The Frontier in American History

by Frederick Jackson Turner, Brad K. Berner (Editor)

Frederick Jackson Turner was an extremely influential U.S. historian, who is best known for his "frontier thesis," which proposed that American democracy was profoundly shaped by the existence of an undeveloped frontier area from the founding through the 1880s. He originally put forth his idea in the essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," published just three years after the frontier was "officially closed" in 1890. He continued to elaborate on the frontier thesis as well as the influence of sectionalism, and the unique contributions of the Midwest to American democracy. His theory and other writings are still debated by modern day historians. This work, The Frontier in American History, collects a number of Turner's essays and speeches, including "The Significance of the Frontier in American History."

The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature a limited edition collection is published under the auspices of The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Westerns, The United States Of America, Classics, Philosophy

348 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1920

About the author

Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then at Harvard. He was primarily known for his “Frontier Thesis.” He trained many PhDs who came to occupy prominent places in the history profession. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often with a focus on the Midwest. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas formed the Frontier Thesis. He argued that the moving western frontier shaped American democracy and the American character from the colonial era until 1890. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism. In recent years historians and academics have argued strenuously over Turner's work; all agree that the Frontier Thesis has had an enormous impact on historical scholarship and the American soul.

Reviews

[Jessica DeWitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turner may be flawed and, yes, seriously overrated. However, his essays on the frontier are pivotal in understanding the evolution of both the field of history and of the American identity in general. The Frontier Thesis is one of the first manifests of the idea of American Exceptionalism. He is also one of the first to consider the environment and geographical sectionalism as a characterizing force. Understanding Turner is the first step in understanding many works of history and understanding the path of American society. I highly recommend checking out Henry Nash Smith's Virgin Land (One of the Founders of the Myth and Symbols School) after reading this book because he explains how it is not necessarily important that Turner is or was right, but rather that people believed that he was correct.

[Doreen Petersen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to like this book but it was too lackluster and boring. I wouldn't bother with it.

[The Half-blood Reader]

College reads

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is rightly a seminal American history.

Turner relates the histories of the American frontiers (from the thirteen colonies to the settling of what he calls the Middle West (or what we call, today, the American Midwest)) and describes the populations settling, national and local economy and politics of, and the resulting reasons for each frontier. He gives us a picture of the nation, in context, at each frontier, in a fairly small sized book (somehow).

It is not necessarily a quick read, though. The book is not large but he refers (at least for my knowledge of American history) to just enough contemporaries of their historic times: American thinkers, popular personalities, political parties or movements, and more whom I did not know, that I was glad to always have my computer handy as I read.

Too, Turner is here, on Amazon, and elsewhere online, accused of being racist. Turner does not tell the history of races other than white European descent Americans on the frontiers, though I do not believe he does so with malice. He was a man of his time. We know, today, that the Native American, African American, various Asian, the Catholic, etc. populations who also settled in each of these frontiers whose stories are omitted have their own unique histories that once told clarify each frontier's true history. Too, he is accused of being paternalistic in his perspective and in fact he is at times, but again, I do not believe he does so out of malice. Having said this - yes, these omissions make his historical account incomplete (and ideally histories we publish, today, fills in his and others' gaps).

I caution two things. History bears repeating and so he is a bit repetitive but once the reader keeps in mind that this book is actually a compilation of papers, articles, and speeches given over a twenty-two year period (some of which touch on the same histories) you can appreciate why he is repetitive at all. The other thing is that it is handy to have a computer or smart device nearby as you read his book to be able to look up the occasional now obscure historical reference.

I am really grateful for having discovered and read this book because he imparts the history of our nation's first frontiers in context and really not too long after they happened. He's aware of this even, and his appreciation and ability to understand, as he wrote, just how young the nation was during his lifetime adds to the history's poignancy. I recommend this book for what it is and forgive it for what it is not (by our standards, today).

