What is the significance of the frontier thesis in American history?
". The Significance of the Frontier in American History " is a seminal essay by the American historian Frederick Jackson Turner which advanced the Frontier Thesis of American history. It was presented to a special meeting of the American Historical Association at...
Who was Wisconsin's historian of the frontier?
1Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," in Martin Ridge, ed., Frederick Jackson Turner: Wisconsin's Historian of the Frontier (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986).
When was the frontier in American History published?
Editor's Note: Please note, this is a short version of the essay subsequently published in Turner's essay collection, The Frontier in American History (1920).
What is the word count of the significance of the frontier?
Word Count: 447 "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" was written by Frederick Jackson Turner, delivered as a conference paper at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in 1893, and published in that organization's Annual Report . There is much to this essay, which in many ways marks the...
Who said The Significance of the Frontier in American History?
from Johns Hopkins University in 1890. Turner was only 32 years old when he presented his historic thesis, 'The Significance of the Frontier in American History' to a group of fellow historians in Chicago in 1893.
Where was The Significance of the Frontier in American History written?
This text is closer to the original version delivered at the 1893 meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, published in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1893, pp. 197-227.
When was The Significance of the Frontier in American History written?
It was presented to a special meeting of the American Historical Association at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, and published later that year first in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, then in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association.
Who wrote a thesis about the frontier?
The Frontier thesis was formulated 1893, when American historian Frederick Jackson Turner theorized that the availability of unsettled land throughout much of American history was the most important factor determining national development.
What were 3 significant effects of the frontier in American history?
What were 3 significant effects of the frontier in American History? They were beliefs in individualism, political democracy, and economic mobility.
Why was Turner's thesis significant?
By articulating the end of the American frontier and calling for new frontier abroad, Turner laid the intellectual groundwork for a new kind of U.S. foreign policy—one that led the United Stated into Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam during the Spanish-American War.
What does frontier mean in history?
A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts on another country (see also marches).
What did Turner say was the most important effect of the frontier?
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.
What is frontier spirit in American literature?
The Frontier Spirit in America. Settling the frontier involved leaving the relative security of village or city to move to an unsettled land. It required courage, ingenuity, and perseverance. It is also tended to foster an extreme individualism, resistant to restrictions imposed by a community for the communal good.
What did Frederick Jackson Turner say about the frontier?
Turner argued that the frontier had made the United States unique. Due to hardship, residents were forced to become resourceful and self-reliant. They developed strength and "rugged individualism," which in turn fostered the development of democracy.
Where is the American frontier?
Richard W. Slatta, in his view of the frontier, writes that "historians sometimes define the American West as lands west of the 98th meridian or 98° west longitude," and that other definitions of the region "include all lands west of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers."
Where was the frontier thesis?
ChicagoThe Frontier Thesis was first published in a paper entitled "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", delivered to the American Historical Association in 1893 in Chicago.
Where is the American frontier?
Richard W. Slatta, in his view of the frontier, writes that "historians sometimes define the American West as lands west of the 98th meridian or 98° west longitude," and that other definitions of the region "include all lands west of the Mississippi or Missouri rivers."
What is frontier spirit in American literature?
The Frontier Spirit in America. Settling the frontier involved leaving the relative security of village or city to move to an unsettled land. It required courage, ingenuity, and perseverance. It is also tended to foster an extreme individualism, resistant to restrictions imposed by a community for the communal good.
Why was the closing of the frontier significance?
In 1890, the Census Bureau broadcast the closure of the frontier, meaning that in the west there was no apparent tracts of land without settlers. This news was a distinguished event in American history; the frontier represented danger because of the Natives who lived in the region but also freedom and opportunity.
What is the frontier thesis quizlet?
The Frontier Thesis or Turner Thesis, is the argument advanced by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 that American democracy was formed by the American frontier. He stressed the process—the moving frontier line—and the impact it had on pioneers going through the process.
What was the frontier?
The demarcation of the frontier was a boundary line that was continuously being moved farther and farther west with each generation. In fact, it is the frontier, and subsequently its demarcation line, that determined the path of history more than other events.
What did the frontier promote?
