Free Essay

The Frontier Myth

In: Historical Events

Submitted By MRiddick
Words 855
Pages 4
Essay
The Frontier Myth

-------------------------------------------------
“Up to our own day American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward explain American development. (…)American social development has been continually beginning over again on the frontier. This perennial rebirth, this fluidity of American life, this expansion westward with its new opportunities, its continuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character.” Source: http://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/corporations/docs/turner.html
Frederick Jackson Turner

The Frontier is a prominent symbol of American culture. Although it intimidated the colonists and later Americans, it did not prevent them from spreading. What drove them was “the idea of unlimited free land, a sense of unlimited opportunity and optimism”1. The idea of the frontier was significant in American culture between 1860 and 1893 because it was considered by many to be “the last frontier.” “Since the beginning of the European settlements, westward expansion had always served as an inspiration to those dreaming to start a new life.”1 With the last of the frontier being absorbed into civilization, its importance to the American people rose more than ever.
Frederick Jackson Turner said that this closing of the frontier “marks the closing of a great historical movement.” The frontier was first the Atlantic coast and the frontier was mainly Europeans. As the frontier began to move westward over the years, they became more and more American. This meant that the advance of the frontier meant a steady movement away from the influence of Europe, and a steady growth of American independence. Though the frontier was a symbol of patriotism and American pride.
The American Cowboy’s was also a part the frontier as they was seeing them as the American pride. Their way of life was interesting and unique, and they contributed more to society than one might think. Besides looking after stock and driving cattle, they had to round up huge numbers of cattle for ranchers. Cowboys wasn't just for anyone. Certain character traits and physical characteristics were required if someone wanted to be a good cowboy. Considering the distances that they covered, traveling was rough. Cowboy needed great strength, endurance, and often cleverness to complete. People came from everywhere to become cowboys. Some came from eastern American states, others from the Midwest, and the rest came from states in the South. They came to work on ranches and drive cattle on the trail. "Many were ex-rebel soldiers who maintained that attitude on the trail. This is how Texas got a reputation for lawlessness and violence" (The Cowboys). Being a cowboy, for some, had a special status. Cowboys in the Western Plains called themselves cowpunchers and thought of themselves as more important than others. Cowboys worked very hard and were also a big part of pushing the frontier further West.
After the Civil War, the frontier changed just like the rest of America. Immigrants established from all over the globe. This led to huge population increases, which meant that more land was needed. Bigger population meant bigger nature problems because the Americans interacted with the native and the wilderness. The frontier was slowly divided among the masses, and people began claiming their areas. With the land being devoured, the Indians felt that they were being denied the rights to what was theirs. The Indians were greatly outnumbered, and out skilled. In one of the last deciding battles, Wounded Knee, the Indians lost one-hundred and forty-six dead, and fifty-one injured, where as the U.S. Army had twenty-five killed and thirty-nine wounded. The Native Americans were no match for the machine guns with their outdated hand-to-hand combat style. After the battle, the Natives had to accept the fact that they were defeated, and had to take what they had and leave.

Buffalo Bill was one of the most interesting figures of the old west, and the best-known representative of the new west. Buffalo Bill was born in 1846 and his real name was William Frederick Cody. Cody was many things. He was a trapper, bullwhacker, Colorado 'Fifty-Niner', Pony Express rider, Civil War soldier, wagon master, stagecoach driver, and even a manager of a hotel. He changed his name to Buffalo Bill sometime in his early twenties for his skill of hunting buffalo’s while supplying railroad workers with buffalo meat. He would soon begin his career as one of the most famous prairie scouts of the Indian Wars.
As a frontier scout, he respected Native Americans and supported their rights. He employed many more natives than Sitting Bull, as he thought his show offered them good pay for a better life. He called them “the former foe, present friend, the American”2, and once said, “Every Indian outbreak that I have ever known has resulted from broken promises and broken treaties by the government.”2

1. The Frontier Heritage by Edward N. Kearny, 1984 2. Buffalo Bill's Wild West: An American Legend

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Richard Slotkin

...Part 1 Richard Slotkin The notion of Regeneration through Violence is not new to the American cultural concept, nor is the intensive use of myth. Richard Slotkin’s book meticulously accounts how the use of violence has been integral to the construction of a distinctly American mythology. Slotkin argues, “In American mythology the founding fathers were not those 18TH-century gentlemen who composed a nation at Philadelphia. Rather, they were those who tore violently a nation from implacable and opulent wilderness”. As a result regeneration ultimately became the means of violence, and the myth of regeneration through violence became the structuring metaphor of the American experience. In describing the evolution of the myth of regeneration through violence, Slotkin describes North America as an empty, unoccupied wilderness where resources are rich and land is free for the taking, or if not exactly free, the land becomes the rightful spoil of war for those representing the interests of civilization and progress. The symbolic landscape of the frontier narrative is marked by boundaries and by the encounter of opposites; civilization and savagery, man and nature, whites and Indians, good and evil. These encounters are characterized in terms of conflictand violence as the protagonist struggles against the harsh environment, the unknown and potentially hostile Indians, and the savagery of the empty land. As Slotkin argues, European American encounters with the wilderness produced...

