Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner was born on November 14, 1861, in Portage, Wis, a country town that was inhabited by many European immigrants. Turner attended Portage High School where he won a prize to provide a lecture in a graduation ceremony, a speech that was printed in a newspaper owned by his father. During his youthful years, Turner worked for his father in his newspaper office where he had the duty of typesetting the information to be printed on the newspapers. In 1880, Turner joined the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he gained knowledge about the historical institutions such as feudal monarchy and medieval church from Professor William F. Allen. Later, Turner declared that Allen introduced him to the significance of institutional theory, a theme that is currently viewed in Turner’s writings mostly on the history of the development of American democracy. Turner graduated in 1884 and later completed his master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin. He then joined John Hopkins University in 1888, where he studied his doctorate. Bennett claims that Turner wedded his long-time girlfriend named Caroline Mae Sherwood in 1889. Currently, Frederick Jackson Turner is recognized as one of the best American Historian writers of the United States history. Many of his history works were used in rewriting the most of the American account in the 20th century. Frederick Jackson Turner is one of the most recognized historians because of his significant contributions to the American history. Many historians have reviewed his work, which includes the development of the frontier thesis that explains the frontier theory including life on the frontier and describing its closing, contributions to history, his teaching career, and worldwide influence.
The Frontier Theory
Turner’s theory is based on his recognized thesis that is titled “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” which projected that the American frontier could be used to establish the reasons why America expanded in a different manner compared to Europe and other countries. Turner believed that the frontier situation and the fact that the American population faced emerging and unexpected problems subjected them to management, and provided many positive opportunities. From his theory, the frontiers provided a safety opportunity that prevented America from developing a social status class realization and experiencing a severe struggle.
Lee Benson is one of the historians who supports Turner’s claim that when American entered the New World, they experienced new challenges, climate changes, and large pieces of land, which was different from what they had experienced in Europe. Initially, these Americans were used to thinking and reacting like Europeans, but the occurrences experienced in the new world subjected them to establish and acquire new methods of conducting tasks, and reacting according to the difficulties they experienced. It was the changes, the confrontation on the perimeter of evolution, and the harsh conditions of the new country that developed the American character. Through these procedures, the American population on the frontiers rearranged themselves constantly to develop a exceptional and skilled category of people who had the determination to explore the wilderness and generate a sound individualism. As successive generations of the American society explored further west of the wilderness, they developed different institutions, categorical class differences, churches, and established governments from their experiences. This contributed to the development of independent and democratic living conditions.
As Turner reviewed the entrance of Americans in the New World, he recognized that the background of American civilization was inspired by the first European immigration to the New World. However, he claimed that the American West adopted the European immigration and transformed it into something that was American in nature. One of the factors that differed from the European background was the process of democracy. Turner believed that the resilient American population travelled to the west and in the process lost the layer of European civilization, which made them harsh. This was facilitated through surviving the process of facing hardships of their daily life in the wilderness, harsh conditions of the weather, and outbreak of unknown diseases. Through this, Turner claims that American democracy was not carried from one city to another, but it was developed from the American forest, and gained additional potency every time it reached a new frontier. With this, the frontier theory was applied on different levels in the American history, and is currently used to explain history and democracy to Latin American nations, Australia, and Russia among other countries to explain the foundation of nationalized characteristics.
To elaborate on the frontier theory, Turner claims that a love for freedom, self-reliance, and energy are fundamental factors in the American heritage, which are also connected to recognized great leaders such as Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. The lives of these great presidents are an example of the influence of the western frontier democracy in the American life. The major traditional frontier regions of America were gradually changed by different generations of the new society. With this, there were social changes caused by changing environmental, financial, societal, and political factors that created a new character and nationality in America. The American society started developing with regional differences with the largest and powerful regions being the North and South of America.
Life on the Frontier
Turner’s essay on the frontier emphasizes on the fact that, the American history was influenced by the living conditions of the primary settlers of the frontier and the presence of unoccupied land ready to be settled upon and used. In part of his thesis, Turner declares that the presence of a large area of free land and the progress of American settlement to the west explains the American development. Therefore, to explain the American expansion, Turner reviewed the primary settlers of the American West; the people considered to having influenced the American character and growth. This means that Frederick Jackson Turner is a recognized historian for reviewing the lifestyle of Americans through two diverse classes of settlers, which included fur traders and miners.
