It has been more than a century since Frederick Jackson Turner first read his paper “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” before an audience of some two hundred historians assembled in Chicago for the “World’s Columbian Exposition.” Yet, Turner’s essay remains the classic expression of the “frontier thesis.” Turner was mostly ignored at the time but eventually Turner's lectures gained such wide distribution and influence that a contemporary scholar has called it "the single most influential piece of writing in the history of American history." When Turner presented his new theory the “Turner Thesis” regarding America’s past and the lament towards the closing of the frontier, he claimed that American culture and history
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Continuing his past speech, Turner added “The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development” Therefore with the “closing” of the frontier, American culture and history would no longer develop. Turner truly believed that the only most important factor in American history was its age of expansion, therefore he was upset to see the “closing” of the frontier. “American social development has been continually beginning over again on the frontier… It occupies an important place in American History” Turner …show more content…
“This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character. The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the great West.” As the quotes above show, Turner believed that the force of westward expansion forged the American character. He believed there was such a thing as an American character, and that that character was individualistic, practical, militarily-skilled, and formed by economic opportunity and social mobility. Correspondingly, he also assumed that at the end of the nineteen century with the closing of the continental frontier uncertain consequences might happen in the American
Continuing his past speech, Turner added “The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development” Therefore with the “closing” of the frontier, American culture and history would no longer develop. Turner truly believed that the only most important factor in American history was its age of expansion, therefore he was upset to see the “closing” of the frontier. “American social development has been continually beginning over again on the frontier… It occupies an important place in American History” Turner …show more content…
“This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character. The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the great West.” As the quotes above show, Turner believed that the force of westward expansion forged the American character. He believed there was such a thing as an American character, and that that character was individualistic, practical, militarily-skilled, and formed by economic opportunity and social mobility. Correspondingly, he also assumed that at the end of the nineteen century with the closing of the continental frontier uncertain consequences might happen in the American