Words: 631 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Re-Dressing America's Frontier Past

...This essay will review Peter Boag’s Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past (2011). This book highlights the missing histories of cross-dressers all across the American frontier, and gives readers a look into the lives of such individuals and how they were regarded and treated in society. Consequently, this paper will discuss the geographic and chronological scope of the book, and analyze the extent of the history of cross dressing practices and how they challenged heteronormative culture and myths about the Western frontier. Lastly, this essay will critically assess the effectiveness of sources used by the author and how they contribute to his arguments. The geographic and chronological scope of the book focuses on the era between 1850 to 1920,...

Words: 1422 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Western Frontier Research Paper

...The story of the Western Frontier is bursting with countless experiences of historic events that changed the American Frontier in the eighteenth century. The Western Frontier was a form of civilization rather than a piece of old dusty land. The West was a region whose social conditions result from the claim of older establishment and ideas to transforming influence of free land. Though this claim, a new environment is quickly entered, liberty of opportunity is opened, new development and institutions, and fresh ideals are brought into existence. The desert disappears, the West proper passes on to a different frontier, and a new civilization has arose. The Great West had countless opportunities and problems during the last half of the 1800s. There were mines to seized, an abundant of lands to be preempted; all the natural resources exposed to the wisest and the bravest. As the Western dusty land was being cleared to formed community for the many settlements to seek comforts in the Wild West, but some...

Words: 953 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Mars: the Continuing Frontier in Science Fiction

...Mars: The Continuing Frontier in Science Fiction Just as, early American settlers viewed land West of the Mississippi as, ‘free land as far as the eye can see’, early science fiction writers created a Mars that was ‘ripe for the taking’ in their many stories of colonization. The Frontier Myth is from the idea that early settlers viewed uninhabited land as free to whoever wants it, a first come, first served mentality attached with unlimited opportunity. Well, as my dear father told me long ago, nothing in life is free. Of course the Frontier Myth doesn’t account for who or what was there before the ones doing the taking. Therein lies the problem. Or for many early science fiction writers- a great story idea. Fuelled by real scientific observation, starting with Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and his 1877 “discovery” of canals on the planet Mars (which later was rejected as part of the natural landscape by better technology) to the 1960’s and 1970’s NASA programs Mariner and Viking. Specifically because of the real science behind Mars exploration, authors like; Philip K. Dick, Martian Time-Slip, Greg Bear, Moving Mars, and Kim Stanley Robinson with Red Mars, all explored very scientific, but humanistic stories with themes of the political, economical and social effects of colonization on Mars. One interesting aspect of Mars literature is the use of environmental similarities of globalization here on Earth as a reflection in the colonization of Mars stories....

Words: 873 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

The New West Frontier

...Jackson Martin #1 The Myth-and Symbol School is generally regarded as the first theoretical contribution of American Studies to scholarly interpretations of the past. Richard Slotkin is part of a group called “Old West” historians who ascribe to the Myth-and-Symbol School when interpreting American history. This thought-process stresses a collection of popular sentiments of the Frontier era in order to create an environment that has some structure. A result of this approach is that it allows continuity to the reader when studying the frontier. For instance, Slotkin notices in his analysis of “The Adventures of Col, Daniel Boone that: “Filson creates a character who becomes the archetypal hero of the American frontier, copied by imitators and plagiarists and appearing innumerable times under other names and in other guises -- in literature, the popular arts, and folklore -- as the man who made the wilderness safe for democracy” (Slotkin 268-69) This shows how his character became an archetype to himself and all other frontiersmen. Because of this, the circumstances may change in the frontier, but its actors do not. As Slotkin describes the character of he furthers this argument and identifies “the most distinctive trait of Boone’s character was his love for the wild land” (Slotkin 298). While this approach is valuable due to minimal historical documentation, its methodology is intrinsically too simple to be taken seriously. Additionally, “Old West” perspectives usually...

