"That's right, each of our families has at least a hundred acres of land, but we can only train the most fertile parts, making it impossible to farm completely.
The boys in the family are still young; once they grow older, we'll have more land to train, and the crops can be managed properly, yielding a large amount of grain.
Then we can sell grain, buy slaves, and continue to clear and train land; things will gradually improve."
Phil, the sharpshooter, was a rather refined middle-aged man.
The process he described for building wealth was, in fact, the most traditional way for early immigrants to get rich.
In a few more years, as barren land became scarcer and privatized, and land prices rose, the remaining land would indeed not be worth developing, making it impossible to get rich this way again.
"Hmm! This is a very good development strategy.
However, don't you think that in such an unstable period, we would all be safer together?
If there's no security, let alone waiting for the children to grow up, even protecting our own lives and property would be difficult.
So I believe that the first thing to consider right now is everyone's safety," Charles suggested.
"Are you suggesting we move into Pittsburgh?" Antoine asked, confused.
"No! Although Pittsburgh is safe, it lacks resources.
If you move there, it would only cause supply difficulties for them, and that wouldn't solve the problem; instead, it would put you in a new predicament.
On the contrary, Scarlet Manor is very large, and food is very abundant.
My suggestion is that you can move your families to Scarlet Manor, where they will be taken care of by the Manor, and you can then free yourselves to organize a self-defense force."
Charles' proposal had a very clear rationale.
"Only this way can you both protect your families and protect Scarlet Manor; it's a win-win method."
If it were in the past, with Charles' generous show of goodwill, Antoine and the others might have suspected that Charles wanted to annex their land.
But now, it was proposed under the righteous name of organizing a self-defense force, making it impossible for them to think that way.
Moreover, what he said later was very practical; Charles wasn't just giving favors for no reason.
He was primarily looking to protect himself and, in doing so, incidentally protecting the families of these protectors.
"This… this is too great a cost for you," Antoine said sincerely.
"No, of course, I have an attached condition.
To form a self-defense force, support from Philadelphia is indispensable.
We must send representatives to Philadelphia to participate in the State Assembly, and even the Continental Congress.
So, in a few days, we plan to gather the residents of Pittsburgh to hold a meeting and elect representatives.
And my attached condition is that when Pittsburgh holds its general assembly, you support me as Speaker, representing Pittsburgh to attend the assembly and the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Of course, in return, I will recommend and appoint Antoine as the commander of the self-defense force," Charles said with a smile, stating an idea he had just come up with.
He had originally only intended to visit Philadelphia, make connections, and hadn't realized he needed to go in a private or other specific capacity.
But just now, he suddenly had a new idea: to go as an elected representative.
Although he didn't believe that democracy was highly valued in North America at this time, at least a semi-official status would certainly facilitate his work in Philadelphia.
And a very important point was that ordinary North Americans, and even many high-ranking members of the Independence Party, had no real concept of democracy in their hearts.
However, ideological leaders of the war of Independence like Jefferson and Washington highly valued democracy and public opinion.
Appearing as an elected official would at least earn him a certain degree of their respect.
These militiamen reacted very strongly to Charles' suggestion.
"Elect a Speaker? Mr. Godfrey, can we do that?" the old man looked a little worried.
"Of course, Mister.
We are all property owners, and according to the rules left by the 'Mayflower Compact,' God grants us, the governed, the power to make covenants with our governors.
Electing representatives is a means of making covenants with our governors; this is a power granted to us by God," Charles said, acting like a passionate young man.
In 1620, after sixty-six days of wandering at sea, the Mayflower approached the North American landmass.
The 102 passengers on board were originally headed for the Hudson River estuary, but due to severe storms at sea, they missed their target and anchored in Provincetown Harbor, off Cape Cod.
As it was already late autumn, they decided to land there instead of continuing their voyage.
And because they were no longer going to a territory for which they held a patent, in order to establish a basis for self-governance where everyone would be bound, they signed a compact before disembarking.
About one-third of these passengers were members of the english Separatist Church, who had previously negotiated an agreement with the Virginia Company in London, which authorized them to settle and govern themselves in any chosen area within the company's vast lands.
Forty-one male passengers signed this compact on the ship.
In this document, later known as the Mayflower Compact, the signatories vowed to create a self-governing body, founded on the consent of the governed, and to be ruled by law.
This compact was signed by every head of household, every adult single man, and most of the hired men on the Mayflower.
Both Separatist and non-Separatist settlers participated in the signing.
Women did not have political rights at the time, so they were not asked to sign.
Those who signed the compact formed the self-governing body of the Plymouth Colonies, which had the power to elect officials, pass laws, and admit new voting members.
The compact reached on that ship laid the foundation for self-governance and the rule of law in the New Continent.
American colonization began with the idea that citizens in a society could freely associate and agree to govern themselves by enacting laws beneficial to all.
Later known as the spirit of the Mayflower Compact, it was listed as one of the most important founding documents of the United States and was widely recognized by North Americans.
These old militiamen were even more purely North American than Charles.
Hearing Charles mention the spirit of the Mayflower, they immediately recognized that they indeed possessed this power.
However, some still had other questions:
"But Pittsburgh only has so few people; all the property owners combined are only about a hundred.
Even if a hundred representatives elect a Speaker, will others respect our election?"
"Whether or not he is respected by others, that is the concern of the elected person."
Charles' single sentence brought a smile to everyone else's faces.
Indeed, for this matter, they only needed to vote; other issues were none of their concern.
"But what about our own properties?
If we all move to Scarlet Manor, then the land and houses will be left unmanaged," old Sherman, who had the most questions, asked.
"Your land holdings can also be converted into value and merged into my land, and we can jointly organize a company for development.
As for the houses, if you still want to return to live in them, of course, they don't need to be moved.
If you don't want them, I can buy them at a reasonable price later," Charles did not hold back and stated his demands directly and openly.
His main objective was clearly the land in these people's hands, but by stating it so directly now, it actually made the old militiamen believe that this was not the main point.
It caused Antoine and the others to automatically focus their consideration on electing a representative and whether or not to become the commander of the self-defense force.
In their hearts, they also understood that as long as they decided to join the self-defense force, their land would be left unmanaged, and it would naturally be logical to merge it into Scarlet Manor.
Forming a self-defense force was, after all, a major undertaking, not only related to their own safety but also requiring arrangements for their property.
Although they discussed until very late, Antoine and the others did not immediately make a decision, planning to go back and discuss it with the other families.
Charles did not pressure them; he was waiting for these people to convey the news to the families whose men had joined the Continental army.
In fact, these families all had men at home, so even if natives came to harass them, while safety couldn't be guaranteed, they at least had some self-defense capability.
However, those families whose men had gone to war had no fighting power at home and were completely unable to resist harassment.
Therefore, they might be the families most strongly demanding relocation at that time.
Whether they chose to relocate to Pittsburgh or to Scarlet Manor, they would certainly concede on the land issue.
As for why he strongly invited them to live in Scarlet Manor, it was mainly because he felt it would make solving the land issue easier, and at the same time, he genuinely felt that the Manor's security should be strengthened.
Although Jonathan had mentioned that his family now had over five hundred slaves, the firearms and other weapons he had were limited, making it impossible to fully arm them, and they actually didn't have much combat capability.
If those natives had British firearms, a few hundred slaves armed with wooden spears and wooden guns would absolutely be unable to cope.
However, with those experienced old militiamen, and with a portion of musketeers under the command of these experienced veterans, even just a few slaves could completely resist an attack by several hundred natives.