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Te myth of frontier USA
Discussing the american identity
American identity theisis
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In 1893 Frederic Jackson Turner a historian, introduces the “Frontier Thesis” in Columbian Exposition, he explains from this thesis about the importance of American history. Frontier thesis remarks the end of a great historic society. Because Frederic Jackson argues that continuous western settlement had an extraordinary impact on American social, political and economic development throughout 20th
Lilly Fuller-Delmont 1/17/18 S.S8 DBQ Essay Per.3 In the mid 18th century settlers moved to the west. Their move brought them more opportunities and a better lifestyle on the frontier. Such as the transcontinental Railroad.
The lines following line 44 are given in the tone of Salman Rudshie. He gives readers the tone that Americans are poor at adapting to the world, and they must learn from modern migrants who “make a new imaginative relationship with the world, because of the loss of familiar habits”. Rudshie’s critical tone goes on in lines 59-62, using the analogy of forcing industrial and commercial habits on foreign ground is synonymous if ‘the mind were a cookie-cutter and the land wer
The lens of Changes in the Land focuses on the Indians and how “their ability to move about the landscape” (Cronon 159), had been “severely constrained” by the actions of the Europeans, and how their life was affected by the settlement. The lens of Experiencing History: Interpreting America’s Past is one that speaks greatly of the Europeans and their life and their struggles and their point of view. This is specifically evident when the textbook speaks of “communities in conflict” (page 89), and how it spotlights the issues pertaining to the colonists. Another area where the textbook and Changes in the Land don’t align is the portrayal of the settlers and the way that they view and act on the land of New England.
In the colonial era, through the Revolutionary War, the foundation of America was oratorically clarified as an act of prudence—that is, God led people, specifically the white Europeans, to America to find a new and superior or incomparable societal order that would be the light unto all realms.2 In fact, many settlers also believed in creating a new nation filled with history and stories. Along the same lines, Americans imagined a community created through selectively and elaborated events, myths of origin, courageous stories, and asserted values.3
During the 18th century, America was colonized by several different countries from Europe; the society was different and so was the people. In the essay, Letters from an American Farmer, which was written by J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, builded an argument about the colonial American society. By using rhetorical strategies as well as appealing to the reader's’ emotion, Crevecoeur presented an organized essay to persuade his audience that the America was better than Europe. Crevecoeur started his essay with a series of rhetorical questions in order to compare and contrast between America and Europe.
The basis of understanding of the “wilderness” was that it represented the devil’s landscape and was ever devouring, therefore necessitating the need to conquer not only for God but for own personal gain and gratification in a new environment. To the colonists, nature was something to conquer, and as mentioned in Taylor’s Wasty Ways, “…settlers meant to amass the property that endowed independence, with all its promises of material comfort, social respectability, and political rights. They also found encouragement in the precedent of their parents and grandparents, who had persevered through similar travails” (Taylor 300). Colonizing the environment not only became a conquest for salvation, but the chance of living a better life as their ancestors have. This chance, in the “New World”, was a chance to secure an individual’s future prosperity in a new environment.
The narrative offers an account which can be used to describe the particularly puritan society based on the ideals of Christianity and the European culture. It offers a female perspective of the Native Americans who showed no respect to the other religious groups. The narrator makes serious observation about her captors noting the cultural differences as well as expectations from one another in the society. However, prejudice is evident throughout the text which makes the narratives unreliable in their details besides being written after the event had already happened which means that the narrator had was free to alter the events to create an account that favored her. Nonetheless, the narrative remains factually and historically useful in providing the insights into the tactics used by the Native Americans
Voting Crisis 3 ~ Passage of the Dawes Act and the End of the Indian Wars As Western Homesteaders, who happen to be farmers, we strongly stood behind the passage of the Dawes Act and an end to the indian wars. Our reasoning for supporting the Dawes Act was that if the land held by the native Americans was no longer affiliated by tribe, it could be privatized, which would offer us the opportunity of acquiring more land. Furthermore, a reduction of conflict between ourselves and the indians would greatly increase our quality of life, as the constant threat of raids had become a great nuisance.
Since the beginning of time Native Americans were never fully appreciated. Christopher Columbus voyaged to the New World and diminished what was left of the Native Americans along with their land. Tecumseh recognized the whites’ expansion westward as a threat to his people. In an effort to save Native American lands, Tecumseh ruled to organize a Native Confederacy that would fight the whites for land. When the U.S. opened up three million acres of land to whites the Native Americans could not stand by and wait to be moved or pushed further westward.
The American identity has evolved over time. During the 1700’s, the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, occurred. It spread rapidly across Europe, and then to North America. This revolutionary way of thinking was crucial to the development of the American identity. The Enlightenment was the period for cultivation of science and human reason.
During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the
They’re special and different, another instance of American exceptionalism and the overall overwhelming pridefulness both the United States and the back then Puritan’s share. During this farewell sermon, Cotton also states “In a vacant soil, he that taketh possession of it, and bestoweth culture and husbandry upon it, his right it is.” Upon God’s authority he tells the Puritan’s that what essentially becomes a base for Manifest Destiny, something John Winthrop also preached later
The arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas is dramatically captured through the many writers who attempted to communicate what they saw, experienced and felt. What is more, the very purposes of their treacherous travel and colonization are clearly seen in their writings; whether it is poetry, history or sermons. Of the many literary pieces available today, William Bradford and John Winthrop’s writings, even though vary because the first is a historical account and the second is a sermon, stand out as presenting a clear trust in God, the rules that would govern them and the reason they have arrived in the Americas. First of all, William Bradford provides an in-depth look into the first moment when the Puritans arrived in the Americas. In fact, he chronicles the hardships they face on their way to Plymouth, yet he includes God’s provision every step of the way.
Perhaps the most significant myth in American culture is that of the American frontier generated by the European encounters with the American West. The most noticeable part of the frontier myth is the mythic struggle between modern civilization and wilderness. Frontier is defined as “the meeting point between savagery and civilization”. Turner believes that the American frontier is closely related to American civilization and that frontier