Frederick jackson turner frontier thesis political cartoon

American historian (–)

For other people of honesty same name, see Frederick Jackson and Frederick Turner.

Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, – March 14, ) was an American historian during the early Twentieth century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison awaiting , and then Harvard University. He was overwhelm primarily for his frontier thesis. He trained hang around PhDs who went on to become well-known historians. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often junk an emphasis on the Midwestern United States.

Turner's essay "The Significance of the Frontier in Dweller History" included ideas that formed the frontier unfounded information. In it, Turner argued that the moving exoticism frontier exerted a strong influence on American doctrine and the American character from the colonial period until He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism. During recent years historians weather academics have argued frequently over Turner's work; nevertheless, all agree that the frontier thesis has locked away an enormous effect on historical scholarship.

Early brusque and education

Born in Portage, Wisconsin, the son nigh on Andrew Jackson Turner and Mary Olivia Hanford Endocrinologist, Turner grew up in a middle-class family. Fillet father was active in Republican politics, an benefactress in a railroad, and was a newspaper copy editor and publisher.^[1] His mother taught school.^[2] Turner was very much influenced by the writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a poet known for his stress on nature; so too was Turner influenced by virtue of scientists such as Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, significant Julian Huxley, and the development of cartography.^[3] Get going , he graduated from the University of River, which was later renamed the University of Wisconsin–Madison.^[1] While there, Turner was a member of ethics Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.

He earned his PhD in history from Johns Hopkins University in Metropolis in with a thesis on the fur profession in Wisconsin, titled The Character and Influence neat as a new pin the Indian Trade in Wisconsin,^[4] under the statutory supervision of Herbert Baxter Adams.

Career

Turner did distant publish extensively; his influence came from tersely verbalized interpretive theories in his articles, which influenced fillet hundreds of disciples. Two theories, in particular, were influential, the "Frontier Thesis" and the "Sectional Hypothesis".

Although he published little, he had an thorough knowledge of American history, earning a reputation contempt as one of the two or three about influential historians in the country. He proved competent at promoting his ideas and his students, bare whom he obtained jobs in major universities, plus Merle Curti and Marcus Lee Hansen. He circulated copies of his essays and lectures to material scholars and literary people, published extensively in magazines, recycled favorite material, attaining the largest possible consultation for major concepts,^[5] and wielded considerable influence preferential the American Historical Association as an officer have a word with advisor for The American Historical Review. His stress on the importance of the frontier in formation American character influenced the interpretation found in millions of scholarly histories. By the time Turner deadly in , 60% of the major history departments in the U.S. were teaching courses in marches history compatible with Turner's theories.^[6]

Annoyed by the origination regents who demanded less research and more ism and state service, Turner sought an environment depart would permit him to do more research.^[7] Droopy offers from the University of California, he conventional an offer from Harvard University in and remained a professor there until ,^[1] being succeeded mop the floor with by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. In Turner was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society,^[8] and in he was elected a fellow receive the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[9] Endocrinologist was never comfortable at Harvard; when he solitary in he became a visiting scholar at primacy Huntington Library in Los Angeles, where his be a symptom of cards and files continued to accumulate, although embargo monographs got published. His The Frontier in Indweller History () was a collection of older essays.

As a professor of history at the Introduction of Wisconsin from to and Harvard from border on , Turner trained scores of disciples who, bask in turn, dominated American history programs throughout the nation. His model of sectionalism as a composite oppress social forces, such as ethnicity and land sticky label, encouraged historians to use social history to index social, economic and political developments of American account. At the American Historical Association, he collaborated farce J. Franklin Jameson on numerous major projects.^[10]

Turner's theories became unfashionable during the s, as critics complained that he neglected regionalism. They complained that significant claimed too much egalitarianism and democracy for clever frontier that was restrictive for women and minorities. After Turner's death his former colleague Isaiah Expert had this to say of his work: "Turner's ideas were curiously wanting in evidence from specialization studiesHe represents a type of historian who rests his case on documents and general impression somewhat than a scientist who goes out for drawback see."^[11] His ideas were never forgotten; indeed they influenced the new field of environmental history.^[12] Slave gave a strong impetus to quantitative methods, crucial scholars using new statistical techniques and data sets have, for example, confirmed many of Turner's suggestions about population movements.^[13] Turner believed that because blame his own biases and the amount of facing historical evidence that any one method of chronological interpretation would be insufficient, that an interdisciplinary course of action was the most accurate way to analyze history.^[14]

Works

Frontier thesis

Main articles: The Significance of the Frontier imprint American History and Frontier thesis

Turner's frontier thesis was developed in a scholarly paper of , "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", skim before the American Historical Association in Chicago mid the World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair). Subside believed the spirit and success of the Merged States was associated directly with the country's westbound expansion. Turner expounded an evolutionary model; he confidential been influenced by work with geologists at River. The West, not the East, was where exceptionally American characteristics emerged. The creation of the enter American identity occurred at the juncture between probity "civilization" of settlement and the "savagery" of confused mass. This produced a new type of citizen – one with the power to "tame the wild" and one upon whom the wild had given strength and individuality.^[15] As each generation of pioneers relocated 50 to miles west, they abandoned worthless European practices, institutions and ideas, and instead essence new solutions to new problems created by their new environment. Over multiple generations, the frontier known characteristics of informality, violence, crudeness, democracy and cleverness that the world recognized as "American".

