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The frontier thesis is the argument advanced by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893 that expresses how the concept of the frontier, as the meeting point in between savagery and civilization, influenced the American culture by promoting individualistic democracy. He discusses that growth to the American West altered individuals's views by themselves culture.
"Americanization" is the development of a distinct developed American culture out of primitiveness and savagery.
Initially, the disintegration of savagery occurs when a trader enters the land of the "Indian and the hunter," then the pastoral stage takes place and fails, causing manufacturing organization with the city and factory system.
What "progressive" assessments of history appear in Turner's thesis? Does he recognize any dangers to that process?
Turner expresses the progressive concept that with the frontier's presence, the procedure of Americanization is inevitable and perpetual which individualism will continue to grow. He also discusses, however, that with completion of the frontier's presence, the first period of American history had actually come to a close, which was a majorly controversial statement.
During the 1890s, industrialization, immigration, unionization, and calls for reform in many areas swept the nation.
Turner’s thesis echoed these changes in the nation by discussing the evolution of the “savage” to the “civilized” American. He warns Americans that the future would be cloudy, and maybe even doomed, with the frontier’s collapse.
In spite of Native American and Spanish settlement, it could be argued that since there was no industrial prosperity in the frontier, the land was “empty.” Even though the land was populated, the lack of urbanization in the region made it possible for Turner to argue the emptiness of the land.
The Frontier Thesis in History of America. (2017, Feb 05). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-frontier-thesis-in-history-of-america-essay
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