[James Violand · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seminal work in American historical research, Turner's view is controversial today. It certainly was affirmed by the vast majority of Americans when initially published - but we're in the "America has problems" era where all that has passed is subject to second-guessing. Turner's view is easily defended by one's own experience and the experience of the country. We Americans have always maintained the attitude that space is available somewhere for us to expand or to begin again or to start our lives over. It's a fact. Turner only verifies this feeling through research. Those who denigrate Turner's thesis see nothing special in America from any other country - the frontier has had no effect on it. Bull.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, Turner's America consists of white men being manly and doing manly things. But his perspective has given Western historians something to fight over for about a century. His collection of essay really gave rise not only to Western history itself but to the importance of geography and environmental histories, and to post-structuralist histories of nostalgia and storytelling) to which modern historians owe a debt. (Dropping the serious face now).

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really should be read by all serious students of history; specifically anyone with an interest in America and the West. Turner's work is still absolutely relevant, as the world adjusts to having nowhere to go.

[Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE go-to classic of the history of the westward movement of the American frontier during the 19th century.

[Finley Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A certified hood classic.

[Richard Bracken · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the time it was published in 1920, the free lands of the “frontier”, as discussed in The Frontier in American History had become largely nonexistent. It’s easy to forget that much of the east coast was considered “the west” for several hundred years, followed by the Ohio valley, then the Mississippi valley, and on to California.

”[The Frontiersman] is the occupant for the time being, pays no rent, and feels as independent as the ‘lord of the manor.’ With a horse, cow, and one or two breeders of swine, he strikes into the woods with his family, and becomes the founder of a new county, or perhaps state. He builds his cabin, gathers around him a few other families of similar tastes and habits, and occupies till the range is somewhat subdued, and hunting a little precarious, or, which is more frequently the case, till the neighbors crowd around, roads, bridges, and fields annoy him, and he lacks elbow room”.

It’s striking when you look at prominent men in history, and how many of them had their beginnings on the hardscrabble frontier. Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses S. Grant all came from it. I couldn’t help but feel that perhaps resilience, grit, and growth can only come from difficulty and overcoming frontier-like aspects of life. Whereas ease, comfort, and predictability may just be growth killers that ought to be intentionally avoided. For instance, according to the historian Plutarch, Spartans, after communal dinners, would separate, “without any torches...in order that they may accustom themselves to walk fearlessly and safely in the dark”.

As one pioneer in writing to a friend in the east put it:

”If you value ease more than money or prosperity, don’t come … Hands are too few for the work, houses for the inhabitants, and days for the day’s work to be done. … Next if you can’t stand seeing your old New England ideas, ways of doing, and living and in fact, all of the good old Yankee fashions knocked out of shape and altered, or thrown by as unsuited to the climate, don’t be caught out here. But if you can bear grief with a smile, can put up with a scale of accommodations ranging from the soft side of a plank before the fire (and perhaps three in a bed at that) down through the middling and inferior grades; if you are never at a loss for ways to do the most unpracticable things without tools; if you can do all this and some more come on. … It is a universal rule here to help one another, each one keeping an eye single to his own business”.

Proverbial frontiers continue to exist in our day because things that really matter don’t cost money. Authentic individualized expansion costs almost nothing in terms of greenbacks. Does beautiful music enrich us because the cellist paid a million dollars for her instrument, or because she put in ten thousand hours of tedium before we heard it? I put down this book thinking about frontiers in my life. Areas of uncomfortableness in faith, fitness, art, and learning, that could be mastered more or less for free but for my east-loving-ease.

[Lisa]

I had to read this as a senior history major. It’s a very “sticky” idea. The argument is that the unique culture in the USA was formed by very moving forward across land and adapt to the new geography and each other. Turner wondered what would happen to the character of the country once the frontier closed. My main memory of the discussion of this in college is that it was the last thing he really ever wrote. It was so famous and he developed writers block and wasn’t able to write again. This was actually a speech to the association of historians in the USA. This version has an analysis of the impact and controversy about this speech. I liked reading that more than I enjoyed Re-reading the essay.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's tough to review something like this. Turner's work would be considered a bad joke if it were published today. The kinds of unsubstantiated claims and suppositions he repeatedly jots down make for somewhat enticing reading, but also make for really poor historical research. Historical writing at the academic level in the 21st century simply requires more rigor in citation and far fewer speculative assertions stated in a factual tone. However, things were different then. The bigger problem is that Turner's claims have turned out to be a deeply flawed mix of naivety and ignorance, most obviously displayed by his somewhat unstated assumption of a largely empty frontier and his downplaying of what largely amounted to a brutal genocide conducted against the millions of people inhabiting the supposedly empty frontier. That being said, the main essay in the collection had a profound impact on the way Americans viewed the frontier, both at the time of publication and for quite some time afterward. In reading these essays you will encounter some profoundly flawed historical writing, but you will also be exposed to a profoundly influential view of American history. If you understand that, and come to these essays simply to better understand the flawed mind-sets of mainstream American historians at the turn of the century, then you will be approaching them in the correct manner.

