After reading Turner’s The Significance of the Frontier in American History you find that he put a lot of emphasis in the fact the there was no more frontier. Turner places a greater emphasis on the development of American republicanism than on territorial conquest. “In 1789 the States were the creators of the Federal Government; in 1861 the Federal Government was the creator of a large majority of the States” This concept makes more sense after you have read this paper. There are parts in this paper that make you wonder what Turner is talking about. You wonder whether he is saying the frontier of America is the physical expansion of America and this is what effected the government and laws or if it is the environment and culture of the areas that affected the way people started viewing the government and laws.
The idea of the frontier comes from people thinking that the exploration and settlement of America was endless. According to Turner, there were no more frontiers after the 1890 census. He believed this because “at present the unsettled area has been so broken into by isolated bodies of settlement that there can hardly be said to be a frontier line.” Turner believed this because there may have been areas that did not have many people and may have had only one or two but the area had had people explore it and know what was there. The people might not have wanted to stay there but the newness of the area was gone
In the chapter that we read from Tuner, he gives us his view of how America was shaped by the westward explanation and the exploration of the frontier. He shows us the reader that there were many influencing factors in the development of America as a nation. He tells us that the frontier is what has made this country what it is today. The quote in the reading that made me think this was when Tuner wrote, “At first the frontier was the Atlantic coast. It was the frontier of Europe… Moving westward, the frontier became more and more American.” “ Thus the advance of the frontier has meant a steady movement away from the influence of Europe, a steady growth of independence on American lines.” We also see that Tuner believed that the frontier is what created Americanization. Americanization is when and how a person becomes an American not a German, or a English man or even a Irishman. The frontier strips the clothing away from a person and makes him put on different clothing that helps him start a new life as an American.
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