Month: October 2024

1893: Turner’s Frontier

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

Analyze the role of the settlement of the American West in US history.

CONTEXT

Frederick Jackson Turner (1861-1932) was born into a middle class family in Wisconsin. Well-educated, he earned his Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University in 1890, and by 1910 he was considered one of the most influential historians in America. In his research, essays, and lectures he emphasized the importance of the frontier in forming the American character. When the US Superintendent of the Census reported in 1890 that there were no unsettled areas left in the western US, Turner considered this the close of a major historical movement. Although his theories received criticism and became unpopular in the 1960s, his ideas were not forgotten and influenced the development of environmental history.

His most well known theory is his “Frontier Thesis,” explained in a essay he first presented to the American Historical Association at the World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois, in 1893. It was later incorporated into his book The Frontier in American History (1920) and has been reprinted many times. He explained how the frontier shaped America relative to democracy and violence; the clash of “civilization” and “savagery” led to the development of a new type of American, one who was a strong individual. As settlers moved west they left more of the Eastern US culture behind and developed new ways of doing things to solve problems created by the new environment. His ideas contributed to the ideas of American exceptionalism. This text is from the Frontier Thesis.

TEXT

...From the time the mountains rose between the pioneer and the seaboard, a new order of Americanism arose. The West and the East began to get out of touch of each other. The settlements from the sea to the mountains kept connection with the rear and had a certain solidarity. But the over-mountain men grew more and more independent. The East took a narrow view of American advance, and nearly lost these men. Kentucky and Tennessee history bears abundant witness to the truth of this statement. The East began to try to hedge and limit westward expansion….The frontier promoted the formation of a composite nationality for the American people….the advance of the frontier decreased our dependence on England….the frontier created a demand for merchants….

The result is that, to the frontier, the American intellect owes its striking characteristics. That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness, that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients, that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends, that restless, nervous energy,, that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil,, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom–these are the traits of the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier.

For a moment, at the frontier, the bonds of custom are broken and unrestraint is triumphant….The stubborn American environment is there with its imperious summons to accept its conditions; the inherited ways of doing things are also there; and yet, in spite of environment, and in spite of custom, each frontier did indeed furnish anew field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past; and freshness, and confidence, and scorn for older society, impatience of its restraints and its ideas, and indifference to its lessons, have accompanied the fronter….And now,…the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.

INQUIRY

  1. Turner’s Frontier Thesis was considered controversial in 1893. Before then, historians focused on religious freedoms, slavery, nationalism, or other ideas as the core elements of American history. What element(s) of his Thesis do you find most interesting? Why?
  2. American exceptionalism is often defined as the idea that America is a unique and perhaps morally superior country due to ideological or historical reasons. Compare Turner’s Thesis with the idea of American exceptionalism. Is his logic sound? Why/why not? Give examples.
  3. Wyoming first gave women the right to vote in 1869, followed by several other western states. Yet women did not receive the right to vote nationally until 1920. How might this support or refute Turner’s Thesis?
  4. Turner’s critics stated that he did not consider all cultures, including Blacks and Native Americans, in his analysis. Does he specifically exclude them? What is the effect of him speaking in broad generalities?
  5. How did some of Turner’s ideas make their ways into Hollywood movies, especially the Westerns of the 1950s and 1960s? Give examples. Do you see the ideas in more recent movies or videos? Support your response with examples.
  6. Develop two arguments, one supporting and one refuting Turner’s Thesis.
  7. Do you agree that the close of the frontier in 1890 marked the end of the “first period of American history”? Why or why not?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS13829

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS1676

1776: John Adams & July 4

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How did John Adams convey the complex emotions he felt at the adoption of American Independence in 1776?

CONTEXT

John Adams (1735-1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, writer, and second president of the United States. A founding father, he helped guide the idea of American Independence through the Second Continental Congress. Later, during the American Revolution, he was a senior diplomat in Europe and served as George Washington’s Vice President. He died of a heart attack on July 4, 1826, the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence (which was also the death date of Thomas Jefferson).

John and his wife Abigail spent many years apart due to his political responsibilities, and they wrote each other letters often. This text is from a letter John wrote to Abigail in July of 1776 while he attended the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Congress signed the Lee Resolution (Richard Henry Lee was a delegate from Virginia) on July 2; the Resolution contained three elements–separation from the British Crown, a plan for a confederation of the colonies, and a call to pursue foreign alliances. After much discussion, on July 4 Congress voted on and approved with amendments the report from a Committee of Five delegates (Adams was a member of the Committee) tasked with writing a declaration to explain the Colonies’ bid for freedom. By the next day, the Declaration of Independence was printed and began to be distributed (only print technology was available). On August 2, 1776, most delegates signed the Declaration and it became official.

TEXT

But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not.—I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.—Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.

INQUIRY

  1. What is an epocha? What implication did Adams make by using that term?
  2. Why did Adams recognize July 2?
  3. Why did Adams use the term, “day of deliverance”? Deliverance from what?
  4. Identify Adams’s appeals to ethos and authority.
  5. How did Adams describe what he sees as future “anniversary” festivals? Do you believe his prediction has come true? Give examples.
  6. Why did Adams insert the statement, “I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure…”?
  7. Adams shifted the tone of this letter twice in this excerpt. Identify those shifts and how they were accomplished.
  8. What emotions did Adams convey in this letter?
  9. This excerpt is from many letters that John Adams wrote his wife Abigail–actually he wrote her two letters on July 3, 1776, the date of this letter. The earlier letter from July 3 stated, in part, …Yesterday the greatest Question was decided, which ever was de­bated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men. A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony “that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free and independent States, and as such, they have, and of Right ought to have full Power to make War, conclude Peace, establish Commerce, and to do all the other Acts and Things, which other States may rightfully do.” You will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the Causes, which have impell’d Us to this mighty Revolution, and the Reasons which will justify it, in the Sight of God and Man. A Plan of Confederation will be taken up in a few days... How might this correspondence have led to confusion about the date of American Independence?
  10. Why was the actual date of American Independence important? Is it important today? Why or why not?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

“John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0016. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 2, June 1776 – March 1778, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963, pp. 29–33.]

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0016