Two cities were built upon the plains that spring as two societies grappled for control of the newly settled soil. Two men led their people in the building and two differing visions of the Good guided them. Each was as different from the other as night is from day and they stood poles apart. There were only a few miles of distance between them, but they might as well have existed in two different countries. Each regarded the other with cold suspicion and looked forward to the final settling of accounts.
To the north lay the city of Adams. There the desire to live in closer harmony with one’s God and one’s fellow man drew many from New England far away. Their leader was a man of words. Through his words he drew them in, he lifted them up, and he brought them closer together. No one in Adams saw the need for elections or courts, as Jacob had wisdom enough to guide them and mediate their disputes. The city appeared as a wheel upon the prairie, moving ever closer towards it’s destiny.
To the east people built their homes. Each was as unique and beautiful as the people living within them, and each was crafted with loving care and with help from neighbors. They stood on land that was once forested, and while many trees were cut down for the building many were also left standing. The people sought to live with the land rather than on it, and many tree-lined boulevards connected one to the other.
To the west the people tilled the soil and brought their daily bread up from the good Earth. Walking out from east to west on would first encounter the barns73 and storehouses that brought the land in to the people, and then the stables and blacksmith shops that brought the people out to the land. Beyond that lay rows of corn and vegetables and endless golden fields of grain. Beyond that grazed cattle and horses. Many people of Adams hailed from the crowded cities of the eastern seaboard, and more than a few were quite taken with the giddy freedom they found in riding out on the prairie to keep watch over their herds. Beyond that lay the open plains and the continuing call to adventure.
To the north the people built their places of business. The Northern traditions of industry and mercantilism were reflected in banks and bureaus; in workshops and warehouses. There were bakeries and barbershops. There were newspapers and neighborhood associations. There was a mutual aid society to help the recently resettled. There were printing presses dedicated to faithfully reproducing every speech, every sermon, every word that passed from the lips of the man who had become their leader. Close to the city center was a stage where many famous abolitionists came to encourage them. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe herself had come by to praise their works to the sky and urge them to stand firm against the scourge of slavery.
To the south the people built their defenses. There were no walls, as Adams was an open city. However, one could quite easily tell that the people here lived under the constant threat of danger. Walking in from south to north one would first encounter earthworks and rifle pits. Here the men shouldered arms and stood their posts. Beyond that lay armories and the parade ground. Here the local militia drilled and passed in review. Every male citizen of Adams did his duty for the defense of their fair city.
At the center of it all lay Jacob’s church. It’s steeple rose up to the sky like the hub of the wheel; like the desire of the people to climb closer towards the Heavens. From it led four roads in the four cardinal directions like the spokes of the wheel. Through the city ran a stream of crisp, clear water. It brought nourishment and life to the people, and it was good. For the pilgrims who had come to Adams, it was the best of times.
To the south lay the city of Jefferson. Here the promise of getting ahead drew many from Missouri nearby. This was a city laid out like a patchwork quilt, with various elements scattered here and there without very much thought, planning, or coordination put into the building. In shape it resembled a box; so much so that a visitor might be led to wonder if all of the guns were there to keep people out or to keep people in. Elections were the first order of business so that the rank structure might be clearly defined. But it was an election in name only, as there was but one mayoral candidate. No one dared run against Master Jones for fear that the well of gold might run dry.
On the perimeter of the city the wealthier residents of Jefferson built their plantations with hopes of keeping up with the Joneses. They were invited to his parties and balls. They served as city councilmen and judges. They bent over backwards to imitate their Master in every way. Indeed, it would appear that when Jones sneezed they all caught cold. Their mansions were all made of ticky-tacky and they all looked just the same.
In the more central regions of the settlement the less wealthy residents of Jefferson built their cabins, shanties and lean-tos. For many who lived here the forty acres of land Jones had given every family was the first they had ever owned. Those who could afford slaves brought them of course, and while most did not they eagerly looked forward to the day when they could advance their station in life. There were many slaves at the Jones plantation who could be rented for just pennies a day, and this seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheap labor brought with it the promise of plenty. And they were promised even more to come once the northern portion of the territory was opened up to settlement by right-thinking people. The dream of getting rich quick brought in hordes of people with dollar signs in their eyes, but for those who labored in that dream’s name it was the worst of times.
South and north, slave-owning and free-thinking; the two cities stood in diametric opposition to one another. One plutocracy and one theocracy; one come from Missouri to build their fortunes and the other come from Massachusetts to build a shining city on a hill. One valued competition and the other valued cooperation. But like most identical twins, when they looked at one another they saw only their differences and not their similarities. And it was their similarities much more so than their differences that inevitably drew them into conflict with one another. Each was arrogant. Each was convinced that they knew the one right way for everybody to live. And each had vowed to wipe the other right off the map by any means necessary.