[Richard Rossi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a great deal from this book about my ancestors and those of my wife. The microcosms of genealogy focus on the lives and movements of individuals. This book explains the waves of people sweeping across the country on which our ancestors were surfing.

It also explains the tensions between the various sections of the country even today. How the kinds of people who pioneered a place had much to do with their attitudes towards politics. Urban vs rural. Northeast vs South and Midwest. Why there was a Louisiana Purchase. Why the East Coast looks to Europe and the West to Asia.

Never have I read something that explained so much about America. Even as transportation and communication have worked to blend us into a nation where different parts share many common values, the underlying values of the original settlers of a place glow dimly through that accounts for regional differences.

Do not read this book if you are emotionally fragile or your mind is closed to a different way of thinking. It takes a nonjudgmental open mind to harvest all this book has to offer.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're the sort of history reader who enjoys turn of the century writers and their distinctive, wiser- and holier-than-thou tone on expansive topics, such as William James on religious experiences, Dewey on education, and Freud on subconscious life, then this similarly-timed and now seminal interpretation of American history will so envelope you that you’ll see beyond its shortcomings regarding minority groups, expansionary atrocities, etc, and still learn how and why much of America was parceled-off, and how rugged individualism and readiness to violence became such stubbornly resilient features of our national self-understanding.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who has studied American history has heard of Frederick Jackson Turner and his Frontier Thesis. As a retired historian of sorts, I decided it was time to see what he actually said. (Caution: He said it in that somewhat overblown late 19th century style.) The essays, or more correctly addresses to various historical groups, has quite a lot to say about the development of America -- and Americans. Influential in its time and still now as well as interesting if a bit ponderous.

[Jay Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important historical work. I am amazed I waited so long to read. It answers many important questions such why individualism is rampant in the United States. It describes in detail why democracy is so important. The critics abound mainly attacking him for his cursory inclusion of slavery and his pro-US leanings. I think his work is a place to start, but an important place to start to why so many citizens do not trust government.

[Duane Bolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

With all of its flaws, it is mpossible to teach manifest destiny and westward expansion in American History without teaching this essay.

[George Siehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of papers and presentations by famed American historian Frederick Jackson Turner edited by Andrew S. Trees. Turner presented a paper, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," at a conference in 1893. His premise was that the experience of America's pioneer settlers with the sequential frontiers of western expansion strengthened characteristics of independence and self-sufficiency in these people. In turn, he contended, this shared experience shaped the American character and our democracy. This theme became know as the "Turner Thesis" and, as Trees noted, "was a widely taught approach to American history for well over half a century." Trees calls it "one of the most influential works of American history ever written." He notes, however, that "recent decades have given rise to a host of critics," and that "historians have discredited many of its claims." Nonetheless, he adds, "it remains, at the very least, a very profound influence on how Americans imagine themselves as individuals and as a nation."

The first entry in the book is the Turner Thesis paper of 1893. The dozen which follow include detailed discussions of the circumstances in sequential regions, or "sections" as Turner referred to them, as the population moved westward. The latter essays begin with the slow movement inland from the Atlantic coast, then covers the move west of the Appalachian mountains into the old Northwest, Ohio, Indiana, and what are now the North Central states. The Ohio Valley and the Mississippi Valley also receive close examination of the place of origin of the immigrants, the nature of the new territory, and the events and personalities that factored into their settling. Then, the focus shifts to what we now consider the West, again with a broad-grained discussion of local interactions between pioneer and the new frontier.

Turner's writing is highly readable, detailed, often lyrical, and always informative. It also invites contemplation. Consider the starkness of an individual going off with axe, rifle, some food, and seeds into the unmarked forest to find a place to live and farm, and perhaps contend with any unfriendly Natives who may object to his occupancy. Or, as in the case of the Mississippi Valley a scenario of an entirely different scale. Three European nations that see a major role of empire for themselves in the area: Spain in control of New Orleans and points West; England with ownership of Canada and lands around the Great Lakes: France which had profited from the fur trade in the North and West as far as the Rocky Mountains, and maintained its interest. Turner spreads the raw material of the evolving history of a continent out for consideration.

