The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

David McCullough examines the settlement of the Northwest Territory, the vast wilderness northwest of the Ohio River that would become Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Following the Treaty of Paris, this land was opened to Revolutionary War veterans and their families. Massachusetts minister Manasseh Cutler played a key role in this effort, and the Northwest Ordinance established three conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and the prohibition of slavery. In 1788, the first group of pioneers departed New England under General Rufus Putnam, a Revolutionary War veteran, and settled in what is now Marietta on the Ohio River's banks. McCullough tells this story through five major figures: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler's son Ephraim; a carpenter-turned-architect; and a physician who became prominent in American science. The account draws heavily from diaries and letters written by these key figures. The narrative describes how these settlers crossed rivers, cleared forests, plowed land, and endured significant hardships to establish a community based on ideals that would shape the nation.