Occasionally an emigrant brought with him a slave or two:  these were rich, and invariably were the leading men in the communities.  Those from Virginia were more frequently possessed of this species of property than those from the Carolinas, and, coming from an older country, had generally enjoyed better opportunities and were more cultivated.  A common necessity harmonized all, and the state of society was a pure democracy.  These communities were usually from twenty to fifty miles apart, and about them a nucleus was formed, inviting those who sought the new country for a home to locate in the immediate vicinity.  Security and the enjoyment of social intercourse were more frequently the incentives for these selections than the fertility of the soil or other advantages.  One peculiarity was observable, which their descendants, in their emigration to the West, continue to this day to practise:  they usually came due west from their former homes, and were sure to select, as nearly as possible, a new one in the same parallel, and with surroundings as nearly like those they had left as possible.  With the North Carolinian, good spring-water, and pine-knots for his fire, were the sine qua non.  These secured, he went to work with the assiduity and perseverance of a beaver to build his house and open his fields.  The Virginians, less particular, but more ambitious, sought the best lands for grain and tobacco; consequently they were more diffused, and their improvements, from their superior wealth, were more imposing.

Wealth in all communities is comparative, and he who has only a few thousand dollars, where no one else has so much, is the rich man, and ever assumes the rich man’s prerogatives and bearing.  All experience has proved that as a man estimates himself, so in time will the community esteem him; and he who assumes to lead or dictate will soon be permitted to do so, and will become the first in prominence and influence in his neighborhood, county, or State.  Greatness commences humbly and progresses by assumption.  The humble ruler of a neighborhood, like a pebble thrown into a pond, will continue to increase the circle of his influence until it reaches the limits of his county.  The fathers speak of him, the children hear of him, his name is a household word; if he but assumes enough, in time he becomes the great man of the county; and if with impudence he unites a modicum of talent, well larded with a cunning deceit, it will not be long before he is Governor or member of Congress.  It is not surprising, then, that in nearly every one of these communities the great man was a Virginian.  It has been assumed by the Virginians that they have descended from a superior race, and this may be true as regards many families whose ancestors were of Norman descent; but it is not true of the mass of her population; and for one descendant from the nobility and gentry of the mother country, there are thousands of pure Anglo-Saxon blood.