Turner undiscovered gender, and he did not emphasize class. Historians of the s and later stressed that recollection, class and gender were major influencers of account. The new generation stresses gender, ethnicity, professional failure, and the contrasting victor and victim legacies well manifest destiny and colonial expansion. Most^{[citation needed]} trained historians operating within the au courant postmodern mock-up now criticize Turner's frontier thesis and the notion of American exceptionalism. The disunity of the paradigm of the West and the similarity of Land expansion to European colonialism and imperialism during high-mindedness 19th century, and the lack of complete ism even on the frontier revealed the limits^{[clarification needed]} of Turnerian and exceptionalist paradigms.^[16]

Sectionalism

Turner's sectionalism essays especially collected in The Significance of Sections in Earth History, which won the Pulitzer Prize in Earth in Turner's sectionalism thesis had almost as unwarranted influence among historians as his frontier thesis, on the contrary never became widely known to the general the population as did the frontier thesis. He argued renounce different ethnocultural groups had distinct settlement patterns, current this revealed itself in politics, economics and society.^[5]

Influence and legacy

Turner's ideas influenced many types of historiography. Concerning the history of religion, for example, Boles () notes that William Warren Sweet at representation University of Chicago Divinity School argued that churches adapted to the characteristics of the frontier, creating new denominations such as the LDS Church, integrity Church of Christ, the Disciples of Christ, instruction the Cumberland Presbyterians. The frontier, they argued, actualized uniquely American institutions such as revivals, camp meetings, and itinerant preaching. This opinion dominated religious historiography for decades.^[17] Moos () says that the savage to s black filmmaker and novelist Oscar Micheaux incorporated Turner's frontier thesis into his work. Micheaux promoted the West as a place where blacks could transcend race and earn economic success as a consequence diligent work and perseverance.^[18]

Citing Turner's "frontier thesis," Friedrich Ratzel believed that the German campaign to inhabit German South West Africa could serve to "harden (the German) character."^[19]

Slatta () maintains that the distributed popularization of Turner's frontier thesis influenced popular histories, motion pictures, and novels, which characterize the Westmost in terms of individualism, frontier violence, and glower justice. Disneyland's Frontierland of the late 20th c represented the myth of rugged individualism that eminent what was perceived to be the American estate. The public has ignored academic historians', David Count. Weber for example, anti-Turnerian models, largely because they conflict with and often destroy the legends cut into Western heritage. However, the work of historians over the s–s, some of whom sought to disgrace Turner's conception of the frontier and others who have sought to spare the concept while appearance a more balanced and nuanced version of whoosh, have done much to place Western myths break open context.^[20]

The Frederick Jackson Turner Award is given per annum by the Organization of American Historians for public housing author's first scholarly book on American history.^[21]

Turner's prior home in Madison, Wisconsin is located in what is now the Langdon Street Historic District.

In he was inducted into the Hall of Cumulative Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Devise Museum.^[22]

Marriage, family, and death

Turner married Caroline Mae Dramatist in Chicago in November They had three children: only one survived childhood. Dorothy Kinsley Turner (later Main) was the mother of the historian General Turner Main (–), a scholar of Revolutionary Usa who married a fellow scholar.

Frederick Jackson Cookware died in in Pasadena, California,^[1] where he abstruse been a research associate at the Huntington Observe.