Fur Traders
In the ancient period, turner reviewed the lifestyles of primary occupants of the American West who consisted of fur traders. These traders explored the west in search for high-quality fur. Many traders and farmers entered the west from the east routes that were discovered by Jedediah Smith who was the business partner of the Rocky Mountain Company. Turner shows that, at the beginning of the fur trade, the settlers did not understand the relationships that existed among the Americans, primarily the process of providing them with fur in exchange for other products at the cost of a small price. The settlers, including Indians, did not comprehend the societal organization of the Americans where the process of distributing presents was used for international relations. Secondly, the settlers lived close to natural resources and did not recognize the laws of possession compared to the Americans. The settlers, primarily the Indians, did not understand what the American did with all the collected beaver furs or why they acquired goods for providing them beavers. Conversely, the Americans and Europeans in the New World did not have a similar understanding of the significance of substance goods compared to Indians. Therefore, intelligent traders from America generated up to 100 percent profit from the furs collected. Nevertheless, with time, Indians learned that trading with the Americans would contribute to the economy of the tribe. Because of this, fur trade involved the exchange of axes, woolen clothes, iron tool for cooking, and liquor especially rum, named as British milk. The realization of the positive influences that the trade presented provided the settlers with efficient methods of cooking, comfortable and beautiful clothes, and faster ways of cutting wood for fuel. However, apart from the advantages, Americans presented negative impacts such as alcohol, diseases such as smallpox, corruption, and slavery.
Turner explains that the process of the fur business with its continuous and successful nature allowed the occurrence of constant changes while each adventure into the wilderness in search of fur contributed to the discovery of new people, opportunities, and issues that demanded the application of different solutions. This experiences and establishment of new environments forced the creation of a democratic structure within the new areas discovered to allow further trade and exploration. With the development of democratic structures, traders, native-settlers, and explorers had the freedom to find and exchange fur with different goods. Moreover, Turner stipulated that Americans learned new ways of acting rationally under extreme circumstances. It is apparent that the ruggedness, literacy, and devoutness presented the multiplicity of traders, primarily Americans who participated in the fur trade.
Different from Turner’s proposal, some historians such as Saum argued that American traders did not abandon their practices when they travelled in the wilderness to engage in the fur trade. Saum claimed that they never gave up their civilization because they feared becoming savages. This people are believed to have been literate men who had a sense of the European civilization that clashed with the native cultures. Because of this, Saum claims that there was little democracy developed from the fur trade.
Miners
In explaining the mining process, turner clarifies that it was similar to fur trading because it was consisted of an increased level of gluttony and the desire to generate capital and accumulate wealth promptly. The placer stage in the mining process was easy for the miners compared to the level of rock mining that followed despite later developments of the Industrial Revolution and technology. Many people from different countries started the rush towards mining. This included the North and South Americans, Asians, and Europeans. By the year 1852, almost 3000 miners had moved to the New World in such of gold. Once they arrived, they realized that life for miners was difficult because it needed a lot of effort, and was made worse by weather conditions and outbreak of diseases. Web supported Turners ides and argued that many miners became isolated and lonely on the mining fields while their food decayed, and others died due to the collapse of the mines. As a way to forget their harsh lives on the mining fields, the miners wrote letters to their families, gambled, and drank whisky. Surprisingly, the miners did not get rich from the gold trade. Instead, those who profited were the people who supplied goods and services to the miners because in return, they acquired gold, which they sold and gained a lot of money. Conversely, miners were in need of provisions, shelter, outfits, and apparatus for mining thus they acquired this by trading their gold.
The industrial revolution of deep rock mining contributed to changes in procedures from the frontier to a settled mining industry, and it became a big business. The drastic changes presented by the deep rock mining revolution occurred following the problems experienced when miners reached the rock level. Turner believes that the established technology and the competence to work deep on the rocks made the miner’s lives miserable. This is because their skills were no longer required while the establishment of capital investment took control of money from the community and miners and directed the control to different owners who were mostly in different countries. Following this, miners started developing democratic unions to try to regain their positions in the mining process. The loss of their ability to participate in the mining process and the establishment of unique businesses and organizations where independence was overshadowed by business greed and capitalism increased the reaction of the union organizations as the miners responded to unfair conditions around them. This mainly occurred in cases where the established governments could not offer any help, forcing the miners to develop ways to fight for their rights. Turner believes that the stages of the mining process present the American heritage of fighting for freedom and democracy.