The frontier promoted a composite American nationality. People from many countries emigrated and moved west, resulting in a melting pot of cultures. Turner suggests that these people became 'fused into a mixed race.' Although Turner knew that there were pockets of the nation that were wholly German or English, he recognized them as a part of the emerging multicultural American identity.
What would happen to American culture and history once the frontier ceased to exist?
Would Americans maintain the 'dominant individualism' of frontier life? Would they retain the 'strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness?' Turner was concerned that once the frontier was officially removed, the next generations of Americans would be left with no territories to settle and no boundaries to overcome.
What did Turner say about the frontier?
Turner declared that this seemingly unimportant event represented a critical turning point in American history. Turner wrote, 'Now four centuries from the discovery of America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history'. Turner argued that the existence of the ever-shifting frontier was a major influence that has profoundly shaped the American character and history.
What was the impact of the frontier on the American people?
According to Turner, American history up until 1890 had been unique. In Europe, boundaries were fortified divisions separating large populations. In America, there was not a large enough population beyond the frontier to prevent migration. People who moved west had to fight Native Americans, learn to forage for food in the wilderness, and create tools and household implements from what they could find. The environment of the frontier was so strong that it created a tradition of self-sufficiency that is distinctly American and promoted a composite American nationality. People from many countries moved west, resulting in a melting pot of cultures and a multicultural American identity.
What was the American frontier environment?
The environment of the American frontier was so strong that it replaced European tradition, and from it arose the tradition of self-sufficiency that Turner says is distinctly American. The frontier promoted a composite American nationality.
What was the history of America up until 1890?
According to Turner, the history of America up until 1890, had been unique. In Europe, boundaries were fortified divisions separating large populations. In America, there was no large population beyond the frontier other than a few native tribes who were not numerous enough to prevent the migration west. Turner explained it this way, 'The frontier is the line of most rapid and effective Americanization… The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought.'
Who is the historian who explored the concept of the frontier?
Australian historian Brett Bowden has explored how the concept of "frontier" has been very widely used in both the scholarly and the popular literature to denote challenging new forces.
What is the significance of the frontier?
" The Significance of the Frontier in American History " is a seminal essay by the American historian Frederick Jackson Turner which advanced the Frontier Thesis of American history. It was presented to a special meeting of the American Historical Association at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893, and published later that year first in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, then in the Annual Report of the American Historical Association. It has been subsequently reprinted and anthologized many times, and was incorporated into Turner's 1921 book, The Frontier in American History, as Chapter I.
How did the idea of the American frontier shape the American character?
The essay summarizes Turner's views on how the idea of the American frontier shaped the American character in terms of democracy and violence. He stresses how the availability of very large amounts of nearly free farm land built agriculture, pulled ambitious families to the western frontier, and created an ethos of unlimited opportunity. The frontier helped shape individualism and opposition to governmental control.
How did the frontier drive American history?
He writes how the frontier drove American history and helped shape American culture in the 1890s. Turner reflects on the past to illustrate his point by noting human fascination with the frontier and how expansion to the American West changed people's views on their culture. The essay had a major impact on historiography for decades, ...
What is the New Western History?
Limerick asserts the notion of a "New Western History" in which the American West is treated as a place and not a process of finite expansion. Limerick pushes for a continuation of study within the historical and social atmosphere of the American West, which she believes did not end in 1890, but rather continues on to this very day.
Who was the professor who opposed the Turner thesis?
Opposition to the Turner Thesis. In 1942, in "The Frontier and American Institutions: A Criticism of the Turner Thesis," Professor George Wilson Pierson debated the validity of the Turner thesis, stating that many factors influenced American culture besides the looming frontier.
Who challenged the Frontier Thesis?
Urban historian Richard C. Wade challenged the Frontier Thesis in his first asset, The Urban Frontier (1959), asserting that western cities such as Pittsburgh, Louisville, and Cincinnati, not the farmer pioneers, were the catalysts for western expansion. Glenda Riley has argued that Turner’s thesis ignored women.
When was the Frontier in American History published?
This text is closer to the original version delivered at the 1893 meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, published in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1893, pp. 197-227.
What is the frontier?
In this advance, the frontier is the outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization. Much has been written about the frontier from the point of view of border warfare and the chase, but as a field for the serious study of the economist and the historian it has been neglected.
