False
They gave more power to the state powers.
Some of the similar physical features that Mexico (a country) and Kentucky (a State) shares are: both have borders formed by rivers, and are located over tectonic plates, that make both vulnerable to earthquakes. The main differences are the territory (Mexico almost 750 thousand sq mi whereas Kentucky 40 thousand sq mi), climate, topography, and biodiversity.
Their thoughts can't be hundred percent sure without the diaries but they had thoughts on how much hardship they would have to go through the trip across mountains and rocky paths, they also had to survive with minimal resources, so their thoughts on this was probably brave and rough trip, they had no clue if they were gonna survive or what was gonna happen, they territory was unknown.