Overall, a fine read. I wish that the individual essays carried time and place of their original delivery. I checked the JSTOR database and found this information for one of the pieces, and a few others give clues to place or time, such as before the St. Louis Exposition but when that date is known. Another is while we were fighting in WWI, which would have been 1918. Research is part of the joy of reading, it seems.

What brought me to the book was the mystery I found in reading Wallace Stegner's biography of Bernard DeVoto, "The Uneasy Chair." As noted in my review of that book, I was surprised that there was no mention of Turner, although DeVoto's historical writing dealt extensively with American westward expansion and the frontier. Stegner wrote that much of DeVoto's knowledge of the West came from reading, even though he had been born there. Why would he not have found out about Turner, who had achieved fame before DeVoto was born? Trees made the matter even more suspicious as he noted that Turner moved to Harvard to teach history in 1910, retiring there in 1924 and dying in 1932. Turner enrolled in Harvard in 1915, took history courses and came to have many friend in the History department as he eventually taught writing at Harvard. Stegner had written of DeVoto taking history courses at Harvard but "Any western American History he wanted to study he had to get outside the curriculum." Turner's book, "The Significance of the Section in American History," was published posthumously in 1935 and was awarded a Pulitzer prize. What is the story behind these two writers on the same topic, teaching at the same school, not being connected? More research required.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of essays, articles, and public addresses articulate Frederick Turner's primary contribution to the study of American history: the role of the shifting zone of the "west" in American society and politics. The first essay, "Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893) is his best known work and contains most of his key points. "First Official Frontier of the Massachusetts Bay" (1914) applies his model to an earlier period of history. The remaining works refine and reiterate his primary argument.

For Turner, the key components that made American society what is was in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries was the presence of "the frontier", a zone of few permanent settlements with a scarcity of social structures and class distinctions. Turner's "west" first exists in the interior regions of New England and the Appalachians in the 1700s and shifts to the Ohio and Mississippi valleys in the 1800s. This zone is amorphous and constantly shifting, but he argues that it is the very promise of "new frontiers" when things get too institutionalized which drove the process. This premise, that the core character of America society was shaped in the regions of the Great Lakes through the interior river valleys and then the Great Plains is an interesting one, and probably Turner's primary intellectual contribution. I think he tends to oversell the point at times, but as early 2oth Century America tended to view the east coast (and 21st Century America the west coast) as the main fulcrum of American culture, this is a useful counterpoint.

This collection of various essays does have a repetitive quality, though that is the result of the collection itself. Nonetheless, Turner did harp on the same points in almost every work: 1) The critical role of "free" land for settlement pulling people westward; 2) The fluid nature of "frontier" society facilitating democracy and individualism; 3) The corrosive effects of the concentration of wealth through industrial capitalism; 4) The role of internal and international migration patterns on the culture of Midwestern states; and 5) Political antagonism between the interior "backwoods" and the cities. Turner argues that democracy as he understood it flourished in the "west" and influenced political evolution in the older regions of the country.

Of course, Turner is thinking in terms of European-American peoples. He dances awkwardly around the origin of that "free" land, coldly describing the displacement of Native Americans almost as a natural process. Beyond references to how settlement from the northeast or south either facilitated or prevented the spread of slavery, he rarely mentions African Americans as an influence on American culture. He also has a tendency to view the conflict between different regions in simplistic terms. He frames almost every issue of the 19th Century as "pioneers" against "The East", and while he acknowledges the socio-economic basis of those politics, he seems to regard the "pioneer" interest as always being morally right. His support for education and the state university system, on the other hand, is much more appealing. His linkage of education to political progress and economic growth was much more modern than his other views.

These works, especially the first one, are important contributions to the understanding of American history. Like any history, it is open to criticism, especially given their outsized role in academic American history. They should be read, if only to understand where Turner is coming from and to draw your own conclusions as to the validity of his interpretations.