How did the frontier work against sectionalism?
But it was not merely in legislative action that the frontier worked against the sectionalism of the coast. The economic and social characteristics of the frontier worked against sectionalism. The men of the frontier had closer resemblances to the Middle region than to either of the other sections. Pennsylvania had been the seed-plot of frontier emigration, and, although she passed on her settlers along the Great Valley into the west of Virginia and the Carolinas, yet the industrial society of these Southern frontiersmen was always more like that of the Middle region than like that of the tide-water portion of the South, which later came to spread its industrial type throughout the South.
What were the stages of the frontier advance?
In the course of the seventeenth century the frontier was advanced up the Atlantic river courses, just beyond the “fall line,” and the tidewater region became the settled area. In the first half of the eighteenth century another advance occurred.
What is the difference between the American frontier and the European frontier?
The American frontier is sharply distinguished from the European frontier—a fortified boundary line running through dense populations . The most significant thing about the American frontier is, that it lies at the hither edge of free land.
How did the advance of the frontier affect the South?
In another way the advance of the frontier decreased our dependence on England. The coast, particularly of the South, lacked diversified industries, and was dependent on England for the bulk of its supplies. In the South there was even a dependence on the Northern colonies for articles of food. Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, writes in the middle of the eighteenth century: “Our trade with New York and Philadelphia was of this sort, draining us of all the little money and bills we could gather from other places for their bread, flour, beer, hams, bacon, and other things of their produce, all which, except beer, our new townships begin to supply us with, which are settled with very industrious and thriving Germans. This no doubt diminishes the number of shipping and the appearance of our trade, but it is far from being a detriment to us.” [39] Before long the frontier created a demand for merchants. As it retreated from the coast it became less and less possible for England to bring her supplies directly to the consumer’s wharfs, and carry away staple crops, and staple crops began to give way to diversified agriculture for a time. The effect of this phase of the frontier action upon the northern section is perceived when we realize how the advance of the frontier aroused seaboard cities like Boston, New York, and Baltimore, to engage in rivalry for what Washington called “the extensive and valuable trade of a rising empire.”
What was the end of the first quarter of the century?
The end of the first quarter of the century saw the advance of the Scotch-Irish and the Palatine Germans up the Shenandoah Valley into the western part of Virginia, and along the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. [3] . The Germans in New York pushed the frontier of settlement up the Mohawk to German Flats. [4] .
What was the frontier of the seventeenth century?
In the course of the seventeenth century the frontier was advanced up the Atlantic river courses, just beyond the "fall line," and the tidewater region became the settled area. In [5]the first half of the eighteenth century another advance occurred. Traders followed the Delaware and Shawnese Indians to the Ohio as early as the end of the first quarter of the century. [5:1] Gov. Spotswood, of Virginia, made an expedition in 1714 across the Blue Ridge. The end of the first quarter of the century saw the advance of the Scotch-Irish and the Palatine Germans up the Shenandoah Valley into the western part of Virginia, and along the Piedmont region of the Carolinas. [5:2] The Germans in New York pushed the frontier of settlement up the Mohawk to German Flats. [5:3] In Pennsylvania the town of Bedford indicates the line of settlement. Settlements soon began on the New River, or the Great Kanawha, and on the sources of the Yadkin and French Broad. [5:4] The King attempted to arrest the advance by his proclamation of 1763, [5:5] forbidding settlements beyond the sources of the rivers flowing into the Atlantic; but in vain. In the period of the Revolution the frontier crossed the Alleghanies into Kentucky and Tennessee, and the upper waters of the Ohio were settled. [5:6] When the first census was taken in 1790, the continuous settled area was bounded by a line which ran near the coast of Maine, and included New England except a portion of Vermont and New Hampshire, New York along the Hudson [6]and up the Mohawk about Schenectady, eastern and southern Pennsylvania, Virginia well across the Shenandoah Valley, and the Carolinas and eastern Georgia. [6:1] Beyond this region of continuous settlement were the small settled areas of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the Ohio, with the mountains intervening between them and the Atlantic area, thus giving a new and important character to the frontier. The isolation of the region increased its peculiarly American tendencies, and the need of transportation facilities to connect it with the East called out important schemes of internal improvement, which will be noted farther on. The "West," as a self-conscious section, began to evolve.
