Frederick Jackson Turner Frontier Thesis

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The main idea of the frontier thesis, is that westward expansion was one of the major causes of the American national identity. The idea was introduced by Frederick Jackson Turner in a lecture at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. That is why the “frontier thesis” is also known as the “Turner thesis.” His ideas were also written in his essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." The idea is that after expanding westward, Americans gained new experiences. They experienced many new things due to the new mining opportunities and those experiences shaped their character. The other part of Turner’s idea was that the expansion into the new region allowed for a lot more freedom as well. Freedom is a huge part of the American identity