Summary

While in the “pole-shed” on Little Pigeon Creek, Abe used his imagination in Chapter 10 (72). He could close his eyes and see the family’s land, and he imagined the Bible verses. He also wondered, while looking into the winter night, what happened beyond the family’s solitary life in Indiana. During the year 1816, 16,000 covered wagons traveled westward (74). Steamboats were traveling to Kentucky and connecting ports via the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Fighting between the settlers and the Natives continued, and 8,000,000,000 of the former fought to “clear the Great Plains” for settlement (74). Lewis and Clark returned to Washington in 1805, and Europeans were traveling by the millions to America for its religious freedom—mostly Christian denominations. Both 50,000 convicts and about 1,500 indentured servants also came to America, and travelers of all kinds faced harsh conditions. The Napoleonic Empire fell, bolstering the enthusiasm of democracy, and America bought...