How has the frontier shaped American history?
Turner attributed the formation of the American democracy to the Frontier. Besides, he claimed that the Frontier shaped American institutions, society, and culture. Therefore, the beliefs in individualism, political democracy, and economic mobility were the Frontier's major effects, which shaped American History.
What did the frontier mean to the Americans?
What did the ‘frontier’ mean to the Americans? Answer: The conquest and purchase of land by the Americans resulted in the extension of boundaries. The natives of America were compelled to move accordingly. The boundary where natives reached was known as ‘Frontier’. How is the thesis a product of Turner’s time?
What impact did the frontier have on American Society?
The frontier emphasized the spirit of nationalism and individualism in the United States. As mentioned amongst the themes of the West, the frontier experience converted settlers into individualists, who hoped to gain opportunity in the lands of the West.
What is the significance of the frontier?
The Significance of the Frontier in American History. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Americana frontier was a fortified borderline, which run across dense populations. The American frontier line was a free land, which harbored immigrants from Europe that developed and modified American life.
What is the frontier and why is it significant to the development of American history?
American frontier, in United States history, the advancing border that marked those lands that had been settled by Europeans. It is characterized by the westward movement of European settlers from their original settlements on the Atlantic coast (17th century) to the Far West (19th century).
How did frontier change America?
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.
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 the frontier thesis important?
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.
Which is more significant to American history the frontier of the cities?
The frontier is more significant to American history than the cities because the frontier had symbolized "land" mainly being unclaimed land, where people could go and settle on it. People could go and prosper on this land and make something out of nothing.
How did the frontier affect American democracy?
The frontier transformed Jeffersonian democracy into Jacksonian democracy. The individualism fostered by the frontier's wilderness created a national spirit complementary to democracy, as the wilderness defies control. Therefore, Andrew Jackson's brand of popular democracy was a triumph of the frontier.
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 was the significance of the closing of the frontier in 1890 for American history?
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 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.
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 was the main argument of 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.
Is there a frontier in America today?
The frontier never closed; instead it changed. After spending nearly the entire 19th century shifting quickly west, the frontier gradually moved east, to the point where large stretches of the Great Plains have now reverted to frontier.
What was the effect of Turner's theory?
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).
How might the closing of the frontier have affected people in the United States?
The closing of the frontier cause a reduction in individualism. The federal government gained more control over the direction of the nation. On the frontier people had to depend on themselves and their neighbors. With the closing of the frontier people had more reliance on assistance of government.
Why did the American frontier end?
Finally, the coming of the railroad brought the end of the frontier. Frederick Jackson Turner grew up in Wisconsin during its last frontier stage, and in his travels around the state, he could see the layers of social and political development.
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 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 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 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.'
What are the stages of frontier settlement?
Turner discusses three stages or waves of frontier settlement in his thesis. The first wave he refers to as the pioneers. These are the settlers who simply found a piece of land to live on. Pioneers might own a few animals and have a family but did not necessarily own the land. For survival, they relied on their own ingenuity, farming, and hunting. Eventually, these first wave settlers might feel too closed in by neighbors and want to move on to do it all over again.
Why was the frontier important to the American people?
For the same length of time, those who lived in what had become old and established centres were conscious of the fact that there remained an open door to lands that were ostensibly unclaimed, where place and fortune were yet to be won. As a reality for some and as a symbol for others , the frontier became a vital factor in shaping American life and American character.
What is the American frontier?
See Article History. American frontier, in United States history, the advancing border that marked those lands that had been settled by Europeans. It is characterized by the westward movement of European settlers from their original settlements on the Atlantic coast (17th century) to the Far West (19th century).
What is the frontier of a country?
The term frontier has been defined in various ways. Webster’s International Dictionary, in 1890, described it as “that part of a country which fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region;…extreme part of a country.”. In the 19th century it was statistically classified as an area having no fewer than two but no more than six European ...
What is the frontier?
Webster’s International Dictionary, in 1890, described it as “that part of a country which fronts or faces another country or an unsettled region;…extreme part of a country.” In the 19th century it was statistically classified as an area having no fewer than two but no more than six European inhabitants per square mile (fewer than one to just over two Europeans per square kilometre). The United States Census Bureau defined areas with lower population densities as “unsettled” and on this basis marked the frontier line on a series of maps for each decade. Thus, areas on the frontier were no longer the exclusive domain of explorers, missionaries, and trappers, but settled homesteads were relatively rare and widely dispersed.
What was the first manifestation of frontier influence?
Thus understood, the American colonies along the Atlantic coast were Europe’s frontier, and their gradual drift away from European patterns was the first manifestation of frontier influence. They began the conquest of the wilderness; they took the first steps in crossing the continent; they became Americans. This, however, was only the beginning. Scarcely had the colonies themselves become firmly established before the western push began anew. Out from old centres, the dissatisfied, the restless, the adventurous made their way into the backcountry. There they encountered long-established Native American populations, sometimes coexisting with them, sometimes forcing them into open resistance but ultimate retreat. Sometimes they moved to secure more room for themselves and their cattle; sometimes, as John Winthrop described it, they simply possessed a “strong bent of their spirits to remove thither.”
What was the history of the United States?
Amid the uncertainty in the use of terms, there remains the simple fact that the history of the United States, up to the beginning of the 20th century, was that of a people moving steadily toward the occupation of a vast continent.
How did the first West differ from the original colonies?
This first west differed sharply from the original colonies, which had already begun to reproduce the Old World social and economic patterns, along with their class distinctions. It was, as Turner called it, a “democratic, self-sufficing, primitive agricultural society in which slavery and indentured servants played little part” and in which poverty and toil went along with a scarcity of social accumulations. As population spread and increased, differences between coast and interior became increasingly apparent, and strife often developed over taxes, representation, internal improvements, and religious matters.
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 ...
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.
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.
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.