The Frontier in American History

The Frontier in American
History, by

Frederick Jackson Turner
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Title: The Frontier in American History
Author: Frederick Jackson Turner

Release Date: October 14, 2007 [eBook #22994]
Language: English
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THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY
by
FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER

[Illustration]
New York Henry Holt and Company 1921
Copyright, 1920 by Frederick J. Turner
TO CAROLINE M. TURNER MY WIFE

PREFACE

In republishing these essays in collected form, it has seemed best to
issue them as they were originally printed, with the exception of a few
slight corrections of slips in the text and with the omission of
occasional duplication of language in the different essays. A
considerable part of whatever value they may possess arises from the
fact that they are commentaries in different periods on the central
theme of the influence of the frontier in American history.
Consequently they may have some historical significance as
contemporaneous attempts of a student of American history, at
successive transitions in our development during the past quarter
century to interpret the relations of the present to the past. Grateful
acknowledgment is made to the various societies and periodicals which
have given permission to reprint the essays.
Various essays dealing with the connection of diplomatic history and
the frontier and others stressing the significance of the section, or
geographic province, in American history, are not included in the
present collection. Neither the French nor the Spanish frontier is within
the scope of the volume.
The future alone can disclose how far these interpretations are correct
for the age of colonization which came gradually to an end with the
disappearance of the frontier and free land. It alone can reveal how
much of the courageous, creative American spirit, and how large a part
of the historic American ideals are to be carried over into that new age
which is replacing the era of free lands and of measurable isolation by
consolidated and complex industrial development and by increasing
resemblances and connections between the New World and the Old.
But the larger part of what has been distinctive and valuable in
America's contribution to the history of the human spirit has been due
to this nation's peculiar experience in extending its type of frontier into
new regions; and in creating peaceful societies with new ideals in the
successive vast and differing geographic provinces which together
make up the United States. Directly or indirectly these experiences
shaped the life of the Eastern as well as the Western States, and even
reacted upon the Old World and influenced the direction of its thought

and its progress. This experience has been fundamental in the economic,
political and social characteristics of the American people and in their
conceptions of their destiny.
Writing at the close of 1796, the French minister to the United States,
M. Adet, reported to his government that Jefferson could not be relied
on to be devoted to French interests, and he added: "Jefferson, I say, is
American, and by that name, he cannot be sincerely our friend. An
American is the born enemy of all European peoples." Obviously
erroneous as are these words, there was an element of truth in them. If
we would understand this element of truth, we must study the
transforming influence of the American wilderness, remote from
Europe, and by its resources and its free opportunities affording the
conditions under which a new people, with new social and political
types and ideals, could arise to play its own part in the world, and to
influence Europe.
FREDERICK J. TURNER.
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, March, 1920.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN
HISTORY 1
II THE FIRST OFFICIAL FRONTIER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS
BAY 39
III THE OLD WEST 67
IV THE MIDDLE WEST 126
V THE OHIO VALLEY IN AMERICAN HISTORY 157

VI