American Frontier Thesis

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By the end of the American Civil War in 1865, a new post-war reality had manifested for those living within the bounds of the United States and its attendant territories. Whites in both the North and South would be adjusting to Southern Reconstruction and rapid industrialization, African Americans dealing with their new but limited freedoms, and Indian Peoples grappling with broken promises made by both the Union and Confederacy during the war. As non-citizens, the Indian Peoples were generally alienated from American political and social life, with their status not entirely defined. This lack of representation led to a continual erosion of native land and an overall loss of power for native peoples. The tenuous relationship between Indian …show more content…

Turner saw the frontier as integral to the modern conception of America. In his book, Turner focuses sparingly on Indian Peoples. He considers the frontier itself as “Indian country”, and ties the successive settlement of new frontier land with the various “Indian wars” that took place.2 Turner sees the Indian as simply a part of the terrain, neither hated or loved but necessary to tame and control. He also makes note that the progress of civilization seen in America through trade, education, and industry, brought what he saw as social improvement to the Indian Peoples.3 Most importantly, throughout Turner’s work a heavy sense of inevitability is implied in the conquest of the frontier as a natural course of events, and with it, the conquest and relocation of the Indian Peoples. His words ring triumphant at the creation of this new American people shaped by the harsh western landscape, without a truly sober assessment of its impact against Indian People at a human level. This dismissive attitude, while not always malevolent, certainly can be said to have had a great influence on the views of settlers and lawmakers when dealing with the national Indian Question. The intended audience of Turner’s book appears to be the world at large, his writing not only providing a reason for the uniqueness of American Democracy but a celebration of the progress and triumph of European peoples in settling the rugged terrain of the Western United

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