Recognized as the father of Enlightenment, Benjamin Franklin’s views on Enlightenment serve to put in perspective the importance of going forward and not being a static nation. Within the greater ideals of Enlightenment, this need to “get on” comes through, for Franklin, with the perfectibility of man. That is to say that he tried to attain moral perfection. For instance, his thirteen virtues are proof of his desire to better himself and his fellowmen. Regardless of the importance he gives to the relationship between fellow men, he, and the Enlightenment theory in general, also advances that social conditioning guides the outcome of living a perfectible life. As such, the treatment of women, slaves, and Indians is excused by the environment.
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After the break from Calvinism, the ideals of the Enlightenment more or less stayed the same all through the apparition of the Frontier theory. This explains the recurrence of the ideals of the self, albeit more associated with self-improvement, as well as the pursuit of wealth under the latter’s principles. Under Enlightenment ideals, the desire towards progress is intrinsic with the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. Progress is linked with prosperity. The more a man owns or possesses, the more he advances in society. When the Frontier takes form, the goal, by going west, is to expand material wealth in order to achieve this state of mind that becomes the pursuit of happiness. Even when the westward expansion can go no further, the ideals behind the Frontier experience stay the same. The Frontier myth only transforms itself into a concept that is more relatable for the majority of Americans. This is the arrival of the American Dream in the collective mind. Individuals still try to gain more in order to improve their time on earth. It is justified by the premise of the pursuit of happiness. Once again, Manifest Destiny can be mentioned, only in this case it warrants Frontier racialism. If man could aspire to self-improve, he could disregard others on the simple basis that they might be in his way. After all, nothing could hinder man’s progress on a land that is rightfully his, or so the popular belief
After the break from Calvinism, the ideals of the Enlightenment more or less stayed the same all through the apparition of the Frontier theory. This explains the recurrence of the ideals of the self, albeit more associated with self-improvement, as well as the pursuit of wealth under the latter’s principles. Under Enlightenment ideals, the desire towards progress is intrinsic with the natural rights of life, liberty, and property. Progress is linked with prosperity. The more a man owns or possesses, the more he advances in society. When the Frontier takes form, the goal, by going west, is to expand material wealth in order to achieve this state of mind that becomes the pursuit of happiness. Even when the westward expansion can go no further, the ideals behind the Frontier experience stay the same. The Frontier myth only transforms itself into a concept that is more relatable for the majority of Americans. This is the arrival of the American Dream in the collective mind. Individuals still try to gain more in order to improve their time on earth. It is justified by the premise of the pursuit of happiness. Once again, Manifest Destiny can be mentioned, only in this case it warrants Frontier racialism. If man could aspire to self-improve, he could disregard others on the simple basis that they might be in his way. After all, nothing could hinder man’s progress on a land that is rightfully his, or so the popular belief