Basics of the Turner Thesis

1. The Frontier Thesis
Did the Frontier Shape America?

2. In 1890 the Superintendant of the Census
took a look at a map of the American west
and declared that the frontier no longer
existed. The continuous line that was said
to mark the boundary between civilization
and the great untamed natural west no
longer existed.
https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/
001/

3. The declaration of the end of the frontier
raised some questions for Americans like
historian Frederick Jackson Turner.
This was because the frontier, in Turner’s
opinion was so deeply embedded in American
identity that it was difficult to conceive of an
America without the frontier.

4. "The existence of an area of free land,
its continuous recession,
and the advance of American settlement
westward explain American development."
-Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994
Would America cease to be America without a
frontier to make people tough, honest, hard
working and self-reliant? For Turner it was an
open question.

5. “…American civilization is unique
due to our frontier experiences
where American character and
values were shaped …”
-Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994

6. Would people like this continue to be part of any future
America?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/The_Cow_Boy_1888.jpg
By John C. H. Grabill [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

7. According to Turner the Frontier Created Great
American Character Traits
Rugged individualism…rather than
dependence on government
Democratic values…w/ distrust for
institutional hierarchies
“Can Do” attitude… confidence in
success of endeavors
w/ ingenuity
-Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994

8. Would future Americans be able to handle adversity like these
people?
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHomesteader_NE_1866.png
See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

9. The Turner Essay examines the movement of the frontier westward
from Jamestown and Plymouth across the continent to California and
it is actually pretty easy to understand.
The problem is that Turner is telling a story that is incomplete. There
were other people involved in the story but that part of the tale is for
another day. It is enough for us to know that Turner had a strong
point of view in the telling of the story. If we are aware of his bias,
then we can still use his writing as a good model to understand part
of the story of the United States. Over the course of the semester, I
hope you will come to understand that it is your job as a student and
a citizen to dig into the ideas of men like Turner and to try to make
sense of those ideas in your own ideological framework.

10. Works Cited
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHomesteader_NE_1866.png
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22994
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/The_Cow_Boy_1888.
jpg
https://www.census.gov/dataviz/visualizations/001/