Essay On The Frontier For American Civilization

Civilization: an advanced stage of social development and organization on free lands. The frontier provides ample land for the expansion of American civilization, even before true “Americans” settled on the continent of North America. In comparison, the city was an afterthought. Before any city could be founded, a settlement must be established on a frontier of sorts. Many fully colonized in the 19th century shows prevalence of cities in multiple civilization, showing how unexclusive the city was in this particular time. As such, the frontier is a better symbol for American Civilization because of its exclusive existence in the 19th century. The frontier has been viewed in a variety of ways throughout the years, serving as the perfect image for American Civilization at the time and still does to this day. When people think would …show more content…
Settler’s sacrificed much and risked everything, looking to establish civilization in a wild land so that eventually it could evolve into something better. This open and free land was pivotal at attracting settlers to the “wild west”. Turner believes that “involved in crossing a continent, in winning a wilderness, and in developing at each area of this progress out of the primitive economic and political conditions of the frontier into the complexity of city life” (Turner para.3), and the frontier serves as the clean slate needed to compel further development of American Civilization. With the struggle to survive in a wild land, people come together and establish political and economic systems on the frontier. Development of these systems allows for further evolution in the stages of civilization and of American ideals. But, without the help of the Federal Government at the time, the push for settlement of the frontier would have been much slower. In one particular lecture, Dr.Petersen made a point to show how the Federal Government helped facilitate further expansion on the