Through the frontier thesis, Turner’s most fundamental and recognized contribution to American history was encouraging a clear understanding of the development of American Democracy. The theories that Frederick developed have been debated and criticized throughout the United States and other countries, but Turner has remained one of the most convincing and challenging historian to produce American history. Despite the fact that Turner admitted exaggerating his explanations while he discussed the subject of the frontier in connection with democracy, his thesis of the West movement is currently one of the most recognized factors that influenced American development and the creation of American character traits. These perspectives are clear and valid.
On the issue of mining, different historians such as Johnsons argue in a postmodernist view and discuss minorities of the gold rush who are women. Many people from different parts of the world assembled in the gold fields, and many came from countries that did not have democratic ideas of self-governments. The argument presented by Johnsons supports Turner’s thesis about the development of democratic principles as the people tried to establish methods of working together and organize their community. Despite the fact that many of the cultures did not blend, there was a common understanding and ways of performing tasks.
The Closing of the Frontier
Turner claims that the concluding of the frontier occurred in 1890, when the United States census superintendent declared that with rapid western settlement, there was no frontier line left. This is because, in a quarter century, an amount of three million families had settled and started farming on the lands. Therefore, by the end of the nineteenth century, different people or Americans settled in the West. There were railroads in all parts of the constituency, which included the Great Northern that was beside the Canadian boundary, and the Southern pacific that covered Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico regions that connected to New Orleans and Los Angeles. Moreover, the concluding of the frontier was facilitated by the invasion of farmers, traders, and miners, which increased on the census that contributed to the entrance of new cities that created an enhancement in the cattle or mining business. This includes Denver, San Francisco, and Mississippi West.
With the closure of the frontier, and the availability of additional people farming on lands after 1890, the American experience was not yet over. However, with an approach for the beginning of another century, there was an innovative perspective for the environment and Americans values for the west. Following the end of the frontier, there was a noteworthy interest among Americans to preserve the wilderness. This contributed to the development of national parks such as Yellowstone National Park that was established in 1872 and California’s Yosemite in 1890, which were among the national parks developed to protect the wilderness areas. Moreover, in 1891, the congress implemented the Forest Reserve Act that stipulated that the acting president had the duty to shut timber areas from settlements and generate national forests through acquiring the land from the communal realm. Following this, Benjamin Harrison took millions of acres under the Act and declared the land as the part required for the generation of the national forest. Additionally, many establishments were developed to preserve natural resources such as the Pacific Coast Mountain Ranges. The preservation methods also focused on developing different trends that emphasized on establishing methods of making used of the available natural resources of the West. This contributed to the establishment of many projects such as the development of dams, power lines, and irrigation schemes.
The close of the frontier as Turner believes contributed to the entrance into a period of concentration of capital, monopolies, trusts, and labor that were connected to unions and cooperation. These changes contributed to a movement for expansion that was intended to transpire beyond the United States on the political and social level. Moreover, Turner believed that the expansion contributed to the development of political parties in the United States, and divided on issues that were connected to the question of socialism. Without the control of the frontier, many average workers experienced worse conditions in their jobs thus facilitating political debates that entailed motions on the actions to be taken to end unfair working conditions. As previous frontiers closed, Americans embarked on a new perspective of establishing a political frontier. Nevertheless, Americans had inherited the frontier character of individualism and democratic optimism.
Contributions to History
Turner is recognized for his significant contributions to different sectors in the American History and the development of new methods of viewing past events. He challenged research historians to use different methods while conducting their studies such as geography, sociology, monetary records, and statistics established from surveys. Turner’s methods of research and sources were different from those of traditional historians, which made people doubt the credibility of his theories and work. Nevertheless, he claimed that historians had the right to use any source of knowledge or tools that would assist in explaining past events. Additionally, he encouraged historians to cease using New England and the Seaboard South events to explain history, but to review the past through patterns of immigration and distribution of people, urbanization, political performance, financial history, social and cultural behaviors and the frontier experience.