What is the frontier?
In this advance, the frontier is the outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization. Much has been written about the frontier from the point of view of border warfare and the chase, but as a field for the serious study of the economist and the historian it has been neglected.
How did the frontier work against sectionalism?
But it was not merely in legislative action that the frontier worked against the sectionalism of the coast. The economic and social characteristics of the frontier worked against sectionalism. The men of the frontier had closer resemblances to the Middle region than to either of the other sections. Pennsylvania had been the seed-plot of frontier emigration, and, although she passed on her settlers along the Great Valley into the west of Virginia and the Carolinas, yet the industrial society of these Southern frontiersmen was always more like that of the Middle region than like that of the tide-water portion of the South, which later came to spread its industrial type throughout the South.
What states were the frontiers of the United States?
In the middle of this century the line indicated by the present eastern boundary of Indian Territory, Nebraska, and Kansas marked the frontier of the Indian country. [8:1] Minnesota and Wisconsin still exhibited frontier conditions, [8:2] but the distinctive frontier of the period is found in California, where the gold discoveries had sent a sudden tide of adventurous miners, and in Oregon, and the settlements in Utah. [8:3] As the frontier had leaped over the Alleghanies, so now it skipped the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains; and in the same way that the advance of the frontiersmen beyond the Alleghanies had caused the rise of important questions of transportation and internal improvement, so now the settlers beyond the Rocky Mountains needed means of communication with the East, and in the furnishing of these arose the settlement of the Great Plains and the development of still another kind [9]of frontier life. Railroads, fostered by land grants, sent an increasing tide of immigrants into the Far West. The United States Army fought a series of Indian wars in Minnesota, Dakota, and the Indian Territory.
How are the frontiers of the Mississippi Valley different from the Rocky Mountains?
It is evident that the farming frontier of the Mississippi Valley presents different conditions from the mining frontier of the Rocky Mountains. The frontier reached by the Pacific Railroad, surveyed into rectangles, guarded by the United States Army, and recruited by the daily immigrant ship, moves forward at a swifter pace and in a different way than the frontier reached by the birch canoe or the pack horse. The geologist traces patiently the shores of ancient seas, maps their areas, and compares the older and the newer. It would be a work worth the historian's labors to mark these various frontiers and in detail compare one with another. Not only would there result a [11]more adequate conception of American development and characteristics, but invaluable additions would be made to the history of society.
How did the advance of the frontier affect the South?
In another way the advance of the frontier decreased our dependence on England. The coast, particularly of the South, lacked diversified industries, and was dependent on England for the bulk of its supplies. In the South there was even a dependence on the Northern colonies for articles of food. Governor Glenn, of South Carolina, writes in the middle of the eighteenth century: "Our trade with New York and Philadelphia was of this sort, draining us of all the little money and bills we could gather from other places for their bread, flour, beer, hams, bacon, and other things of their produce, all which, except beer, our new townships begin to supply us with, which are settled with very industrious and thriving Germans. This no doubt diminishes the number of shipping and the appearance of our trade, but it is far from being a detriment to us." [23:3]
What is the difference between the American frontier and the European frontier?
The American frontier is sharply distinguished from the European frontier—a fortified boundary line running through dense populations. The most significant thing about the American frontier is, that it lies at the hither edge of free land. In the census reports it is treated as the margin of that settlement which has a density of two or more to the square mile. The term is an elastic one, and for our purposes does not need sharp definition. We shall consider the whole frontier belt, including the Indian country and the outer margin of the "settled area" of the census reports. This paper will make no attempt to treat the subject exhaustively; its aim is simply to call attention to the frontier as a fertile field for investigation, and to suggest some of the problems which arise in connection with it.
What was the significance of the frontier?
In his paper The Significance of the Frontier in American History, Frederick Jackson Turner argues that the development of the American society was largely shaped by the exploration of the new lands and westward expansion. These processes were important for modifying the cultural legacies of the colonizers (Turner 1998).
Why is the dynamic nature of the American frontier important?
