nst it by large war bands; and in the thickly settled
regions life went on as usual. But the outlying neighborhoods were badly
punished, and the county lieutenants were clamorous in their appeals for
aid to the Governor of Virginia. They wrote that so many settlers had
been killed on the frontier that the others had either left their
clearings and fled to the interior for safety, or else had gathered in
the log forts, and so were unable to raise crops for the support of
their families. Militia guards and small companies of picked scouts were
kept continually patrolling the exposed regions near the Ohio, but the
forays grew fiercer, and the harm done was great. [Footnote: State Dept.
MSS., No. 71, vol. ii., pp. 561, 563.] In their anger the Kentuckians
denounced the Federal Government for not aiding them, the men who were
loudest in their denunciations being the very men who were most
strenuously bent on refusing to adopt the new Constitution, which alone
could give the National Government the power to act effectually in the
interest of the people.

Ratification of the Federal Constitution.

While the spirit of unrest and discontent was high, the question of
ratifying or rejecting this new Federal Constitution came up for
decision. The Wilkinson party, and all the men who believed in a weak
central government, or who wished the Federal tie dissolved outright,
were, of course, violently opposed to ratification. Many weak or
short-sighted men, and the doctrinaires and theorists--most of the
members of the Danville political club, for instance--announced that
they wished to ratify the Constitution, but only after it had been
amended. As such prior amendment was impossible, this amounted merely to
playing into the hands of the separatists; and the men who followed it
were responsible for the by no means creditable fact that most of the
Kentucky members in the Virginia convention voted against ratification.
Three of them, however, had the patriotism and foresight to vote in
favor of the Constitution.

Further Delay.

Another irritating delay in the march toward statehood now occurred. In
June, 1788, the Continental Congress declared that it was expedient to
erect Kentucky into a state. [Footnote: State Dep. MSS., No. 20, vol.
i., p. 341 etc.] But immediately afterwards news came that the
Constitution had been ratified by the necessary nine States, and that
the new government was, therefore, practically in being.