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Frontier In American History

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Frederic Jackson Turner, an American historian in the early 20th century, is known for his essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. In his writings, Turner theorized that certain defining aspects of the United States, such as geography, government, and economy could be traced back to the development of the American frontier. The U.S. census of 1890, which announced the disappearance of a contiguous frontier line, claimed that the since the land was already claimed, “there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.” However, Turner theorized that “the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward,” meant that the American development was an ongoing process of …show more content…

It would not be until the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, that western historians would also attempt to describe the development and effects of the western frontier. Historian Patricia Nelson Limerick and others adopted the idea that the west is a place and not so much a process, as Turner recounted. Although they did not completely dismiss Turner’s ideas that the West essentially is a “process at work in the region’s history,” they rejected the term frontier because to them the term epitomized ethnocentrism. Ethnocentric because, as other historians indicated, the West was not always the land of freedom for anyone to settle. For many ethnicities; Asians, Latinos, African Americans, and especially the Indians, the West was not the land of opportunity but was riddled with violence. The new settlers, many from different parts of the world, in conflict with others, created lines on a map as land became physical property, exhibiting that migration was not just about adapting to new practices and ideas. The history of America’s West cannot exist without including growing savagery caused by the division between genders, races, and classes, as these events were not only processes. To Limerick, the discovery of the West was not just the end of a journey, but also “as many complicated environments occupied by natives who considered their homeland to be the

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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

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157 Words | 1 Pages

After reading Native Americans and the “Middle Ground,” I realized how narratives of historians are quick to shame and blame Native Americans in history. This article begins by revealing how European settlement presented the Indians as obstacles. Recent historians, such as Gary Nash, show the Native Americans as being conquered by the Europeans. Author of The Middle Ground, Richard White, seems to be one of the first to examine the culture of Native Americans and the relationship between colonists. White writes about the “middle ground” of the politics and trade that is eventually established.

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Changes in Land Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England deeply examine several changes that occurred in the new land after invasion made by colonists. Thus, changes affected not only the people but also the environment. The shift of dominance from Indian dominance to European dominance stated in the book. Moreover, the effect of this dominance on the environment and culture of the original inhabitants and most of them coming from Indian origin is stated by Cronon. There were fundamental notable reorganizations in how things were generally done after an invasion by settlers.

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692 Words | 3 Pages

Faith Picotte History 310 (T-Th) Homework Ch. 8 1.Turner’s frontier thesis is deceptively draws and allure your inquisitive imagination into a grand scale visionary picture of settlements of specific regions, and the social societal processes. Americans realized the frontier formed and promoted a composite nationalist American society. The English dominated the coastal region. , later continental immigrants flowed towards the free lands of the frontier.

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1143 Words | 5 Pages

Daniel Richter wrote the book “Facing East From Indian Country” because he wants to change our perspective on how we view the past. Instead of looking at the past as Europeans exploring the “new world”, he wants us to shift our view as we look through the Indians eyes. Whereas from the Indian point of view, the Europeans come from the “new world”. “North America becomes the “old world” and Western Europe the “new”, Cahokia becomes the center and Plymouth Rock and the periphery, and themes rooted in Indian country rather than across the Atlantic begin to shape the larger story” (pg.8). Richter also shows us how the Indians responded to the new arrival of the Europeans and, in turn, how the Europeans treated the Indians.

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520 Words | 3 Pages

When we had begun the study of the frontier, we had opened with Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier hypothesis learning that the American Spirit of exploration was dead because there was no land left to settle or discover. As the study of the frontier comes to a close, we know significantly more about the West that can contridict Turner’s hypothesis when it concerns the frontier, we also know that Turner isn’t the only historian that has a frontier hypothesis, another is Patricia Nelson Limerick. Though both of the hypotheses were published in different time periods, when someone analyzes the two, both are found alike and different. When comparing the hypotheses, both mention the conquest as a recurring theme of the West, and both argue the Western frontier is important to American history. In Turner’s theory, he mentions it’s part of the American spirit to conquer a land, while Limerick mentioned that the West was

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492 Words | 2 Pages

Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian who argued that the frontier played a decisive role in shaping the American character and culture. Among the many effects of the frontier experience, Turner attributed one significant effect to American culture: rugged individualism. According to Turner, the frontier created a culture that emphasized self-reliance and independence. The challenging conditions of the frontier forced people to depend on themselves and their own resources, which led to a sense of self- reliance and rugged individualism in American culture. The frontier experience also fostered a sense of democracy and egalitarianism, as social class distinctions were less relevant in a frontier environment.

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260 Words | 2 Pages

In this article Chandler addressed a widely glorified view of the manifest destiny spread by common textbooks in circulation in the United States. Chandler describes how this propaganda like belief as such, “One’s opinion about this central aspect of American mythology depends heavily on one’s point of view”(Chandler 153). This statement illuminates the factual idea that the manifest destiny, like so many other american historical events, is told from one perspective, which leaves a huge portion of american history untold. Later on, Chandler narrows in on the idea that the commonly held view on the manifest destiny leaves out the impact this westward expansion had on the “original inhabitants of North America, as well as its ramifications today”(Chandler

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564 Words | 3 Pages

In the Early twentieth century, America experienced immigration on a huge scale. Perhaps more significantly, the United States would come to be called home by immense waves of immigrants from what contemporary observers would sometimes call savage lands. This pejorative remark witnessed to note the fact that late nineteenth and early twentieth century immigrants did not come from the English speaking world (with the exception of the Irish) and that these immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe as well as China and Southeast Asia were somehow inferior. Widespread civil war and social incompetence, missing prospect, and religious liberty pushed these people to America’s coasts. Their dissimilar culture and customs, languages, and other ways of life would play a substantial role in how they would come to be Americanized as these customs literally reshaped American life and added to the polyglot of customs that would become early twentieth century American

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784 Words | 4 Pages

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

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842 Words | 4 Pages

The contrasts between the American West and East in the nineteenth century range from a new start to the adventure of the living in the Wild West. The east had become overcrowded and did not allow much opportunity for people of lesser wealth. “In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. The West, he added, acted as a “safety

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292 Words | 2 Pages

This week we discussed ‘“The Tempest” in the Wilderness: A Tale of Two Frontiers’ by Ronald Takaki. In this article, the author discusses the differences between savagery and civilization. The main argument in this argument is shown in the form of examples of how the Indians and Irish were simply harmless at first when discovering the New World, but quickly made into monsters by the English men. I’m sure we’ve all learned in history of John Smith’s description of how the Powhatans cared for the sick and dying English men.

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847 Words | 4 Pages

Native Americans flourished in North America, but over time white settlers came and started invading their territory. Native Americans were constantly being thrown and pushed off their land. Sorrowfully this continued as the Americans looked for new opportunities and land in the West. When the whites came to the west, it changed the Native American’s lives forever. The Native Americans had to adapt to the whites, which was difficult for them.

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522 Words | 3 Pages

As a scholar, one should not be biased by one perspective or tendency; since we are human, it is hard to maintain objectivity always. Fredrick was so focused on the impact of frontier in the shoes of U.S. citizens and believed the superiority of American history that he lost the

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1594 Words | 7 Pages

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

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