The dynamic nature of the American frontier is important for showing why America turned a country that differed significantly from many European states.
Why is the frontier thesis not fully explained?
Nevertheless, the frontier thesis cannot fully explain why the United States turned into a democracy.
Why is Frederick Turner's approach to colonization important?
On the one hand, the approach is very helpful because the author can examine the primary documents that are related to the direct experiences of colonizers.
Does the author speak about the impact of their cultural heritage on their behavior, principles and attitude toward one another?
These are the main assumptions of this work. Nevertheless, the author does not speak about the impact of their cultural heritage on their behavior, principles and attitude toward one another. This is one of the main aspects that can be identified.
Does the author remain objective in analyzing the evolution of the American community?
This is the main limitation that should be considered. Overall, the author cannot remain entirely objective while analyzing the evolution of the American community.
Is the frontier thesis reconciled with the germ theory?
Overall, the frontier thesis and the germ theory can be reconciled with one another. Overall, one can argue that Frederick Turner’s views of frontier are critical for understanding various aspects of the American history. By examining the westward extension of the American territory, researchers can better understand the development ...
Who wrote the importance of the frontier?from enotes.com
Word Count: 447. "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" was written by Frederick Jackson Turner, delivered as a conference paper at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in 1893, and published in that organization's Annual Report. There is much to this essay, which in many ways marks the rise ...
When was the Frontier in American History published?from enotes.com
Turner republished his original paper, with twelve supporting articles, in the book The Frontier in American History; the second and consequent part of his theory, The Significance of Sections in American History, was published in 1932, the year he died. His 1894 paper was preceded by his doctoral dissertation on the fur trade in Wisconsin ...
What would happen to American culture and history once the frontier ceased to exist?from study.com
Would Americans maintain the 'dominant individualism' of frontier life? Would they retain the 'strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness?' Turner was concerned that once the frontier was officially removed, the next generations of Americans would be left with no territories to settle and no boundaries to overcome.
How did the frontier work against sectionalism?from historians.org
But it was not merely in legislative action that the frontier worked against the sectionalism of the coast. The economic and social characteristics of the frontier worked against sectionalism. The men of the frontier had closer resemblances to the Middle region than to either of the other sections. Pennsylvania had been the seed-plot of frontier emigration, and, although she passed on her settlers along the Great Valley into the west of Virginia and the Carolinas, yet the industrial society of these Southern frontiersmen was always more like that of the Middle region than like that of the tide-water portion of the South, which later came to spread its industrial type throughout the South.
What compelled the farmers to advance the frontier?from historians.org
Omitting those of the pioneer farmers who move from the love of adventure, the advance of the more steady farmer is easy to understand. Obviously the immigrant was attracted by the cheap lands of the frontier, and even the native farmer felt their influence strongly. Year by year the farmers who lived on soil whose returns were diminished by unrotated crops were offered the virgin soil of the frontier at nominal prices. Their growing families demanded more lands, and these were dear. The competition of the unexhausted, cheap, and easily tilled prairie lands compelled the farmer either to go west and continue the exhaustion of the soil on a new frontier, or to adopt intensive culture. Thus the census of 1890 shows, in the Northwest, many counties in which there is an absolute or a relative decrease of population. These States have been sending farmers to advance the frontier on the plains, and have themselves begun to turn to intensive farming and to manufacture. A decade before this, Ohio had shown the same transition stage. Thus the demand for land and the love of wilderness freedom drew the frontier ever onward.
What did Turner say about the frontier?from study.com
Turner declared that this seemingly unimportant event represented a critical turning point in American history. Turner wrote, 'Now four centuries from the discovery of America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history'. Turner argued that the existence of the ever-shifting frontier was a major influence that has profoundly shaped the American character and history.
Why is the United States unique?from enotes.com
For this reason, people have always been able to move westward. On the frontier, Turner thought, white men brought European ways that they had to adapt to the rugged conditions in these hinterlands . The mix of frontier-ready culture and European "civilization" was, for Turner, uniquely American, forged on the frontier, the "outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization." Turner also thought that American democracy depended on the existence of free land. He thought that without its existence, large working classes would arise and become revolutionaries, creating a toxic environment for democracy as he understood it.
