Frontier Thesis

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…

The American Frontier marks the origin of American History. European settlement on the Atlantic Coast and eastern rivers eventually led to the westward expansion that created the United States we know today. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote a thesis regarding the frontier and gives an in depth explanation of how the American frontier is the most influential aspect of American History. His frontier thesis, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," was delivered in 1893 and…

Before Frederick Turner’s essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, the section begins with how influential the essay is and a bit of history about it. It continues by commenting how Turner may not be looked at as much of a historian anymore, but his work it still important. The rest of the passage is the essay. It starts with how different the European Frontier was from the American one, it is a vast open expanse where few people live, and Indian tribes dot the landscape.…

In “The Significance of the Frontier In American History” by Frederick Jackson Turner, written in 1893 he expounds strongly the importance of the frontier. In his thesis, he outlines that the frontier shaped and molded men into the embodiments of “Americanism”. These were people in a new world that Turner referred to as Americans that receive great traits all due to the encounter of the frontier. This statement made by Turner has been supported by several historians and to this day still holds…

In 1893, Historian Frederick Jackson Turner expressed his feeling on the frontier thesis. He explained that the frontier influenced the American culture by promoting individualistic democracy. “The frontier,” he asserted, "is the line of most rapid Americanization." He also expressed that expansion to the American West changed people’s view of their own culture. The western frontier, however, did not appear to be what it seemed like. Turner described in his frontier thesis that the West was a…

During the 1960s and early 1970s, before the Vietnam War broke out, but during the Cold War, the United States was in a turmoil of civil rights movements and new technological advances. New presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson tried to create administrations to try to help upcoming society. John F. Kennedy’s administration was called the “New Frontier”, he announced that it would help solve problems in America, such as peace and war, ignorance and prejudice and poverty and…

Turner’s Frontier Thesis is dedicated to supporting the role of the American frontier and its significance in shaping America today. Without the early American pioneers’ steadfast ambition to separate from British power and declare their own independence, this American frontier would never have transpired. Hence, it is due to the frontier theory that the land stretching from the east to the west coast is declared the United States of America. Not only was the land being conquered by these…

Frederick Jackson Turner, came up with the “frontier thesis” This thesis was written in 1893 and it is the history of the western frontier. The frontier was known as the event that shaped American character and the American Culture. His novel provided insight for the Amricans and cities. Cities, like Chicago, were the forerunners of development and settlement. Those who were able to manage their own lands became difficult to make a profit due to the railroads. Turner stated, “the existence of an…

The frontier is like a border that changes the area as it sweeps across. Not only does it change the people’s behavior in the land, but it also alters the way people think. They adapt to new ways that make life different. This frontier line that changes the lives of people is, what I see to be, a method of rapid and effective Americanization. My definition of Americanization is similar to the common definition: to turn a foreign item into an American item. This is best exemplified when the…

success of America is the Myth of the Frontier. As debatably the lasting of American myths, with roots in colonial times and a commanding enduring presence in modern culture, the Frontier Myth instilled Americans with the ideas of the perennial rebirth, fluidity of life, new opportunities, and continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society. This Myth of the Frontier is the “intelligible mask of that enigma called the national character” of America (Richard Slotkin). The exposition of…