The frontier line, which separates civilization from wilderness, is the most rapid and effective Americanization on the continent; it takes the European from across the Atlantic and shapes him into something new. Frederick Jackson Turner For the full article, see, https://www.britannica.com/summary/Frederick-Jackson-Turner. Whereas in his 1893 essay he celebrated the pioneers for the spirit of individualism that spurred migration westward, 25 years later Turner castigated these slashers of the forest, these self-sufficing pioneers, raising the corn and livestock for their own need, living scattered and apart. For Turner the national problem was no longer how to cut and burn away the vast screen of the dense and daunting forest but how to save and wisely use the remaining timber. At the end of his career, he stressed the vital role that regionalism would play in counteracting the atomization brought about by the frontier experience. "The American West: A New Interpretive History" (2000), deals with events, not historiography; concise edition is. I spent a week here last fall and of course feel very natural to be here again. [38], A 2020 study in Econometrica found empirical support for the frontier thesis, showing that frontier experience had a causal impact on individualism.[39]. Lottie remained in China through famines, the Boxer Rebellion, and other hardships. A treaty with Nicaragua set the early course for the future construction of a canal across Central America. [1], Turner speculated how the frontier drove American history and helped shape American culture in the 1890s. 0000019771 00000 n [34], Turner never published a major book on the frontier for which he did 40 years of research. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier (1893) WebIdentify the contributions of Frederick Jackson Turner and Alfred Thayer Mahan to the conscious creation of an American empire a variety of factors, from the closing of the American frontier to the countrys increased industrial production, led the United States to look beyond its borders. Turner His essays were collected in The Frontier in American History (1920) and Significance of Sections in American History (1932, Pulitzer Prize). The United States also began to expand its influence to other Pacific Islands, most notably Samoa and Hawaii. 0000002878 00000 n @T @P@ABD"RT ZQ-GhuAhRZ7~VQ[wgvfwv 02I-F $Nd |Okc{Y c ]}&DqZ +@xp} 6!Q&zgA0uly3b7lG Pg9XCf~YhO 95YGN1A wSO BOnK`sB'\nMl~ t67Mc\4fC: _R*` XiS>k:ri9S9 .qV0]l9|)=zqE6v)+ f32\ -46q$LBsx0K)Pi3B,_8`iPM-qgtGb~TLVJd(iE4G/ = In his speech, Turner maintained that the frontierthat region just beyond or at the edge of a settled areawashed away all European influences and created a distinctive American character. WebIt was the vast frontier stretching out to the west of the developed land on the North American continent that shaped the American characterand the course of US history. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. There was no longer an unbroken frontier line in the United States, although frontier conditions lasted in certain parts of the American West until 1920. But her primary goal was to evangelize her Christian beliefs to the people in China. The Frontier Thesis or Turner's Thesis (also American frontierism) is the argument advanced by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 that a settler colonial exceptionalism, under the guise of American democracy, was formed by the appropriation of the rugged American frontier. Often in their writing, it was clear that they felt divinely empowered to change the lives of other, less fortunate, and presumably, less enlightened, people. 0000118728 00000 n The Significance of the Frontier in American History. Essay. WebIn 1893, three years after the superintendent of the Census announced that the western frontier was closed, Frederick Jackson Turner, a historian from the University of While Turner provided the idea for an empire, Mahan provided the more practical guide. "the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the A modern simplification d On the tide of the Father of Waters, North and South met and mingled into a nation. Later he focused on sectionalism as a force in U.S. development. Omissions? Harris N.S. Hb```a``7e`c`db@ !V(G/un0}:gn_p0 WebFrom Frederick Jackson Turner, The Frontier in American History (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1920), pp. As a result of these growing economic pressures, American exports to other nations skyrocketed in the years following the Civil War, from $234 million in 1865 to $605 million in 1875. Frederick Jackson Turner | Biography, Works, & Influence [25] Alexander Petrov noted that Russia had its own Frontier and Russians moved over centuries across Siberia all the way from the Urals to the Pacific, struggling with nature in many physical ways similar to the American move across North America - without developing the social and political characteristics noted by Turner. 0000090409 00000 n [52][53][54] Of special concern is the question whether the electronic frontier will broadly replicate the stages of development of the American land frontier. While certainly not all reformers espoused a racist view of intelligence and civilization, many of these reformers believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was mentally superior to others and owed the presumed less evolved populations their stewardship and social uplift-a service the British writer Rudyard Kipling termed the white mans burden.. Turner should be counted among the progressive historians, though, with the political temperament of a small-town Midwesterner, his progressivism was rather timid. How did Frederick Jackson Turner claim that the "closing of the Sewards previous acquisition of the Midway Islands served this purpose by providing an essential naval coaling station, which was vital, as the limited reach of steamships and their dependence on coal made naval coaling stations imperative for increasing the navys geographic reach. Imports over the same period also increased substantially, from $238 million in 1865 to $616 million in 1898. Editors of such magazines as Century, Outlook, and Harpers supported an imperialistic stance as the democratic responsibility of the United States. The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature. To read this article in full you will need to make a payment. Project Gutenberg, 2007. He won wide acclaim among historians and intellectuals. 