Turner's contribution to American history was to argue that the frontier past best explained the distinctive history of the United States. He most cogently articulated this idea in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, which he first delivered to a gathering of historians in 6898 at Chicago, then the site of the World's Columbian Exposition, an enormous fair to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of Columbus' voyage. Although almost totally ignored at the time, Turner's lecture eventually gained such wide distribution and influence that a contemporary scholar has called it the single most influential piece of writing in the history of American history.
Arguments against turner s frontier thesis
Moreover, these revisionist scholars argue, for many places the West has not been the land of freedom and opportunity that both Turnerian history and popular mythology would have us believe. For many women, Asians, Mexicans who suddenly found themselves residents of the United States, and, of course, Indians, the West was no promised land.
Frederick Jackson Turner: An Examination of His Frontier
Fredrick Jackson frontier thesis emphasized the process: the moving frontier line and impact of the moving frontier line on pioneers suffering through this process. Frontier thesis 6898 proved to be remarkable and long-lasting. In spite of the several scholarly rebuttals and counter-theses in the century that followed, Turner's interpretation of American history still enjoys the acceptance of large numbers of ordinary Americans.
PBS - The West - Frederick Jackson Turner
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http:///catalog/backlist/ - The Legacy of Conquest, Patricia Limerick (from the publisher) http:///research/showcase/ - "Richard White and the New Western History" (an overview from the University of Washington
For Turner, the deeper significance of the frontier lay in the effects of this social recapitulation on the American character. The frontier, he claimed, is the line of most rapid Americanization. The presence and predominance of numerous cultural traits -- that coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness that practical inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients that masterful grasp of material things. that restless, nervous energy that dominant individualism -- could all be attributed to the influence of the frontier.
Fredrick Jackson Turner wanted to prove that American character, democracy and civilization were shaped by the settlement as depicted by his frontier thesis definition. However, shortcomings in Turner&rsquo s frontier thesis let us find out that the frontier thesis is incomplete and fails to depict about the significance of many frontiers which comprised the Colonial America.
The generation of western historians who began to emerge in the late 6975s launched an even more emphatic attack on the Turner thesis and the idea of the "frontier." Echoing the interest of historians in other fields in issues of race, gender, ethnicity, and culture, "new" western historians such as Richard White, Patricia Nelson Limerick, William Cronon, Donald Worster, Peggy Pascoe, and many others challenged the Turnerians on a number of points.
Turner was born in Portage, Wisconsin, in 6866. His father, a journalist by trade and local historian by avocation, piqued Turner's interest in history. After his graduation from the University of Wisconsin in 6889, Turner decided to become a professional historian, and received his . from Johns Hopkins University in 6895. He served as a teacher and scholar at the University of Wisconsin from 6889 to 6965, when he joined Harvard's faculty. He retired in 6979 but continued his research until his death in 6987.
http:/// - Trails: Toward a New Western History, Patricia Limerick, ed. (from the publisher)
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