What is the Turner Thesis in American history?
The Turner Thesis claimed that American democracy was formed out of the American Frontier, whereby the process had a great impact on the natives. The interaction with the people at the frontier resulted in the adoption of moderate culture, democracy, and violence towards the people of color.
What was Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis?
The young Wisconsin historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his “frontier thesis,” one of the most influential theories of American history, in his essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.”
How does Turner end the frontier essay?
Turner concludes the essay by saying that with the end of the frontier, the first period of American history has ended. [5] The Frontier Thesis came about at a time when the Germanic germ theory of history was popular.
How did advocates for expansion view Turner's Frontier Thesis?
Advocates for expansion viewed Turner's Frontier Thesis as reinforcing their idea that America must keep expanding. Fredrick Jackson Turner delivered the Frontier Thesis in an 1893 speech in Chicago, Illinois.
What is the significance of the Turner thesis on American history?
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 was the impact of the Turner thesis?
The most important aspect of the frontier to Turner is its effect on 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.
What was the importance of 1890 in Turner's thesis?
What was the importance of 1890 in Turner's thesis? The Superintendent of the Census of 1890 had declared that all the frontier lands had been settled. This pronouncement led Turner to consider the impact of the frontier and the effects its closing would have on the national identity.
What is Turner's thesis What did he feel was significant about the Western frontier?
Turner held that the American character was decisively shaped by conditions on the frontier, in particular the abundance of free land, the settling of which engendered such traits as self-reliance, individualism, inventiveness, restless energy, mobility, materialism, and optimism.
What is the Turner thesis Apush?
During a gathering of historians at the World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner presented an essay titled “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” Turner's article, also known as the Frontier Thesis, argued that the settlement of the frontier made the American nation ...
What important effects did the frontier have on American society and character according to Turner?
In the late nineteenth century, Frederick Jackson Turner, the founding father of Western history, attributed the unique American character to the experience of the frontier. According to Turner, the westward movement Americanized the pioneer, shaped American institutions, and promoted democracy.
What impact does Turner believe the closing of the frontier will have on American history?
Explanation: Turner Fredrick Jackson proposed in 1893 that the frontier was instrumental in the formation of American democracy, self sufficiency, ingenuity and individualism. Quoted in 1921 Frontier in American History . The closing of the frontier cause a reduction in individualism.
Where did Turner present his frontier thesis?
In 1893 he presented his "frontier thesis" to the American Historical Society. Turner claimed that the process of western settlement was the defining characteristic of American society.
Why does Turner say the frontier is closed?
In his address on the significance of the frontier in American history, Turner referred to the Census Bureau's announcement that the frontier was now closed. He speculated that now that the frontier was settled, a crucial epoch in American history was over.
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.
How does Turner believe the western frontier shaped the United States and its people?
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. Turner paid no attention to women or the plight of Native Americans.
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).
Was the Turner thesis right or wrong?
According to most historians today, Turner got nearly everything wrong. His thesis ignored the dispossession of Native Americans and the environmental changes, often for the worse, brought by settlers as they moved west. Further, it paid little attention to the extensive role of the US government in settling the West.
What cultural assumptions are inherent in the frontier thesis?
The cultural assumptions inherent in the thesis included that American culture was superior to that of the Native Americans displaced by the advancing frontier, and that the environmental changes created by settlers were all for the good because they increased agricultural and industrial production.
What is the importance of Turner's thesis?
It was clear that an individual had the right to do as he or she wishes, and the only role of the government was to provide an enabling environment to ensure individual fulfillment.
How did the frontier change American culture?
The frontier served a great purpose of transforming the American culture from the animalistic nature to what it currently presents. For instance, people were able to adapt to new things in society, leading to the domestication of plants and animals. Through this, people learned to be independent, whereby they were expected to be self-sufficient in the sense that they produced goods that satisfied their needs. Instead of subscribing to the ideas of scientists, Americans decided to live their lives without forming the government.
What did Ridge observe about American democracy?
In his analysis of Turner’s article, Ridge observed that American democracy was never brought in the country, but instead, it developed in the forests; and every time the locals interacted with the foreigners in the frontier, new ideals were acquired. We will write a custom Essay on American Democracy’ History: Turner’s Thesis specifically for you. ...
Why did the American people have to forge a unique identity?
Americans had to forge a unique identity for them to achieve the much-needed civilization that would spark economic and political development. Through this, citizens would be given full power and authority to domesticate the wild animals. With time, many people moved from the exterior to the interior, making some people move to towns, but the conflicts between man and nature existed. As the generations became more American, they built autonomy and intolerance to oppression. Unfortunately, these developments never had a good effect on the community because people became more violent, individualistic, and distrustful of the authority, which is a characteristic of the American culture.
Can you use Turner's thesis?
This essay on American Democracy’ History: Turner’s Thesis was written and submitted by your fellow student. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly .
Why was Turner's thesis so popular?
It explained why the American people and American government were so different from their European counterparts. It was popular among New Dealers—Franklin Roosevelt and his top aides thought in terms of finding new frontiers. FDR, in celebrating the third anniversary of Social Security in 1938, advised, "There is still today a frontier that remains unconquered—an America unreclaimed. This is the great, the nation-wide frontier of insecurity, of human want and fear. This is the frontier—the America—we have set ourselves to reclaim." Historians adopted it, especially in studies of the west, but also in other areas, such as the influential work of Alfred D. Chandler Jr. (1918–2007) in business history.
How does Turner start the essay?
Turner begins the essay by calling to attention the fact that the western frontier line, which had defined the entirety of American history up to the 1880s, had ended. He elaborates by stating,
What is the frontier thesis?
The frontier thesis or Turner thesis (also American frontierism ), 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. He also stressed results, especially that American democracy was the primary result, along with egalitarianism, a lack of interest in high culture, and violence. "American democracy was born of no theorist's dream; it was not carried in the Susan Constant to Virginia, nor in the Mayflower to Plymouth. It came out of the American forest, and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier," said Turner.
What was the importance of the frontier in shaping American character?
Turner's emphasis on the importance of the frontier in shaping American character influenced the interpretation found in thousands of scholarly histories. By the time Turner died in 1932, 60% of the leading history departments in the U.S. were teaching courses in frontier history along Turnerian lines.
What was the most important aspect of the frontier to Turner?
Furthermore, there is a need to escape the confines of the State. The most important aspect of the frontier to Turner is its effect on democracy. The frontier transformed Jeffersonian democracy into Jacksonian democracy.
Why did historians start criticizing the frontier thesis?
Other historians, who wanted to focus scholarship on minorities, especially Native Americans and Hispanics, started in the 1970s to criticize the frontier thesis because it did not attempt to explain the evolution of those groups.
How did the American frontier establish liberty?
In the thesis, the American frontier established liberty by releasing Americans from European mindsets and eroding old, dysfunctional customs. The frontier had no need for standing armies, established churches, aristocrats or nobles. There was no landed gentry who controlled most of the land and charged heavy rents and fees.
What did Turner describe as the need for westward expansion?
Turner described the need for westward expansion in terms of 'centers of attraction,' such as salt, mines, soil, and Army posts. With all the wide-open space that was available, it was natural that people would move west, claim land, and reap the benefits. Turner divided this move west into three waves of settlement.
What did Turner think of the ever shifting frontier?
Turner argued that the existence of the ever-shifting frontier was a major influence that has profoundly shaped the American character and history. Turner wondered what would happen to American culture and history once the frontier ceased to exist.
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 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 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.
