It was the vast frontier stretching out to the west of the developed land on the North American continent that shaped the American characterâand the course of US history. Thatâs the argument in historian Frederick Jackson Turnerâs 1893 essay âThe Significance of the Frontier in American History.â Anthologized and reprinted many times, it gave historians a new lens with which to analyze the United States.
Turner argues that in interacting with both the wilderness and Native Americans, settlers on the frontier developed institutions and character traits quite distinct from Europe. The Westâs surplus of âfree land,â Turner suggests, helped America become a country of economic opportunity, where democracy and individualism could flourish.
Turnerâs work captured the imagination of ordinary Americans. Countless television shows, films, novels, and even a theme parkâDisney Worldâs âFrontierlandââhave based their depictions of the American West on this important essay.