It may be sound tradition not to judge a book by its cover, but this book deserves to be judged in the first instance by its title and subtitle. They fully express the unashamed admiration the author has for his subject. McCullough’s pioneers were heroes, because of what they did and how and why they did it. A pioneer, according to the standard dictionaries, is a person who goes before others to prepare or open up the way; one who begins, or takes part in beginning, some enterprise or course of action; an innovator, a forerunner. To this day, local sports teams in the Marietta area proudly call themselves “pioneers.” No one has passed a law against it yet. Christopher Columbus, the Puritans, Lewis and Clark, unnamed thousands in covered wagons on the Oregon Trail, generations of astronauts—all were pioneers. Venturing forth into unknown worlds is something that is essential to the West broadly speaking and to America and the American West. It is heroic partly because stepping into the unknown is intrinsically heroic. It takes courage—maybe even daring or recklessness—and a kind of intrepidity to walk, or sail, or fly away from all that is familiar into regions where everything that happens will depend on you and the elements, unknown forces, and luck. Even the “brought” of the title is powerful.
McCullough is a man of this West. He is a native of Pittsburgh, where a bridge is named after him. He is grateful that the pioneers brought the American way of life, defined by the American Ideal, to this wild country in place of whatever the uncertain alternatives might have been. This meant above all that slavery would be forever prohibited in this territory. It would be the home of the free. Bringing this American freedom to a large expanse that might otherwise have remained or become subjected to one form or other of despotism is what crowns the heroic accomplishments of the pioneers.
The story of America is precisely the heroic story of pioneers who bring the American ideal again and again to the West. In 1788, the West was the largely unknown country northwest of the Ohio River. The West would keep moving west, as the frontier receded. But West is not just an earthbound geographical direction; it is an idea. As we have been reminded this year, with pictures of Buzz Aldrin placing an American flag on the moon 50 years ago, the cosmos itself is the West. As long as Americans are American, as John Quincy Adams might say, they will extend the bounds of human knowledge and make their country instrumental in elevating the character and improving the condition of man on earth and even in the heavens. Or as Abraham Lincoln put it, the American principle of liberty for all gives hope and industry to all and is constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.