Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis and the Turnerian

The Conquest of the Far West

Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis and the "Turnerian West"

Perspective criticized

Historians criticized Turner's romantic view of the west because of several reasons. One would be that his point of view was inaccurate about the Frontier, in terms of it being empty, uncivilized land. The land was indeed occupied and in many occasions, migrants displaced already established societies and cultures, or joined them. Another would be that the Frontier described by Turner did not include all of the negativity that came from the migration. The negative results of the migration towards the West, such as decaying ghostowns, bleak indian reservations, impoverished barrios, and ecologically devastated landscapes are all equally important characteristics of the West's progress, yet these were not emphasized as much as the positive sides of the progress were. Lastly, individualism, what Turner believed had greatly flourished because of the Frontier, is said to be a self-serving myth. Western pioneers, for example, were never self sufficient. They depended on government subsided railroads for access to markets, and others. Later on they would also need government-funded dams and canals for irrigating their fields and sustaining their towns.

Historian Frederick Jackson Turner, at one point in his life (at 33 years old to be exact) delivered a paper to the American Historical Association in Chicago entitled "The Significance of the Frontier in American History". The thesis of this paper was that the end of the "frontier" also marked the end of one of the most important democratizing forces in American life.

How was it a product of its time?

The thesis was a product of its time because it came from the viewpoint of the population that migrated towards the West. The Turnerian West was a place of heroism, triumph, and above all, progress, which resembled the thought of the migrants heading to the West, only more romanticized.

Rocky Mountain School

The Rocky Mountain school isn't really a school at all but instead an assortment of artists who painted and symbolized the west via the Rocky Mountains in the early 19th century. These painters included Thomas Moran, Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Hill, William Keith, and many more. Most of these artists were part of the Hudson River School and were drawn out west by the virtual unknown of it extent and what may lay out there. They painted many paintings and many accounts of what the mountains looked like and what the beauty of it was. What these painters did was to help establish an emerging nationalism for the United States as it came out of the Revolutionary War.

Wild West Shows

WILD WEST SHOWS were traveling performances. These performances lasted from 1883-1913. William Fredrick “Buffalo Bill” Cody was an American soldier, showman and hunter. Buffalo Bill was the organizer of Wild West Shows in Nebraska.

Buffalo Bill’s show depicted the west as a place full of romance and adventure. The image of the West shown in Buffalo Bill's show were more of a fantasy than reality. Many of the people in the show have never been to the west until they were called on to act in the Buffalo Bill show.

Question 10

The Wild West Show reflected a popular image of the west by showing a beautiful romantic western culture, that was still filled with excitement and adventure. The image of the west seen in these shows relates to the Turner thesis because the shows made the west seem like an empty, uncivilized land waiting for exploration and settlement.

The End

Thank You

Created By: Luis Calderon

Kerice Robinson

Nikkaya Roper