Words: 1120 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Slavery Narratives

...Describe the genre of Slave Narrative in his essentials on the basis of an example. What was the role of the genre for the abolitionist movement? Anti-slavery literature was very important for the abolitionists` fight against slavery. The Slave Narratives took a special importance because of the fact that slaves reported from the personal perspective. They described autobiographically how the life in captivity looked like. Consequently, they disputed the description of slave keeper, which were played down and romanticized. Frederick Douglass, one of the former slaves, wrote his story on his own, whereas some who couldn´t write and read (who were illiterate), dictated their stories to abolitionists. Those wrote and published these stories. Moreover, the Slave Narratives always were authenticated in preface and epilogues from whiteness. In the following part, I will quote many a time from the autobiography of the mentioned Frederick Douglass‘ “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass“ “Master, however, was not a humane slaveholder. It required extraordinary barbarity on the part of an overseer to affect him. He was a cruel man, hardened by a long life of slaveholding. He would at times seem to take great pleasure in whipping a slave. I have often been awakened at the dawn of day by the most heart-rending shrieks of an own aunt of mine, whom he used to tie up to a joist, and whip upon her naked back till she was literally covered with blood. No words, no tears, no prayers...

Words: 1435 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Trouble with Wilderness

...The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature William Cronon This will seem a heretical claim to many environmentalists, since the idea of wilderness has for decades been a fundamental tenet-indeed, a passionof the environmental movement, especially in the United States. For many Americans wilderness stands as the last remaining place where civilization, that all too human disease, has not fully infected the earth. It is an island in the polluted sea of urban-industrial modernity, the one place we can turn for escape from our own too-muchness. Seen in this way, wilderness presents itself as the best antidote to our human selves, a refuge we must somehow recover if we hope to save the planet. As Henry David Thoreau once famously declared, “In Wildness is the preservation of the World.“’ But is it? The more one knows of its peculiar history, the more one realizes that wilderness is not quite what it seems. Far from being the one place on earth that stands apart from humanity, it is quite profoundly a human creation-indeed, the creation of very particular human cultures at very particular moments in human history. It is not a pristine sanctuary where the last remnant of an untouched, endangered, but still transcendent nature can for at least a little while longer be encountered without the contaminating taint of civilization. Instead, it is a product of that civilization, and could hardly be contaminated by the very stuff of which it is made...

Words: 11026 - Pages: 45

Premium Essay

Patricia Nelson Limerick's The Legacy Of Conquest

...Patricia Nelson Limerick wrote The Legacy of Conquest to show how life in the West was very different than it was depicted before. She got the idea of the book when she went to a conference on the American West. “During the first day of the conference, government and business officials complained about the current problems of the West, and the prevalent presumption seemed to be that these problems were quite recent in origin and bore little relation to the distant frontier West.” (pg. 9) The West of the past has been depicted as a frontier process where Limerick saw it as more of a place of conquest and wants to depict that in her book. “Life in Boulder, Colorado, at the foot of the Flatirons, reminds you daily that the West is here and not ‘out...

Words: 1264 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Paper

...Learning -- Adolescent; Education 252: Human Intercultural Problems in Education (1977-1978) TEACHING EXPERIENCE Hunter College, New York, NY U.S. History to 1877; U.S. History from 1865; The Civil War (2001 to date) Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY U.S. History from 1865 (2004-2005) John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY World Civilization I: prehistory - A.D. 1500; World Civilization: from A.D. 1500 (1998-2004) Saint Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ The Civil War; World Perspectives in History II (2003-2004, 2006) New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ Civilizations I (2003) Baruch College, New York, NY Senior Coordinator, Peer Tutoring Program, History Department (1996-1997) Themes in American History: The Frontier (2000) Touro College, New York, NY (Men's and Women's Divisions) U.S. History from 1865 (2001) Modern History I: Renaissance to 1815; Modern History II: 1815 to present (1994-1995) New York City Technical College, Brooklyn, NY U.S. History to 1877; U.S. History from 1865; State and Local Government (1995-1996) PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Board of Directors, New York Military Affairs Symposium (NYMAS) American Historical Association Western History Association PUBLICATIONS Books Attack at Dawn: Phil Sheridan's Winter Campaign, 1868-1869. In preparation for University of Oklahoma Press. The...

Words: 708 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

College Assignment/Decision Theory

...from myths in that they concern human beings rather than gods, and sometimes in that they have some sort of historical basis whereas myths do not; but these distinctions are difficult to maintain consistently Legend vs Myth: Myths are generally referred to as traditional stories occuring in a timeless past. They may involve supernatural elements and are beyond the frontiers of logic. Myths may also give a religious explanation. Myths have their chronology of events and cannot be related to present timelines. They may also be imaginary things. Legends, however, are stories about real people who are famous for doing something brave or extraordinary. Legends may be told upon topics of historical importance. It is not an explanation of something nor a symbolic narrative, they're based on an event. Examples of myths and legends It is a Greek myth that Prometheus stole fire from Zeus, the chief god, and gave it to humans so that they could keep themselves warm. To punish him, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock where his liver was eaten by an eagle every day but grew again every night. There is nothing to prove it and we do not even have a time frame to show so it is a myth. A common contemporary myth is that a cat crossing the road in front of you brings bad luck. This is a myth as it not based on any solid evidence and is an unproven thing. Stories of heroes like Robin Hood and King Arthur are related to a certian time period and hence they are legends. Proof Myths are often...

