In the west,
and north of the Symmes tract, Kentuckians poured in by the
thousands.
Thus in a decade Ohio became a frontier melting-pot. Puritan,
Cavalier, Irishman, Scotch-Irishman, German--all were poured into
the crucible. Ideals clashed, and differing customs grated
harshly. But the product of a hundred years of cross-breeding was
a splendid type of citizenship. At the presidential inaugural
ceremonies of March 4, 1881, six men chiefly attracted the
attention of the crowd: the retiring President, Hayes; the
incoming President, Garfield; the Chief-Justice who administered
the oath, Waite; the general commanding the army, William T.
Sherman; the ex-Secretary of the Treasury, John Sherman; and "the
Marshal Ney of America," Lieutenant-General Sheridan. Five of the
six were natives of Ohio, and the sixth was a lifelong resident.
Men commented on the striking group and rightly remarked that it
could have been produced only by a singularly happy blending of
the ideas and ideals that form the warp and woof of Americanism.
Amalgamation, however, took time; for there were towering
prejudices and antipathies to be overcome.
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