Locally, the rotational system of the Fair Play tribunal and the frequent changes in the composition of the Committee of Safety give rise to the conclusion that political democracy, in the sense of active participation in public office, was truly a characteristic of the Fair Play territory. Nine different men served on the three-man Committee of Safety from February of 1776 to February of 1777, three new members being elected semi-annually. Except for the two or three years following the Great Runaway, the three members of the Fair Play tribunal were elected annually.
In conclusion, then, what can be said regarding the leadership of the Fair Play settlers? Except for the dangers from Indian hostility, which were compounded by the settlers' limited manpower, the leadership was more than adequate, one might say eminently successful, in meeting the needs of the frontier. It enacted law, interpreted it, and saw to it that the law was carried out on every political level with which the West Branch pioneers had contact. In short, it gave them a government of, by, and for themselves. This was _real_ representation by spokesmen of a small community, very different from _virtual_ representation in a distant Parliament, from which their independence had now been declared.
[1] Edwin MacMinn, _On the Frontier with Colonel Antes_ (Camden, N. J., 1900). This book is a mosaic of primary and secondary sources dealing with the entire area, rather than a standard biographical treatment of its particular subject.
[2] Merle Curti, _The Making of an American Community: A Case Study of Democracy in a Frontier County_ (Stanford, 1959), pp. 417-441. This entire fifteenth chapter is devoted to both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of "leadership."
[3] Wealth, i.e., liquid assets, was not necessarily a criterion on this agrarian frontier, where a man's assets were not easily convertible into cash. Hence, property was the main economic source of value.
[4] The records of the first State and county officers are found in the _Pennsylvania Archives_, Second Series, III, 768-772, and John Blair Linn, _Annals of Buffalo Valley_ (Harrisburg, 1877), pp. 558-563. Some data are also available in Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties_.