But the gentry and men of means and the lawyers very soon took the lead in political affairs.

A larger proportion of these classes came from Virginia than was the case with the rest of the population, and they shared the eagerness and aptitude for political life generally shown by the leading families of Virginia.

In many cases they were kin to these families; not, however, as a rule, to the families of the tidewater region, the aristocrats of colonial days, but to the families--so often of Presbyterian Irish stock--who rose to prominence in western Virginia at the time of the Revolution.

In Kentucky all were mixed together, no matter from what State they came, the wrench of the break from their home ties having shaken them so that they readily adapted themselves to new conditions, and easily assimilated with one another.

As for their differences of race origin, these had ceased to influence their lives even before they came to Kentucky.