10, Allan G. Bogue, "Frederick Jackson Turner Reconsidered,", William Coleman, "Science and Symbol in the Turner Frontier Hypothesis,". duP+ h0'$1e=T)S!H#PhB "[22], Historians, geographers, and social scientists have studied frontier-like conditions in other countries, with an eye on the Turnerian model. He stresses how the availability of very large amounts of nearly free farm land built agriculture, pulled ambitious families to the western frontier, and created an ethos of unlimited opportunity. Only if gold were to be found, the editors decried, would the secretive purchase be justified. To the contrary, Siberia - the Russian Frontier Land - became emblematic of the oppression of Czarist Absolute Monarchy. We use cookies to help provide and enhance our service and tailor content. Her true passion, however, was to evangelize and minister, and she undertook a campaign to urge the Southern Baptist missionaries to allow women to work beyond the classroom. 0000122616 00000 n Publisher. Micheaux promoted the West as a place where blacks could experience less institutionalized forms of racism and earn economic success through hard work and perseverance. In the history of religion, for example, Boles (1993) notes that William Warren Sweet at the University of Chicago Divinity School as well as Peter G. Mode (in 1930), argued that churches adapted to the characteristics of the frontier, creating new denominations such as the Mormons, the Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, and the Cumberland Presbyterians. Their good intentions and willingness to work in difficult conditions shone through in the letters and articles they wrote from the field. He pursued these goals through a variety of actions. It would be a nation in which people were not particularly individualistic Next: The Spanish-American War and Overseas Empire, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, Explain the evolution of American interest in foreign affairs from the end of the Civil War through the early 1890s, Identify the contributions of Frederick Jackson Turner and Alfred Thayer Mahan to the conscious creation of an American empire. They adapted to the new physical, economic and political environment in certain waysthe cumulative effect of these adaptations was Americanization. Turner The "Turner [5] The exclusion of women is one of the central debates around his work, particularly referred to by New Western Historians. It has been subsequently reprinted and anthologized many times, and was incorporated into Turner's 1920 book, The Frontier in American History, as Chapter I. The American frontier began when the British colonialists settled in North America in the 17th century and ended with the admission of New Mexico and Arizona in . For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions rF"e7I(xE\Z9Ni,S!`$='*f82bS8}UdK2n+IIdFkhZoll-: Turner elaborated on the theme in his advanced history lectures and in a series of essays published over the next 25 years, published along with his initial paper as The Frontier in American History. Frontier thesis - Wikipedia Thus the advance of the frontier has meant a steady In the end, Turners view would win out among historians, which Roosevelt would accept. Since he saw the ability to move further into It came out of the American forest, and it gained new strength each time it touched a new frontier," said Turner. Turner concluded that the demands for a vigorous foreign policy, for an interoceanic canal, for a revival of our power upon our seas, and for the extension of American influence to outlying islands and adjoining countries are indications that the forces [of expansion] will continue. Such policies would permit Americans to find new markets. The Western Historical Quarterly is published for the Western Historical Association by Utah State University, and the Department of History, Utah State University. 0000121679 00000 n Imperialism and Progressivism were compatible in the minds of many reformers who thought the Progressive impulses for democracy at home translated overseas as well. Below is the article summary. Author of Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer and editor of The American Heritage Encyclopedia Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. It explained why the American people and American government were so different from their European counterparts. The farther West Americans pushed (the farther into the Frontier they went) the more unique of an American identity developed. The initial work of businesses, missionaries, and reformers set the stage by the early 1890s for advocates of an expanded foreign policy and a vision of an American empire. WebIn 1890, the U.S. Census revealed that the frontier (defined as fewer than two people per square mile) was closed. Walker D. Wyman and Clifton B. Kroeber, eds. Free shipping for many products! They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Heeding Mahans advice, the government moved quickly, passing the Naval Act of 1890, which set production levels for a new, modern fleet. The process of westward expansion had transformed a desolate and savage [3], Turner's emphasis on the importance of the frontier in shaping American character influenced the interpretation found in thousands of scholarly histories. 0000120585 00000 n She argues that his context and upbringing led him to ignore the female portion of society, which directly led to the frontier becoming an exclusively male phenomenon. In spite of this, Turner laments, the frontier has received little serious study from historians and economists. Specifically, the thesis underscores the pervasive racism and disregard for the indigenous communities, cultures, and individuals in the American borderlands and beyond. The age of expansionism had come to a close once the national boundaries reached both the west and east coasts O American democracy was largely formed by the American frontier Expansion had been a dominant part of American life for three centuries O The American Turner held that the American character was decisively shaped by conditions on the frontier, in particular the abundance of free land, the settling of which engendered such traits as self-reliance, individualism, inventiveness, restless energy, mobility, materialism, and optimism.