This is a long shot but have you seen The Patriot starring Mel Gibson. I always wondered why my ancestors marched from southwest Virginia to King's Mtn in South Carolina to fight the Brits. They had been British subjects before settling in the Wilderness but I think the writer portrayed the Angst that existed on the frontier. Daniel Day Lewis in Last of the Mochigans was also a good example of how the pioneer's risked everything to settle their own land. However, ask the Indians who were displaced by the Colonists and you will get a totally different persective. It was the Time of the Gentiles and it was Manifest Destiny. Do you realize if Brigham Young had not colonized the WEST, American might have had a different shape. Many times the fate of this Nation hung in the balance of a few individuals who made a difference in their world. I fear that standard of living is dying or may already be dead. God Bless America! Phil