Frontier Turner Analysis

What 1890 Census words motivate Turner’s essay? Why is this a significant “brief official statement”?

Turner’s essay is motivated essentially by the fact that the frontier is disappearing. The 1890 Census explicitly states that “Up to and including 1880 the country had a frontier of settlement, but 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….[the frontier’s extent] can not therefore have a place in the census reports”. Turner’s essay is sparked by this statement because he does not want the frontier to disappear, since he believes that the frontier has given so much to the American culture and contributed so much to American history, and he believes

that it can keep influencing American life if it is saved. This is an extremely significant “brief official statement” because it is stating the the frontier is no longer extending; it is, in a sense, “closing”. The movement of the frontier is ending, and according to Turner, a “great historic movement” is closing with it as well. In his essay, Turner hopes to remind us how profoundly and uniquely America was developed by the frontier, and how great the movement of the frontier itself was.

Explain what Turner contends has been the “distinguishing feature of American life.”
Turner asserts the the “distinguishing feature of American life” is the people’s ability to make notable developments. He says that the American people are able to transform a primitive society (on the frontier) into a functioning society; they are able to continually do this as the frontier continually extends. Turner calls this “perennial rebirth”, and it highlights the American’s “fluidity” and ability to adapt based on the circumstances. This, therefore, allows for more opportunities and ideas to be spread throughout the country. As the frontier changes, the people’s culture changes with it. American’s ability to create something so complex from something so primitive through their capability to adapt to challenges such as increasing populations and the wilderness that is at the frontier, which is very different from the comfortable conditions of urban life. Within his claim, Turner also quotes John C. Calhoun when he says that “We are great, and rapidly - I was about to say fearfully - growing!” Turner and Calhoun both indicate that the Americans are developing themselves so quickly, yet with so much sufficiency. Turner also notes that many other countries who have growth themselves physically relatively rapidly, but they have not done it as thoroughly and as quickly as the Americans have. According to Turner, “American development has exhibited not merely advance along a single line, but a return to primitive conditions on a continually advancing frontier line, and a new development for that area.” The rebirth and ability to fluidly continue to expand the frontier has therefore created a new culture for the Americans, and the fact that they were able to spread this character is what is the “distinguishing feature of American life”.

Explain how the frontier served to “Americanize” Europeans.
In order to “Americanize” Europeans, the frontier and its wilderness has challenged and stripped them of their European ideals: it has taken away the European’s “dress, industries, tools, modes of travel”, and essentially their culture. The challenges that the frontier has provided allows the European to assimilate into a newer culture, forcing him to abandon his lush European one. The frontier “take him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe”. The frontier, at first, changes the man by forcing him to evolve into the nature - the nature makes the man, at first, to conform to it. This is seen in the ways that they begin to live more like the Indians: they wear the “hunting shirt and the moccasin”; they live in a “log cabin” and begin “planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick” and shouting the “war cry and tak[ing] the scalp in orthodox Indian fashion”. But, as they continue to live this way, they begin to take control and change the frontier around them as well. As he transforms the wilderness, he loses his Europeanness, and begins to become more American. And as the frontier continues to extend more and more inward, the European influence becomes less and less prominent, and American characteristics in the people become more and more conspicuous. Every time they extend the frontier and attempt to recreate their old Europe, their limited resources force them to recreate something else, which was the American culture.

Explain how the frontier and settler have served to transform one another. How has this process served to create a uniquely American culture over time?
The frontier and settler, according to Turner, transform one another in many different ways. At first, the frontier forces the settler to conform to its ways by forcing him to survive in more primitive ways. This includes, but is not limited to, the way they dress, the way they hunt/gather, and ultimately the way they live. The ways they are forced to live in the wilderness of the frontier is so incredibly different from the life they are accustomed to living. He calls the frontier’s change to the settler a “record of social evolution. It begins with the Indian and the hunter; it goes on to tell of the disintegration of savagery by the entrance of the trader, the pathfinder of civilization…” Turner states that at first, the frontier is “too strong for the man”. But after a while, after he accepts and practices the conditions that has been forced upon him, he begins to transform the wilderness “little by little”. Turner uses Wisconsin and North Dakota as an example of this. He notes that Wisconsin used to be agricultural, but it has developed longer than North Dakota, so it is more involved in manufacturing. This shows that the frontier has evolved the settler and vice-versa because its development has caused the settler and the land to use and be used differently, benefitting them both. Ultimately, after the man conforms to the frontier, he begins to change the frontier to suit him economically, politically, and socially. This process is fluid, as it keeps evolving as the frontier keeps changing. It eventually evolves so much that eventually, the practices and culture that ultimately forms is so different from the culture that it started with. This is the unique American culture that has formed over time.

