The Frontier Thesis
The Frontier Thesis
Introduction
The emergence of western history as an important field of scholarship started with Frederick Jackson Turner’s (1861-1932) famous essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American history.”[1] This thesis shaped both popular and scholarly views of the West for the next two generations. In his thesis, Turner argued that the West had to be taken seriously. He felt that up to his time there had not been enough research of what he in his essay call “the fundamental, dominating fact in the U.S. history”: the territorial expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The frontier past was, according to Turner, the best way to describe the distinctive American history and character.
To this day, Turner’s thesis remains one of the most widely discussed interpretations of the American past and it still continues to influence historians. Even though many scholars have questioned the thesis as an acceptable theory of explaining American history and culture, the thesis has its strengths. Turner explained what made America unique. America as a unique nation was already a belief when the first colonies were established on the East coast. And the notion that America was exceptional would continue to be re-created again and again on the frontier. The frontier was closely related to the myth that sustained the American faith, the ideals and images that represent the American Dream as well as America as an exceptional nation.
The purpose of this paper is to look at the essence of Turner’s argument in his essay, as well as discuss his strongest and weakest arguments. The paper will end with a look at the West as a myth.
The essence of Turner’s thesis
In Turner’s mind, the settlement of the West by white people –“the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward” was the most important part of American history.[2] This is the major theme in Turner’s essay and the
Introduction
The emergence of western history as an important field of scholarship started with Frederick Jackson Turner’s (1861-1932) famous essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American history.”[1] This thesis shaped both popular and scholarly views of the West for the next two generations. In his thesis, Turner argued that the West had to be taken seriously. He felt that up to his time there had not been enough research of what he in his essay call “the fundamental, dominating fact in the U.S. history”: the territorial expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The frontier past was, according to Turner, the best way to describe the distinctive American history and character.
To this day, Turner’s thesis remains one of the most widely discussed interpretations of the American past and it still continues to influence historians. Even though many scholars have questioned the thesis as an acceptable theory of explaining American history and culture, the thesis has its strengths. Turner explained what made America unique. America as a unique nation was already a belief when the first colonies were established on the East coast. And the notion that America was exceptional would continue to be re-created again and again on the frontier. The frontier was closely related to the myth that sustained the American faith, the ideals and images that represent the American Dream as well as America as an exceptional nation.
The purpose of this paper is to look at the essence of Turner’s argument in his essay, as well as discuss his strongest and weakest arguments. The paper will end with a look at the West as a myth.
The essence of Turner’s thesis
In Turner’s mind, the settlement of the West by white people –“the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward” was the most important part of American history.[2] This is the major theme in Turner’s essay and the