The author of a recent case study of democracy in a frontier county
commented on the need for this kind of investigation.[1] Cognizant of
the fact that a number of valuable histories of American communities
have been written, he noted that few of them deal explicitly with the
actual relation of frontier experience to democracy:

No one seems to have studied microscopically a given area that
experienced transition from wilderness to settled community with the
purpose of determining how much democracy, in Turner's sense,
existed initially in the first phase of settlement, during the
process itself, and in the period that immediately followed.

This research encompasses the first two stages of that development and
includes tangential references to the third stage.

The geography of the Fair Play territory has been confused for almost
two centuries. The conclusions of this analysis will not prove too
satisfying to those who unquestioningly accept and revere the old local
legends. However, it will be noted that these conclusions are based upon
the accounts of journalists and diarists rather than hearsay. This
should put the controversial "question of the Tiadaghton" to rest.

A statistical analysis has been made as a significant part of the
demography of the Fair Play settlers. However, limitations in data may
raise some questions regarding the validity of the conclusions.
Nevertheless, the national and ethnic origins of these settlers, their
American sources of emigration, the periods of immigration, the reasons
for migration, and population stability and mobility have all been
investigated. The result offers some surprises when compared with the
trends of the time--in the Province and throughout the colonies.

The _politics_ of Fair Play is the principal concern of this entire
study--appropriately, it was from their political system that these
frontiersmen derived their unusual name. This was not the only group to
use the name, however. Another "fair play system" existed in
southwestern Pennsylvania during the same period, and perhaps a similar
study can be made of those pioneers and their life. As for the Fair Play
community of the West Branch, we know about its political structure
through the cases subsequently reviewed by established courts of the
Commonwealth. From these cases, we have reconstructed a "code" of
operation which demonstrates certain democratic tendencies.

In addition to studyi