gular" church or preacher. Here again, the necessities of the
frontier made "democrats" of its occupants.

The most intense patriots are often ethnocentric and chauvinistic. The
Fair Play settlers were such patriots, according to one journalist.[23]
However, the patriotism of the eighteenth century had not reached the
level of concern for all mankind which finds expression today. The
pioneers of the West Branch were democrats in an age not yet conditioned
to democracy.

Temperance, particularly with regard to the use of spirited beverages,
usually implies abstinence, which is certainly not democratic if it is
applied in a formally imposed prohibition without any local option.
Abstinence by choice, however, is purely a matter of self-determination.
But in an area where drinking was a commonly accepted practice, such as
the frontier, the term signifies moderation. In the Fair Play territory
drinking, but not drunkenness, was condoned. The spirit of the frontier,
or the use of it, was not incompatible with democracy.

Frontier values, for the most part then, were democratic in tendency.
Noteworthy for their attitude of community cooperation and mutual
helpfulness, supported by a faith which could not afford to be
exclusive, temperate in their personal habits, particularly in the use
of alcohol, the patriots of the Fair Play territory looked to a future
filled with promise and opportunity for all the diverse elements of
their society. This is the democracy which the frontier nurtured. It
flourished in the West Branch Valley.

In summary then, was self-determination the central theme in the Fair
Play territory? Did the Fair Play settlers truly determine their own
political, economic, and social institutions? The available data suggest
that they did.

The democracy of the Fair Play settlers encompassed popular sovereignty,
political equality, popular consultation, majority rule, religious
freedom, an open class structure, free land, free labor, and a value
system whose dominating feature was mutual helpfulness. The democracy of
Fair Play was basically the fair play of democracy.

Observable in this atmosphere were the traits of a developing American
character, traits which the frontier historian, Frederick Jackson
Turner, defined as democratic.[24] These included the composite
nationality of a population of mixed national origins; the self-reliance
which the new experience of the frontier developed; the independence,
b