As we’ve learned, the history of the American frontier became famous by the opportunities that the West offered to everyone. It has been known that some early historians glorified the American frontier and the role it played in developing the American character. However, others have disputed that what has been presented is actually a myth. Amongst all the speculation, we will discuss just how much was reality and how much was myth. It was 1890, and the Census Bureau made an announcement that would go down in history. America, for once, would be without a frontier. Thus, this idea or lack thereof would awaken feelings and thoughts Americans never felt before.
With the frontier gone, the opportunity of escaping into the wilderness, which many …show more content…
Nonetheless, with its influences comes criticism. As read, he made it clear that the expansion was the most important factor in American history. He continued by claiming that “the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development.” Turner was also saying that the long lasting frontier experience had affected the way the American people were thinking at the time. This included their thoughts on their culture, institutions, and the effect in which the frontier had on their individualism and self-reliance. However, upon reading further, we can see that Turner was expressing his views through his eyes. It is obvious that the story could be told much differently through the views of women, blacks, Hispanics and of course Native Americans. It is without a doubt that his thesis focused on the psychological state of typical, English speaking Americans. 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.” Furthermore, I perceive from that phrase that he questioned how American culture and history would develop and whether Americans would retain “that coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness and that dominant individualism” since the frontier was then
With the frontier gone, the opportunity of escaping into the wilderness, which many …show more content…
Nonetheless, with its influences comes criticism. As read, he made it clear that the expansion was the most important factor in American history. He continued by claiming that “the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development.” Turner was also saying that the long lasting frontier experience had affected the way the American people were thinking at the time. This included their thoughts on their culture, institutions, and the effect in which the frontier had on their individualism and self-reliance. However, upon reading further, we can see that Turner was expressing his views through his eyes. It is obvious that the story could be told much differently through the views of women, blacks, Hispanics and of course Native Americans. It is without a doubt that his thesis focused on the psychological state of typical, English speaking Americans. 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.” Furthermore, I perceive from that phrase that he questioned how American culture and history would develop and whether Americans would retain “that coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness and that dominant individualism” since the frontier was then