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Frederick Jackson Turner (11/14/1861 –3/14/1932) is widely regarded as one of the most influential American historians of the early 20th century. He is best known for The Significance of
the Frontier in American History.
Turner is remembered for his "Frontier Thesis", which he first published July 12, 1893 in a paper read in Chicago to the American Historical Association during the Chicago World's Fair. In it, he stated that the spirit and success of the United States is directly tied to the country's westward expansion. According to Turner, the forging of the unique and rugged American identity occurred at the juncture between the civilization of settlement and the savagery of wilderness. This produced a new type of citizen - one with the power to tame the wild and one upon whom the wild had conferred strength and individuality. Every generation moved further west and became more American, and the settlers became more democratic and less tolerant of hierarchy. They became more violent, more individualistic, more distrustful of authority, less artistic, less scientific, and more dependent on ad-hoc organizations they formed themselves. In broad terms, the further west the community, the more American the community.
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Turner gave a famous lecture on how the frontier had shaped American development, concluding that the "first period" of American history—-the period that had nurtured individualism, democracy, and widespread opportunity for economic autonomy—-had come to an end. It sounded an alarming note about the future, since the U.S. Census of 1890 had officially stated that the American frontier had broken up. The idea that the source of America's power and uniqueness was gone was a distressing concept. Many, including future president
Theodore Roosevelt, believed that the end of the frontier represented the beginning of a new stage in American life and that the United States must expand overseas. For this reason, some see the Turner thesis as the impetus for a new wave in the history of United States imperialism.
After reading the information above describe your thoughts on each underlined and numbered phrase from above:
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Now that you are an expert on the terms “expansionism, isolationism and imperialism”
5. Do you think that westward expansion was more “expansionary” or “imperialistic?”
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6. Once the United States begins to move into territories outside of the borders of the contiguous United States
(example: Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Samoa, etc.)
(a) Do you feel that the US foreign policy changed? ___________ (yes or no)
(b) Do you think now we were more “expansionary” or “imperialistic?” __________________
(c) Why do you think that? _________________________________________________________
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7. Given what you read about Frederick Jackson Turner; why do you think he is widely regarded as one of the most influential American historians of the early 20th century.
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Given this historical information:
Many, including future president Theodore Roosevelt, believed that the end of the frontier represented the beginning of a new stage in American life and that the United States must expand overseas. For this reason, some see the Turner thesis as the impetus* for a new wave in the history of United States imperialism.
*impetus - momentum, force, drive
8. Do you think that the United States was already looking for new places to expand or do you think Frederick
Jackson Turner wrote this thesis and scared America into further expansion?
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