Frederick Jackson Turner Analysis

Frederick Jackson Turner’s work is described by some as the single most influential piece of writing in the history of American History. From his perspective he laid out a theory to catalog his ideas and thoughts regarding the story of America and the move West. His argument entails the belief that every American generation returned “to primitive conditions on a continually advancing frontier line as the “meeting point of savagery and civilization”. His analysis attempts to categorize the past as well as predict future events which appear to be his concern given that the frontier would now be closed. In simple terms he attempted to make history a science. The question emerged: How would America continue to prosper and grow without this unifying …show more content…
Even Turner proposed to constantly analyze previous assumptions and proclaimed the importance of presentism but, it appears that he was unwilling or unable to unilaterally apply these principles to his own work. In his mind, the move West was a process, not a place.
The challenge of the Turnerian theory, as it applies to the Southwest is that there is so much that he did not see. He failed to consider the perspective of groups that certainly played a prominent role in the Southwest. He largely dismissed those who already called the Southwest home, mainly the indigenous people that lived there. Racial and ethnic backgrounds played a powerful role in the development of the Southwest. Unfortunately, their perspectives were not considered when assembling his theory. Turner didn’t see that it was largely groups that settled the Southwest, not individuals. The perspectives of individuals appear to far outweigh …show more content…
that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism" is a direct result of the frontier. However, as previously illustrated there are clearly other factors besides the frontier have helped to define America. Historian, Patricia Limerick one of the forerunners of the New Historians, argues and to a large part I agree that conquest is a more "sharp and honest term" than frontier. By "conquest," it is important to understand that it does not only mean the oft-depicted violence between whites and Indians, but also the far-less-binary contests between Anglos, Spanish, Mexicans, Asians, Blacks, Russians, Canadians, Mormons, different Indian tribes who fought each other and often allied with various Europeans who also fought each other, Portuguese, Chileans, and many other sub-groups who fought for claims to the Southwest. That list does not even include the many mixed-race mestizo settlers of the Southwest. It is a huge challenge to comprehend the Southwest 's diversity, but understanding that diversity helps one to understand the Southwest 's long history of