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
- 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?
- 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.
- 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?
- 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?
- 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.
- Develop two arguments, one supporting and one refuting Turner’s Thesis.
- 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
Read Closely 