Old Virginia and her neighbours

THE CAROLINA FRONTIER. 319donald, who had doue so much for the young fugitiveprince. But more important and far morenumerous than all the other elements in the populationwere the Scotch-Irish from Ulster, who —goaded by unwise and unjust laws — began comingin large numbers about 1719, and have played amuch greater and more extensive part in Americanhistory than has yet been recognized. There washardly one of the thirteen colonies upon whichthese Scotch-Irish did not leave their^^'® Scotch-Irish immigration.mark, lo the story of their commg i1 m 1r 1 • •T1• 1 n ITshall revert m my concluding chapter,where it forms the most important part of thestory of the westward advance of Virginia. Forthe present it may suffice to point out that in NorthCarolina they had come, before the RevolutionaryWar, to be the strongest element in the populationof the colony. Under the influence of these variousand excellent streams of immigration, the characterof the colony was gradually but effectivelyaltered. Industry and thrift came to prevail inthe wilderness, and various earnest Puritanic typesof religion flourished side by side on friendlyterms.As society in North Carolina became more andmore orderly and civilized, the old mean white element,or at least the more intractable part of it, wassrradually pushed out to the westward.Displace-This stream that had started from Old mentandVirginia flowed for a while southwestward persai of„ , /-, , poor whites.T Iinto the South Carolina back-country.But the southerly movement was gradually turnedmore and more to the westward.