| Basic Concept: Frederick Jackson
Turner's "Significance of the Frontier"
In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner, a young University of Wisconsin historian of the American scene, announced that the American frontier was closed and delivered one of the most influential interpretations of the American westward experience. According to his interpretation, no other factor has been more important in shaping American character and values than the fact of the moving Western frontier. That influence is seen in the evolution of democracy over 150 plus years, selected in the wisdom not of the philosophers and social theorists but by the farmers and laborers who discovered that democracy was best on the frontier simply because it worked best to get the job done. That we failed to adopt even the style of the European aristocrat is due to nothing more complex than such costuming got tattered pretty quickly when rubbing up against prickly pear cactus, sage brush, and barbed wire fence. Aristocratic institutions would have faired no better in the rough and tumble necessities of decision making on the frontier. . Online Connections Click here to read a full online copy of Turner's "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." Read "Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis of American History" for a brief review of Turner's influence. . Our Course Connections Read Turner's essay in the context of other American writers who address the physical frontier in their commentaries, particularly St. Jean de Crevecoeur, the diarists like Sarah Kemble Knight and William Byrd, Franklin, Edwards, and Bryant. .  |