Summary

In Chapter 7, Tom was appointed to respected role of road surveyor in 1816. He was respected for being “a citizen and taxpayer of that community” (52). The community was interested in modernizing their settlement. Yet the community’s law was corrupt, and Tom was skeptical he would be allowed to keep his land. The law claimed settlers in Kentucky “had the wrong kind of papers” (53). Tom had to go to court to prove he owned and was paying taxes on his land, which he won. As slaves were brought into the community, poor white men were not the first-choice employees of land owners. They developed a hostility toward the slaves, who the poor settlers thought were taking their resources. Meanwhile, the state of Indiana was admitted into the United States. The state law declared slavery to be illegal. Word traveled to Hardin County, and thus Tom...