or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty
of their crimes,--some organization which should have the sanction of
the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the
language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court,
taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs
would admit."

The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of
their number to draft articles of association for the management of the
colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson)
were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate
upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures
having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of
the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things
were to be settled."

These articles of association were the first compact of civil government
anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years
prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree
outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple government thus
established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for
several years following.

Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during
which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its
borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to
Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the
depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were
reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of
established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new