalries,though less bloody, were not less ALBERT PIKE. 548 Little Rock All parts of the country contributed theirquota. From Massachusetts there came per-haps the two ablest men, Chester Ashley and Albert Pike, menwho would havebeen remarkablein any age orplace. Connect-icut sent SamuelH. Hempstead ;Virginia, HenryW, Conway andSolon Borland ;Kentucky, theStates most ac-complished ora-tors, RobertCrittenden andFrederick nail, be-sides William and Ebenezer Cummins andGeorge C. Watkins ; North Carolina, Archi-bald Yell; Tennessee, Absalom Fowler andAmbrose H. Sevier; and there were manyothers from various sections worthy to enterthe same arena. And not at home alone were the great
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectcitiesandtowns, booky
