Now political slang expressing exchange of support upon favored legislation, the word “logrolling” found its birth in an honorable custom among neighboring American frontiersmen establishing a new settlement.
A house of some sort was, of necessity, the first consideration.
It might be temporary and of rude construction. But as soon as opportunity permitted, a site was selected for a permanent home.
For warmth, as well as protection against marauding Indians, such homes were erected from the trunks of trees cleared from land to be used in later planting, log cabins or log houses.
And for mutual assistance, neighbor would assist neighbor in bringing logs to the site and erecting the walls.
This mutual assistance constituted logrolling.
