 because it recalls the spirit more than the culture of times past. The sleek, tinseled folk dances performed in the United States reflect the core of the American personality. Rhythm, crisp, measured motion, any observer new to the country, tends to consider this tempo erratic. Nerves centered on modern gadgets, schedules, clocks, and dissonant city noises. But the American drive to be on the move, to stretch and grow, solidified itself into the national character as early as the 1780s. This was a momentous decade, one marked by the unification of the original 13 states, which formed a foundation for the expansion which was to follow clear across the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean. Creative thought and the invention of the cotton gin expanded the cotton fields of the South into vast acres of productivity and prosperity. The busy North and the gentle South joined in a mutual bond of commercial growth. Year by year, new states joined the union. More cotton, grain, salt, meat, and sugarcane floated along the Mississippi River to the New Orleans markets. To accommodate the growing demands of a busy republic, the rafts laden with cargo gave way to larger comfortable carriers called riverboats. As interstate travel became more comfortable, it became fashionable. The commercial riverboats became showboats as minstrels appeared, entertainers bringing to the North a view of Negro songs, humor, and dances. Such performances developed the original American folk dance and is performed today with a variety of struts and stances. Separating the North and the West gave way to roadbeds of steel and accelerated trade in a new direction. The South pursued its cotton economy. But the West had land and then word of the discovery of gold in the American West brought fortune seekers from all parts of the world. Cutting new trails far beyond the railroads in wooden wagons and on horseback. The wagon trains traveled deep into the heart of the ancient tribal life of the American Indian. Involving him in a wave of the future he could not comprehend. The Indian first met the newcomer with violence. Soon learned craftier ways of besting him. Was the exercise of skill exhibited in breaking a high spirited coat into controlled obedience to its owner. When the wagon trains were still for the night, folk songs from the old world were recalled with fond sentiment. And new ones told of toils encountered in conquering the plains. On festive occasions pioneer wagon dwellers gathered around the campfire and another folk dance Americana was originated. It is performed today as the hoedown. In the 1960s more land was brought under cultivation than in all the previous history of the United States. During the same period the population of the nation more than doubled. The tempo of business kept pace with this growth. The search for quick, efficient methods brought forth an era of ingenuity. Mechanical processes began to enlarge business operations. A communication system linked distant parts of the continent. A steady succession of inventions accelerated the social and economic life of the nation. The horseless carriage was introduced. It proved to be the beginning of an industrial giant. The chapter of big business began in the United States. Industrial expansion followed the route the pioneers had established. The country began to take on sectional identities. The stock exchange became synonymous with New York. Fishing villages meant New England. Steele, Pittsburgh. Lumber, the Northwest Territory. The span from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific had been accomplished. Sociologically and economically, prosperity was the keynote. The young country, like youth in all forms, was exuberant, lighthearted, energetic. The spirit of the times, the 1920s, was clear in a popular dance of the day called the Charleston. It was danced with zest. And today is a favorite in any repertoire of folk dances in the United States. But one had to be quite young and limber to execute it. And the style never found its way into the archives of American folk dance. Another, more sedate dance, called the Lambert Dance. The Lambert Dance. The Lambert Dance. The Lambert Dance. The American Folk Dance. Another, more sedate dance, called the Lambert Walk, was more indicative of the new calm that had just begun to settle around America. But it, too, failed to register itself into any repertoire of dance. Two had its problems worldwide. America was to experience in every little town, every geographic section, every category of living, a sense of responsibility, not only to its domestic welfare, but to the welfare of people in cities, towns, and countries spanning the globe. The network of communications saw television become a mass educator as well as a mass entertainer. Hours of TV documentary and discussion were broken with nostalgic reenactments of days when physical durability was the prime requirement. The legendary West provided a seemingly endless source of material Americana. The folk dance with a story is a style evolved from techniques first tried by Hollywood, further advanced by theatrical musicals, and brought full circle as a mass expression by TV in the 50s. The tale reliving the trials of the pioneer villain facing pioneer justice has become firmly entered in the records of past eras through dance.