Westward Expansion: America's Shift in Settling Patterns

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The Census of 1880 and 1890 showed significant settlement in the west. However, these settlements were not close together by any means. In fact, each settlement appeared to be separate from each other. The fact was that the west was changing; there was an advance in American settlement toward the west and a progression of American settlement. According to Turner, the advance west was not across one line, but all across the west. The westward expansion provided new opportunity for everyone. Life in the west was simple. The west was the meeting point between civilization and savagery. It was the edge of the free land with a density of two or more per square mile. With the western expansion, America was changing. American life was different. …show more content…

Most certainly, their knowledge of the western frontier was expanded and their opinions of it were “discovered.” They assuredly saw a different way of life beyond where they were living. His contemporaries may have seen his thesis as very thought provoking, or offensive. Western life was seen as the “fine-line” between savagery and civilization. For some, they may have seen more savagery side of life, while others may have viewed it as just a different way of life. Turner’s contemporaries very likely had various reactions to his thesis. Turner may have very well started arguments concerning western frontier culture. Turner’s thesis concerning western civilization highlights exactly what I pictured to be western culture. The western world was simple. It allowed endless freedom. It provided opportunity for something new. It provided religious and educational opportunities. The movement toward the west was the beginning of something great. “It is equally plain that the religious and political destiny of our nation is to be decided in the West, it is assembled from all the States of the Union and from all the nations of Europe, and is rushing in like the waters of the flood, demanding for its moral preservation the immediate and universal action of those institutions which discipline the mind and arm the conscience and the

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