Synthesized answer
According to the passages, the disappearance of the geographical frontier was considered profoundly significant because it marked the closing of a "great historic movement" that had defined American development. The 1890 census statement that there was no longer a frontier line signaled that "the first period of American history" had ended [1][2]. Up to that point, American history had been "in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West," with the existence of free land and its continuous recession explaining American development [1].
The frontier was seen as the source of core American traits: it provided "a new field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past," and fostered "freshness, and confidence, and scorn of older society" [2]. The frontier was "the line of most rapid and effective Americanization," where European settlers were transformed by the wilderness [4]. It broke "the bonds of custom" and offered new experiences, much like the Mediterranean Sea did for the Greeks [2]. With the frontier gone, the "gifts of free land" would never again be available, raising the question of whether the "expansive character of American life"…
Synthesized from the book passages below. Chat with the book on Feynman for follow-up.
From the book
← Preface The Frontier in American History ( 1893 ) by Frederick Jackson Turner Chapter I Chapter II → This essay was first published in 1893. It was later included, as in this edition, as the first chapter of The Frontier in American History , 1919. 146123 The Frontier in American History — Chapter I 1893 Frederick Jackson Turner The Significance of the Frontier in American History edit In a recent bulletin of the Superintendent of the Census for 1890 appear these significant words: "Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but at present the unsettled area has been…
For a moment, at the frontier, the bonds of custom are broken and unrestraint is triumphant. There is not tabula rasa . The stubborn American environment is there with its imperious summons to accept its conditions; the inherited ways of doing things are also there; and yet, in spite of environment, and in spite of custom, each frontier did indeed furnish a new field of opportunity, a gate of escape from the bondage of the past; and freshness, and confidence, and scorn of older society, impatience of its restraints and its ideas, and indifference to its lessons, have accompanied the frontier.…
with freedom—these are traits of the frontier, or traits called out elsewhere because of the existence of the frontier. Since the days when the fleet of Columbus sailed into the waters of the New World, America has been another name for opportunity, and the people of the United States have taken their tone from the incessant expansion which has not only been open but has even been forced upon them. He would be a rash prophet who should assert that the expansive character of American life has now entirely ceased. Movement has been its dominant fact, and, unless this training has no effect upon…
sity of two or more to the square mile. The term is an elastic one, and for our purposes does not need sharp definition. We shall consider the whole frontier belt, including the Indian country and the outer margin of the "settled area" of the census reports. This paper will make no attempt to treat the subject exhaustively; its aim is simply to call attention to the frontier as a fertile field for investigation, and to suggest some of the problems which arise in connection with it. In the settlement of America we have to observe how European life entered the continent, and how America…
nities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character. The true point of view in the history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the Great West. Even the slavery struggle, which is made so exclusive an object of attention by writers like Professor von Holst, occupies its important place in American history because of its relation to westward expansion. In this advance, the frontier is the outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization. Much has been written about the frontier from the…
More questions about this book
- The text introduces Herbert Hoover's "American Individualism" before detailing Frederick Jackson Turner's "The Frontier in American History." How might the juxtaposition of these two titles suggest a broader intellectual or historical context the compiler wants the reader to consider, even though Hoover's text itself is absent?
- Examine the chapter titles listed for "The Frontier in American History," such as "The Old West," "Contributions of the West to American Democracy," and "Social Forces in American History." What overarching argument or conceptual framework about the frontier's influence on American society does this structure suggest Turner is trying to build?
- The transcriber's notes detail specific decisions regarding typographical errors and the representation of macrons. Why is it crucial for a reader or scholar to understand these seemingly minor editorial choices when interpreting a historical document, and how might such details influence one's confidence in the text's fidelity to the original?
- Turner's essay, first published in 1893, later became Chapter I of his 1921 book. What does this decision to incorporate and position the essay as the initial chapter suggest about its foundational importance to Turner's overarching historical perspective and its enduring relevance within the field?