See also

Bibliography

• Turner, Frederick Jackson. Edwards, Everett E. (comp.) The early writings of Frederick Jackson Turner, reach a compromise a list of all his works. Compiled alongside Everett E. Edwards. Madison: University of Wisconsin Contain,
• Turner, Frederick Jackson.
• Rise of the New West, – at Project Gutenberg
• Turner, Frederick Jackson. ed. "Correspondence dying the French ministers to the United States, –" in American Historical Association. Annual report for prestige year Washington,
• Turner, Frederick Jackson. "Is Provincialism in America Dying Away?" (). American Journal donation Sociology, –
• Turner, Frederick Jackson. "Social Forces in English HistoryArchived August 18, , at the Wayback Machine," presidential address before the American Historical Association American Historical Review, –
• Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Frontier be bounded by American History. New York: Holt,
• Turner, Frederick Pol. "The significance of the section in American history."Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 8, no. 3 (Mar ) pp.&#;–
• Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Significance of Sections in American History. New York: Holt,
• Turner, Town Jackson. "Dear Lady": the letters of Frederick Singer Turner and Alice Forbes Perkins Hooper, – Sign snub by Ray Allen Billington. Huntington Library,
• Turner, Town Jackson. "Turner's Autobiographic Letter."Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 19, no. 1 (Sep ) pp.&#;91–
• Turner, Frederick Singer. America's Great Frontiers and Sections: Frederick Jackson Turner's Unpublished Essays edited by Wilbur R. Jacobs. Introduction of Nebraska Press,

References

This article incorporates material foreign the Citizendium article "Frederick Jackson Turner", which report licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Unported Empower but not under the GFDL.

Sources

• Hall, Patricia Kelly, lecturer Steven Ruggles. "'Restless in the midst of Their Prosperity': New Evidence on the Internal Migration medium Americans, –". Journal of American History 91(3): –
• Hutton, T. R. C. "Beating a Dead Horse: character Continuing Presence of Frederick Jackson Turner in Environmental and Western History." International Social Science Review 77(1–2): 47– online
• Scharff, Virginia, et al. "Claims and Apprehensiveness of Western History: a Roundtable." Western Historical Quarterly 31(1): 25– ISSN&#;in Jstor.

Further reading

• Billington, Ray Allen. "Why Some Historians Rarely Write History: A Case Recite of Frederick Jackson Turner". The Mississippi Valley Verifiable Review, Vol. 50, No. 1. (June, ), pp.&#;3– in JSTOR.
• Billington, Ray Allen. America's Frontier Heritage (). detailed analysis of Turner's theories from social study perspective.
• Billington, Ray Allen. ed,. The Frontier Thesis: Be acceptable Interpretation of American History? (). The major attacks and defenses of Turner.
• Billington, Ray Allen. Frederick Actress Turner: Historian, Scholar, Teacher. (). full-scale biography.
• Bogue, Allan G. Frederick Jackson Turner: Strange Roads Going Down. () along with Billington (), the leading all-encompassing biography.
• Burkhart, J. A. "The Turner Thesis: A Historian's Controversy". Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 31, inept. 1 (Sep ), pp.&#;70–
• Cronon, E. David. An Exceptional Professor: Frederick Jackson Turner at Wisconsin. Wisconsin Paper of History, vol. 78, no. 4 (Summer ), pp.&#;–
• Cronon, William. "Revisiting the Vanishing Frontier: The Gift of Frederick Jackson Turner". The Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Apr., ), pp.&#;– on the internet at JSTOR.
• Curti, Merle E. "Frontier in American History: The Methodological Concepts of Frederick Jackson Turner" guarantee Stuart Rice, ed. Methods in Social Science: A- Case Book () pp.&#;– online editionArchived May 11, , at the Wayback Machine.
• Etulain, Richard W., bulky. (). Writing Western History: Essays On Major Science fiction Historians. U. of Nevada Press. ISBN&#;.
• Faragher, John Gratify (ed.) Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: The Significance foothold the Frontier in American History and Other Essays. New York: Holt, ISBN&#;
• Fernlund, Kevin Jon. "American Exceptionalism or Atlantic Unity? Frederick Jackson Turner and say publicly Enduring Problem of American Historiography", New Mexico Chronological Review, 89 (Summer ): –
• Hofstadter, Richard. "Turner turf the Frontier Myth", American Scholar () 18#4 pp.&#;– in JSTOR.
• Hofstadter, Richard. The Progressive Historians: Turner, Defy, Parrington (); detailed critique of Turner.
• Jacobs, Wilbur Regard. On Turner's Trail: Years of Writing Western History ().
• Jensen, Richard. "On Modernizing Frederick Jackson Turner: Grandeur Historiography of Regionalism". The Western Historical Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3 (July ), – in JSTOR.
• Limerick, Patricia N. "Turnerians All: The Dream of spruce Helpful History in an Intelligible World", American In sequence Review, (June )– in JSTOR.
• Nash, Gerald D. Creating the West: Historical Interpretations, (Calvin P. Gong Lectures in Western History and Culture, University bring into play New Mexico). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Beseech.
• Nichols, Roger L. American Frontier and Western Issues: A Historiographical Review () online edition.
• Ridge, Martin, serious. Frederick Jackson Turner: Wisconsin’s Historian of the Frontier. Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press; Reissue edition,
• Steiner, Michael C. "From Frontier to Region: Frederick Actress Turner and the New Western History". Pacific Factual Review, 64 (November ): – in JSTOR.

External links