y giving to each little community responsibility
for, and power in, matters concerning its own welfare; but the
backwoodsmen lived so scattered out, and the thinly-settled regions
covered so large an extent of territory, that the county was at first in
some ways more suited to their needs. Moreover, it was the unit of
organization in Virginia, to which State more than to any other the
pioneers owed their social and governmental system. The people were
ordinarily brought but little in contact with the Government. They were
exceedingly jealous of their individual liberty, and wished to be
interfered with as little as possible. Nevertheless, they were fond of
litigation. One observer remarks that horses and lawsuits were their
great subjects of conversation. [Footnote: Michaux, p. 240.]

The Lawyers and Clergymen Forced to Much Travel.

The vast extent of the territory and the scantiness of the population
forced the men of law, like the religious leaders, to travel about rather
than stay permanently fixed in any one place. In a few towns there were
lawyers and clergymen who had permanent homes; but as a rule both rode
circuits. The judges and the lawyers travelled together on the circuits,
to hold court. At the Shire-town all might sleep in one room, or at
least under one roof; and it was far from an unusual thing to see both
the grand and petty juries sitting under trees in the open. [Footnote:
Atwater, p. 177.]

Power to Combine among the Frontiersmen.

The fact that the Government did so little for the individual and left
so much to be done by him rendered it necessary for the individuals
voluntarily to combine. Huskings and house-raisings were times when all
joined freely to work for the man whose corn men was to be shucked or
whose log cabin was to be built, and turned their labor into a frolic
and merrymaking, where the men drank much whiskey and the young people
danced vigorously to the sound of the fiddle. Such merry-makings were
attended from far and near, offering a most welcome break to the
dreariness of life on the lonely clearings in the midst of the forest.
Ordinarily the frontiersman at his home only drank milk or water; but at
the taverns and social gatherings there was much drunkenness, for the
men craved whiskey, drinking the fiery liquor in huge draughts. Often
the orgies ended with brutal brawls. To outsiders the craving of the
backwoodsman for whiskey was one of his least attractive traits.