[Christopher G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turner was a historian well known as a mentor for many other historians. He was educated at the University of Wisconsin and Johns Hopkins University. He taught at the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University. The Frontier in American History is universally seen as hugely influential in historiography. The Frontier in American History is another book from this group of sources that is a collection of essays, however this one feels more unified. The Frontier in American History is one of the first historical essays to discuss American exceptionalism.

The book is pretty simple to describe as it aims to show how the rugged and untamed terrain and wilderness of America shaped the Europeans that settled it much like the Mediterranean Sea allowed the Greeks to experience and evolve with its conquering. As the American frontier disappeared with developed cities and increased populations, a new era of American history would begin. As people dispersed South and West a new identity emerged in different parts of America as newer generations in settled areas of New York and the East became soft.

Turner warns that the ideas of the pioneers might die in the wake of material success and that the Middle West is key to a rise of intelligent society where the culture of freedom persists. He goes on to detail how the Ohio Valley is an area that maintains nationalistic views but housed an area of compromise in slavery. The Mississippi Valley on the other hand furnished a new social order to America with its rugged individualism and history of revolts. The problem of the West, Turner says, is that a united nation was difficult when so diverse in thought and culture. However, American democracy is the outcome of the experiences of the American people in the West.

Turner charges American universities to embed pioneer ideas in their educational pedagogy. He calls on historians to view American society as equal to European nations, in all of its evolution, progress in industry, and diversity equally important in the making of its society. You get a sense that he is afraid individualism will fade so much that freedom becomes obsolete. Interestingly, he loves individualism, so long as it is the brand of individualism in which he prescribes. Another thing I found interesting while reading The Frontier in American History is how many connections I made with it and Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness by Frederick Turner (apparently no relation to Frederick Jackson Turner) and The Natural West by Dan Flores. That is not to say that they are derivative, but they all write about how the frontier became the driving force for westward expansion.

[Jim Firestone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a compilation of articles and speeches written and presented by Frederick Jackson Turner during the period from 1890 to 1920.

His main theme as elaborated from a variety of viewpoints is that the essential frontier challenges faced by the American pioneer, as the Europeans moved across the continent, fundamentally shaped the culture and character of the American republic and its enduring democracy.

While at times simplistic and lacking in factual references beyond demographics, it is a compelling argument. It may not explain everything but it definitely explains a lot. And it continues to resonate with the dynamics of American culture today.

Although it is a bit pedantic and overly wordy at times, for the student of American history it is a very worthy read.

[Konrad von Pless · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent book, even though I do not particularly enjoy books amalgamated from a collection of papers. They differ in quality, sometimes repeat one another, but overall give an early 20th century perspective on the history of the American frontier. Early chapters deal in detail with the geographical, economic, and all manner of statistical aspects of the frontier. Later chapters tend to focus on the psychological and social aspects.

[Drew Reilly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was dull.

The theory that the frontier is what sets Americans (as a culture) apart is laughable, and plays into the idea that America is either better or different than any other culture. I hate to break it to Mr. Turner, but every culture is different, and plenty of other countries have frontiers to conquer. Dressing up the genocide of the Native Americans as a unique identity to the US is both dangerous and simplistic.

Would not recommend to anyone

[Kathy Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older book talking about the idea of the American Frontier. Once Americans had reached the Pacific cost what frontiers were there to conquer? The author does address how the Europeans and Americans run roughshod over the different Indian tribes and broke almost every treaty with them. What frontiers do we have left?

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deservedly a classic

This book isn't just considered a classic, it is a classic. Clear and concise it successfully makes the case that the frontier of settlement in America, from the Alleghenies to the Sierra Nevada is the key to understanding American society

[Daniel Kowalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed about American expansion on the continent. It also was interesting to see how people in the 1920s looked back at pride with how a wilderness was transformed into an industrial power in less than a century.

[Vendea]

Apparently I read this at some point? I have a bunch of kindle highlights from it, though I don't recall reading it. So, here, I'm just sticking it on a shelf until I have time/desire to figure out what the deal is.

[Chris Boden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unable get into this book

As stated above, tried many of the 22 books.
Unlike others I have read, it was very difficult to get the stories moving.

[Babs M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the first half but then it became a little too rambling plus so many changes in the last 100 yrs. since the book was written.

[Daniel Loween · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good background.. written well.. important