What is it that makes someone an American? The people of the United States do not have a common national origin, culture, national language, race, religion, national food or sport. Subscribers to the “germ theory”, which argued that American government and institutions were merely planted here by the English, would be confused if they visited New Orleans, San Antonio, Chicago, Kansas City, Santa Fe, Detroit or anywhere in California. Despite the original permanent settlers to the New World being British, America has a unique and exceptional history of her own. Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Thesis presented an essay that explained what this new breed of people, these Americans, had that united them, what made them unique. Americans were created or united by a shared experience, not institutions, language, place of or status at birth. They were unique, they were exceptional, this land of promise, the shining city on the hill. American offered opportunity for anyone who was willing to brave the wild and work for it. The frontier. The original conflicts of man versus nature and man versus himself. The Declaration of Independence’s claim that “all men are created equal,” meant that social class or background did not matter …show more content…
American life and culture are continually being reborn with the movement west. American life is fluid, it is always changing, with new opportunities westward. The frontier, the line between what is wild and what is static, functions as a conduit for Americanization. What ever habits or background the settler has before he transitions to the frontier will change and become less and less European, or Easterner, or Southerner and more American. The frontier makes settlers fiercely independent of their own abilities. Those who won’t work, sacrifice, adapt and change won’t