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Oct 30, 2023

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Tahj Hugley History 1210 09/29/2022 Turner Thesis Essay Fredrick Jackson Turner was a historian in the nineteenth century who is famously known for creating the writing of "The Significance of The Frontier in American History." Turner argued that Americans developed a unique character defined by individualism, democracy, and nationalism. He uses the arguments regarding his support of how individualism, democracy, and nationalism helped create a more advanced society as more people started to move west. Although some believe his argument was not convincing due to the Germanic origins, Turner addresses this by stating, "Too exclusive attention has been paid by institutional students to the Germanic origins, too little to the American factors." (Turner 2). He means that there is too much focus on the Germanic origins and thus takes away from his point, which is that the American influence drives the argument. Turner argued that individualism was a key driving factor in the development of Americans and believed that "…the frontier is productive of individualism." (Turner 6). He believed that the frontier was anti-social, producing animosity towards being controlled. He compared the use of government officials collecting taxes as oppressive, which he believes were necessary factors in forming the idea of freedom and individualism. These beliefs hold concurrent today when analyzing how when citizens are oppressed; they tend to fight harder for their freedom or individuality. Turner romanticized the struggle for freedom and individuality by emphasizing the critical common ways people during that time saw the government as being

oppressive and using that to convince people that the only way to get freedom and individuality is to fight hard for it until it pays off, without going into details of what was sacrificed to achieve these goals. "The frontier individualism has from the beginning promoted democracy" (Turner 6); Turner closely ties individuality and democracy together to further his stance on individuality and introduce its effects on democracy. He argued that democracy rose and became an influential part force due to Jackson and Harrison, which would lead to success in the new nation. He believed that although there were some good aspects of democracy, there were also some evil elements. Turner believed that democracy had its danger just as much as its benefits; he argued that democracy allowed its citizens to push the boundaries they were and to push for their rights. He combatted that statement with the notion that it also allowed people to become too lax regarding government affairs, allowing the government to manifest evils. Turner also argued that "The growth of nationalism and the evolution of American political institutions were dependent on the advance of the frontier." (Turner 5). What he meant by this is that for nationalism to grow, the frontier needed to thrive. The goal of the new frontier was to promote nationalism, and the only way for this to happen was to inspire people to move west. The significance of the new frontier was that it would unite the nation and promote economic growth. With Turner influencing people to move west with his paper, he, in turn, helped promote the growth of nationalism and the expansion of the western parts of the United States. Turner argued that "Nothing works for nationalism like intercourse within the nation." (Turner 6), by which he means that nothing works better for nationalism than the unification of the nation. When the nation works as a whole and is not divided, it has a greater chance for growth.

Turner used the citizens of America's individuality and inclination for democracy to support his claim that Americans developed a unique character that promoted nationalism in the United States. The movement of citizens moving westward played a crucial role in the unification of the people of America and thus promoted the nation's economic growth. "Steadily the frontier of settlement advanced and carried with it individualism, democracy, and nationalism, and powerfully affected the East and the Old World." (Turner 8); Turner states that the effects of the frontier on the American economic system carried over to the east and old world and promoted economic growth throughout all of America and not just the western parts. His argument was convincing enough to establish a national movement west. Even with the critiques of the Germanic germ theory and his romanticism of tragic yet essential parts of history, he still made way for America to have an economic system that is still apparent today.

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