What does Turner mean when he states that “...the frontier promoted the formation of a composite nationality for the American people”?
When Turner says this, he means that the frontier created a unity amongst the people living in it. As they faced the same challenges together within the frontier, they came together physically and culturally to create almost a new culture: the American culture. This shared culture is what allowed them to have the sense of nationality and unity among themselves; all the immigrants that came to the extending frontier were, according to Turner, “Americanized, liberated, and fused into a mixed race, English neither in nationality nor characteristics”. The immigrant’s relationship with their former country (for example the English with England) slowly decimated as the people kept pushing inward. The American culture was the only one they were forced to practice due to the nature of the frontier, since the frontier is what changed everyone who lived on it. Foreign immigrants (Scotch-Irish, Palatine Germans, etc.), which also eventually became freed indentured servants, came to the frontier, and they evolved as well. The frontier changed them as well, because the culture that arose upon the frontier was a unified culture within everyone who lived there, which created a sense of unison in their identity. The frontier truly united the people because of the shared culture it created. And this is what promoted a sense of “composite nationality” for the American people.

How did the advance serve to decrease American dependence on England?
The advancement of the frontier served to decrease American dependence on England in a number of ways. In America’s earlier years, America was very dependent on England because it was too young and too inexperienced to be able to sustain itself. America was also unfamiliar with the resources that it had, allowing to it to “lack diversified industries”. But soon, the extension of the frontier allowed for this dependence to be lessened dramatically. As it continued to go inward, it became more difficult for goods to be imported from England. This forced America to become more self-reliant and use the resources that they had instead of relying on England’s resources. This also forced them to create a national economy/empire in order to regulate the trade that they needed to partake in in order to survive independently as a country. This autonomy that was therefore formed by the advance of the frontier was also caused by seaboard cities like Boston, New York, and Baltimore that emerged in order to support the economy and help the country flourish without the help of England.

How has the frontier served to fuel American nationalism?
The frontier served to fuel American autonomy and nationalism in a number of ways.

In order for America to be more independent from England, they needed to learn to become more self reliant. But to do this, the country needed to be more connected, both physically, economically, and nationally. They needed to be physically connected to be able to transport goods and other resources from one part of the country to another. To fulfil this, many long-term developments, such as internal improvements and railroad legislation, began as a result of the frontier. These changes built a community where the country could be economically connected as well: the roads, railroads, canals, etc. allowed resources to be able to transported across the country and begin exporting overseas. This gave America national recognition, since they needed to be united in order to compete with the rest of the world. Turner also argued that this connection between the country, and the process of “cross fertilization of ideas and institutions” that came with uniting the country allowed for nationalism since “Nothing works for nationalism like intercourse within the nation”. The frontier truly forced Americans to develop a more connected and independent country. The frontier pushed for many government actions, such as the acquisition of Louisiana. The disposition of public lands, according to Turner, was a “third important subject of national legislation influenced by the frontier”. Additionally, because the society on which the frontier was developed was so primal, the government was needed to regulate the nature of tariffs, land and internal improvements, politics, slavery, economics, and anything other issue that was needed to be taken care of in order to keep and preserve the independence of the country. The government, therefore, allowed the country to feel a stronger sense of nationalism because of the stability that it brought to the frontier and the rest of

America.

How has the frontier served to promote democracy?
The frontier served to promote democracy as a result of the self reliance that it had caused the nation to practice. The self reliance was not only for independence from England: it was also for themselves because at times, the frontier was extending faster than the government, so people needed to learn how to take care of themselves. This, therefore, allowed democracy to be promoted; especially in the areas of the frontier, but also in America overall. Turner also argues that the frontier is “productive of individual”, which is what the Monroe and Jackson’s principles relied on. He claims that the government should not be given too much power, because otherwise there would be a stronger sense of sectionalism, which would divide the country. Turner also argues that people must use past historical experiences to establish liberty and independence at the frontier, like the tax-gatherer and American Revolution for example. Turner said that these examples of individual liberty was “sometimes confused with absence of all effective government”. These experiences helped determine that the frontier and the rest of America should, in fact, remain free. The frontier will therefore promote democracy and other opportunities for growth and independence for more added economic and political power. Essentially, democracy in America is promoted because of the self-reliance and individual independence that it will bring, and so the failures that occurred due to imbalances in power from history will not repeat itself.

What is the relationship between the frontier and American individualism?
The relationship between the frontier and American individualism is the freedom/autonomy that comes with forming a new society that is based on individualism. Because individualism helps to promote democracy and abstain from sectionalism, the extension of the frontier is preserved by the morals that came from previous historical experiences. The individualistic purposes of explorers/other settlers make it clear that restrictions of expanding (the “closing” of the frontier) in regards to individualism allow a society to remain stagnant in regards to development.