Billington a recognized historian believes that Turner’s review and belief of the frontier contributed to his change of perspective regarding the common knowledge about America and its generation. This is because Turner was trained to utilize German historical research techniques in Hopkins, primarily the germ theory that stipulated that all American organizations derived their study methods from ancient German tribal practices. Turner utilized the German techniques while writing his work, such as the frontier essay written in 1893. This contributed to the turning point in the American historical research background because, after a decade of the essay’s publication, the frontier experience had a permanent effect on the Americans and their character. It also became the central principle of the American historical research and an issue of ongoing debates. “The Significance of the Section in American History,” written in 1925 was another of Turner’s essay that consisted of geographical and economic insights. Although the essay won a prize, its thesis of sectionalism was used to explain the history of America on a small margin. However, the thesis was widely recognized among historical geographers, political researchers, and in geography studies. Through his essays and thesis statements, Turner is recognized for his presentation of the individuality of America and belief that the country offers a background to study the progression of society. Nevertheless, Turner used different methods of research and was not a geographic or an economic researcher.
Turner, together with other historians who followed his example such as Franklin Jameson and Woodrow Wilson among others created a background that controlled research methods and historical perspectives that were utilized in different institutions. Despite the fact that Turner’s theories were highly criticized since the declaration of the frontier thesis, his work and that of his followers were studied in many universities from 1893 to the period of the Great Depression. His perspectives were also re-visited after the Second World War though in an adjusted modern methodology.
Turners Teaching Career
Turner taught in the University of Wisconsin from the year 1889 to 1910, where he focused on teaching the frontier history through his writings and lectures. This shows that his teaching career revolved around his works such as his publications of the Frontier thesis that was read in 1893, and Indian Trade essay read in Wisconsin 1891. Moreover, Turner used his books such as “Rise of the New West” that was followed by a number of essays including “The Frontier in the American History.” Through his teachings and the use of his books, Turner established a wide audience who believed in his ideas.
From the University of Wisconsin, Turner moved to Harvard University in 1910 where he taught until his retirement in 1924. He then moved to Southern California where he continued to conduct American historical investigations as a research partner in Huntington Library.
Turners Influence
Turner’s work especially his essays influenced many historians in the past and currently. In the sector of historiography, Turner influenced many historians. For instance, in religion, different historians argued that many churches utilized the characteristics established in the frontier theory by establishing different churches apart from the single church developed before the discovery of the New World. This as the historians argued was facilitated by the creation of American organizations such as camp meetings, preaching, and revivals. These perspectives controlled religious history for many decades.
In the film industries, many historians show that the 1910s and 1940s filmmakers and novelists utilized Turner’s frontier theory into their work. For instance, a recognized filmmaker named Oscar Micheaux promoted the West as a region where Blacks had the right to ignore race and participate in economic activities to earn financial success through determination and hard work. Currently, the widespread and acknowledgment of Turner’s frontier thesis has influenced modern history, films, and books, which mostly present the West with regards to independence, frontier hard life and hostility and irregular justice. Disney’s frontier land established in the late 20th century reflected Turner’s belief of the harsh individualism that is currently viewed as the American tradition.
In conclusion, Frederick Jackson Turner was a recognized historian who emphasized on the role the western frontier in the American history from the year 1861 to 1951. He wrote a thesis that stressed on the Western frontier as the major factor that contributed to the development of the current American character. The frontier thesis is used to explain the frontier theory where Turner believes that the American democracy, nature of American organizations, and the unique American character were facilitated by the Americans frontier experience. It also explains the life on the frontier through the original lifestyles of the first settlers categorized as fur traders and miners. It explains the concluding of the frontier giving way to new developments of Americans following the closure of lands and the adoption of different methods to preserve the wilderness. Through his frontier thesis, books, and other essays, Turner has contributed to American history through his works. He also used his teaching career to establish a group of followers who continued with his work and influenced an increased number of people. Lastly, Turner has influenced many people worldwide including filmmakers and novelists who have utilized his work of the Frontier thesis to explain the West. Through his essay, Turner has been established as a recognized historian through presenting evidence that shows that the Western frontier contributed to the American character that can be viewed in the United States today.
Bibliography
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