Source 1

From the conditions of frontier life came intellectual traits of profound

importance. The works of travelers along each frontier from colonial days
onward describe certain common traits, and these traits have, while softening
down, still persisted as survivals in the place of their origin, even when a higher
social organization succeeded. The result is that to the frontier the American
intellect owes its striking characteristics. That coarseness and strength
combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn
of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things,
lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous
energy;[37:1] that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil,
and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes 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 a people, the American energy will continually
demand a wider field for its exercise. But never again will such gifts of free land
offer themselves. 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. What the Mediterranean Sea was to the Greeks, breaking the bond of
custom, offering new experiences, calling out new institutions and activities,
that, and more, the ever retreating frontier has been to the United States
directly, and to the nations of Europe more remotely. And now, four centuries

from the discovery of America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the
Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first
period of American history.
Frederick Jackson Turner, 1893

Source Questions Turner

Answer all questions - DO NOT EXCEED STATED WORD LIMITS
1. Explain what is meant by four of the phrases in bold. [4] (60 words)
2. Summarize in one sentence what this text says/is about. [3] (50 words)
3. What is significant about the author of this text? [3] (50 words)
4. For whom might this text have been written? [2] (40 words)
5. How useful is this text in furthering our understanding/knowledge of the
period? [8] (300 words)
6. Summarize the main arguments Turner uses here to stress the significance
on the frontier to American character [4] (100 words)
7. Describe two other aspects of American culture that might not be
attributable to the frontier. [6] (100 words)
8. How beneficial, in your view, was westward expansion to the American
people? [10] (400 words)

Source analysis Turner

Answers
1 conditions of frontier life: these conditions included lack of urban
infrastructure, meager housing, constant Indian attacks, and few resources.
that practical, inventive turn of mind: efficient ways to face and solve
problems with minimal resources.
dominant individualism: predominance of the exercise of ones goals,
valuing independence and self-reliance.
the frontier has gone: the process of westward expansion came to an
end.
2 In this extract, Tuner talks about the cultural traits that inhabitants of the
American frontier presented, and how these features, although now
softened, still persist in the American profile. He presents the American
character as ever looking for new opportunities for expansion and progress.
3 Turner established the basis for modern historical study of the American
West and his thesis about the frontier has influenced historical thinking since
then. It is such his influence that, even though many have criticized his
theory and tried to counterpart it with their own, most of them still look to
Turner for their bases.
4 He first presented the essay to a group of historians in Chicago, and then, to
attendants of the World's Columbian Exposition, so he may have written the
essay with these audiences in mind.
5 This extract of Turners essay contains a description of the most prominent
characteristic of the frontier inhabitant, what give us a glimpse of what being
at the frontier meant for the everyday life. Turner says that the frontier gave
the opportunity for people to break away from the past, which is in fact the
English life style and customs, to find and develop their own, based on the
conditions of the places they lived in and the different resources that they
could count on.
However, this text seems to focus in only one aspect of the frontier, that of
the advancing white man. It doesnt offer any insight in other groups, such
as Indians, Mexicans, or slaves. These groups certainly helped shape the
nation as well and were an important feature to the life of the American
citizen.
Turner wrote this paper after the superintendent of the 1890 census declared
that the frontier was gone and his intention was to highlight the importance
that the westward movement had in American history. His purpose then,

involved a descriptive prose and somewhat persuasive as well. This in turn

conditions his writing and our reading of the text. Although it is objective in
its majority, it shows subjectivity in the fact that it is Turners point of view,
he seeks to present arguments that support his thesis.

6 Turner argues that certain traits that are traceable to the frontier in its
different stages can be found in American individuals nowadays, even when
the social organization has developed considerably; therefore, these are
features inherited from those early phases of colonization.
He also points out that the American constant impulse towards expansion is
no more than an echo of the westward movement.
Turner uses a comparison between the influence that the Mediterranean Sea
had on the Greek evolution and the effect of the frontier in the United States
to emphasize the range of opportunities that these phenomena offered and
how they shaped a certain society.

7 A striking American characteristic is their Americanism, i.e., their devotion to

their nation. This ideology is based on devotion, loyalty and allegiance to
their country, its flag, traditions, government. This also-called American
exceptionalism can be traced back to American Puritan roots. Puritans
believed that God had chosen them to be a model for other communities, to
the rest of the world, to be a city upon a hill.
Another American trait that can also be linked to their Puritan roots is their
tendency towards hard work. Puritans believed that everyone had a chance
to prosper, as long as they worked together and hard. This is the basis for
the American dream.

8 Westward expansion helped shape the American nation during its

beginnings. The first thirteen states, situated in the East coast, were English
in essence, since most settlers were English men, still loyal to the English
crown. However, as more and more people crossed the Appalachians, a
different life style arose, furthering itself from European influence.
Although the minorities, e.g., the Native Americans or the slaves, were not
benefited, for white Americans, western land meant independence and
prosperity for everyone willing to expose themselves to the harsh frontier
life. The West was synonym to opportunity: miles and miles of unexplored
and unclaimed land, no government control, and unexploited resources.

The frontier had a great democratic effect as well: western settlers were
independent and self-reliable and so refused to be governed by a selected
elite situated on the East coast, far away from their lives and reality. The
struggle for democracy revealed itself then and formed the basis for the
present Democratic Party.
The American nation gained and settled new land, acquired a tremendous
amount of new natural resources and wealth, increased its population
enormously, and developed new technologies and transport; all due to the
westward movement.
The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, had a strong effect
on where people settled and on which towns developed faster, as the
railroad was an access to products coming from the East or the West and a
more efficient mean of transport, what attracted population to towns
connected by the train.
Another aspect that the west movement affected is the banning of slavery.
While Southern Americans needed slaves for the exploitation of their cotton
and tobacco fields, Northern states were against slavery, as they saw it as a
threat to freedom. This debate over whether the country would maintain
slavery or abolish it is what triggered the Civil War and so represents a great
determining factor on what the American society is nowadays.
In conclusion, the westward expansion is one of the main reasons America is
the potency it is today. The land and wealth acquired in that process are
what allowed the country to develop more and more. The frontier shaped the
American society because at the time there was not such thing as an
American society, but rather a mixture of people coming from Europe in
search of new opportunities.