... Every thing in the colonies contributed to nourish a spirit of
liberty and independence. They were planted under the auspices of the
English constitution in its purity and vigor. Many of their inhabitants
had imbibed a largo portion of that spirit which brought one tyrant to
the block, and expelled another from his dominions. They were
communities of separate, independent individuals, for the most part
employed in cultivating a fruitful soil, and under no general influence
but of their own feelings and opinions; they were not led by powerful
families, or by great officers in church or state.... Every inhabitant
was, or easily might be, a freeholder. Settled on lands of his own, he
was both farmer and landlord. Having no superior to whom he was obliged
to look up, and producing all the necessaries of life from his own
grounds, he soon became independent. His mind was equally free from all
the restraints of superstition. No ecclesiastical establishment invaded
the rights of conscience, or lettered the free-born mind. At liberty to
act and think as his inclination prompted, he disdained the ideas of
dependence and subjection.
* * * * *
=_Henry Lee,[34] 1736-1818._=
From "Memoirs" of the War in the South.
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