To Anglo- Americans in the nineteenth century the "West" was a migratory concept, continually being relocated as the next geographical region beyond white settlement. At the turn of the century the "uninhabited" frontierthough home to some 120,000 Native Americanswas the area between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. Waves of migration swept into the region from two primary directions: settlers| from the Upper South and Middle Atlantic states streamed across the mountains into Kentucky, Tennessee, and southern Ohio, and impoverished New Englanders pushed into western New York and northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois territories. Migrants carried their religious background with them to their new homes, but settlement had to reach a certain density before pious inclinations could be expressed corporately. Although the rudiments of survival distracted from institution building, churches often took priority because they served multiple functions as vital centers for secular fellowship.....
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