If you ever tried to walk on a fallen tree log, you understand what the expression means.

VOA: special.2009.06.07

A number of men, as one historian has written, I think quite effectively, "Mounted from log cabin to mansion" and I quote "On a stairway of cotton bales accumulating slaves as they went."

一些人就像一位历史学家写的那样,我觉得非常犀利,引述一段,"小木屋通往大厦的阶梯正是由,奴隶们用棉花包堆积成的"

耶鲁公开课 - 美国内战与重建课程节选

It is easier to fall off the log than to stay on it.

VOA: special.2009.06.07