The Significance of the Frontier in American History
Frederick Jackson Turner with these exact words, "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development." laid the basis for modern historical study of the American West and presented a essay that remains to inspire historical views to this very day. Turner believed that American democracy, nationalism, individualism, and physical and social structures can be directly linked to the frontier and its expansion. Turner's essay reached heights in his belief that the promotion of individualistic democracy was the most important effect of the frontier. These individuals formed political, social, economic structures that were already established in the east but with more independence and individualism from there European counterparts. "But the most important effect of the frontier has been in the promotion of democracy here and in Europe. As has been indicated, the frontier is productive of individualism. Complex society is precipitated by the wilderness into a kind of primitive organization based on the family. The tendency is anti-social. It produces antipathy to control, and particularly to any direct control." Individuals, forced to rely on thei
r own wits and strength, he believed, were simply too good to be associated with the European way of thinking anymore. Turner argues that the best way to understand American history is to study the settlement of the continent: "Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West." I believe Turner's frontier thesis is a solid essay for its time, but looking back at it right now, I think it has a great number of contradictions within itself. This essay was interesting to read, don't get me wrong but, I believe Turner based much of his evidence exclusively on conjecture. I do agree that the frontier expansion of America was the leading cause of the "American way" it is today, I just believe that you need to also include things such as the influence the Native Americans had on our thinking, and way of life. Some of his arguments are very loosely substantiated, and he often relied on popular ideas of that time, and he even romanticized the expansion of the west to appeal to his audience during that particular era. I believe he certainly downplayed that the slavery and harsh treatment of Native Americans to comfort the American national ideology of the expansion of the west. It seems that he doesn't feel that showing that the Native American Indian contributions to the pioneer and the American way were very much influential to the American way of life of today, which was very much absent in his essay. "The most significant thing about the American frontier is, that it lies at the hither edge of free land." I believe that the very ide
Some common words found in the essay are:
American Indian, Native Americans, American West, Indian Wars, Jackson Turner, Pioneers Europeans, free land, Free Land, native americans, Native American, expansion west, american history, effect frontier, frontier expansion, indian frontier, turner's essay, established east, native american,
Approximate Word count = 1081
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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