Words: 765 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Hard Times in Ba

...Gosnell, Jonathan. "Franco-American Cultures In A New World Perspective." French Politics, Culture & Society 30.3 (2012): 96-118. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. 2. Bibliographical citation: Slatta, Richard W. "Making And Unmaking Myths Of The American Frontier." European Journal Of American Culture 29.2 (2010): 81-92. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. This article is very intriguing “plain a key difference in the myth-making of the two North American countries. ‘If a creation story explains, often in mythic terms, how a people came to a place and claimed it as their own, then Turner’s frontier thesis became the creation story of the U.S.´ this quotes also sum itself on what Slatta is saying this article about myths in the American history and present. Looking this myths and comparing to what I think of another city full myth like Paris, a person start to understand why Paris back in the 20s and 60s have a very different meaning to foreigners to Paris. Paris in a way represent France because of its size, population, Capitol city and by far the most vibrant city in Europe today and back in 20s and 60s. Within the country it’s self they are many myths that separate people most noticeable as the author stated was during the civil war. The south view black people as their property and they wanted to hold on to while the north wanted to liberate black people and so how let them be their own people and not slaves. ...

Words: 1353 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

The Ricardian Model - International Trade

...necessary foundations for the more complex models presented in later chapters. The text exposition begins with the examination of the production possibility frontier and the relative prices of goods for one country. The production possibility frontier is linear because of the assumption of constant returns to scale for labor, the sole factor of production. The opportunity cost of one good in terms of the other equals the price ratio since prices equal costs, costs equal unit labor requirements times wages, and wages are equal in each industry. After defining these concepts for a single country, a second country is introduced which has different relative unit labor requirements. General equilibrium relative supply and demand curves are developed. This analysis demonstrates that at least one country will specialize in production. The gains from trade are then demonstrated with a graph and a numerical example. The intuition of indirect production, that is "producing" a good by producing the good for which a country enjoys a comparative advantage and then trading for the other good, is an appealing concept to emphasize when presenting the gains from trade argument. Students are able to apply the Ricardian theory of comparative advantage to analyze three misconceptions about the advantages of free trade. Each of the three "myths" represents a common argument against free trade and the flaws of each can be demonstrated in the context of examples already...

Words: 373 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Into the Wild

...Christopher McCandless was an avid reader in college and based much of his philosophical beliefs on what he read. Please research which two authors have the most profound effect on him and discuss the similarities and differences between their lives and works. Utilizing both the novel and various other supports, research the grip the wilderness has on the American imagination. “Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the last frontier will patch all of the holes in their lives” (4). What are the holes people are trying to fill? Why do we believe the frontier will save us? What appeal does the “wild” still have on modern American society? Research and discuss the allure that high-risk activities hold for young men of a certain mindset. Research outstanding examples of popular risky social behaviors, thrill sports and other self-destructive trends among youth in America. Christopher McCandless has a complicated relationship with his father. Many of McCandless’ personal decisions are directly or indirectly affected by this relationship and he even appears to have found a replacement “father figure” for himself in the form of Westerberg (as described in Chapter 3 of the novel). Research and discuss the highly charged bond that often exists between fathers and sons. Please research the origins of the purpose behind the “Burning Man” spectacle and its continued popularity with non-conformists. From the...

Words: 717 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Projects

...along former border areas from Bo Hai (a gulf of the Yellow Sea) in the east to Gansu Province in the west. The Great Wall is visited often near Beijing, at a site called Ju-yong-guan, and at its eastern and western extremes. The Great Wall is probably China's best-known monument and one of its most popular tourist destinations. In 1987 it was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Great Wall is not a single, continuous structure. Rather, it consists of a network of walls and towers that leaves the frontier open in places. Estimates of the total length of the monument vary, depending on which sections are included and how they are measured. The Great Wall is about 2,400 km (about 1,500 mi) long, according to conservative estimates. Other estimates cite a length of 6,400 km (4,000 mi), or even longer. Some long-standing myths about the wall have been dispelled in recent decades. The existing wall is not several thousand years old, nor is it, as has been widely asserted, visible with the naked eye from outer...

Words: 260 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Meow

...Kylie Murphy C.C.C. Annotated Bibliography “Five myths about gun control” By Robert J. Spitzer, December 21, 2012 1. I like this article because it states specific facts about gun control and not just opinions. It talks about all the myths about gun control, one myth is that gun control is a losing battle for Democrats. But, that is false because many democrats have voiced their opinion on the topic. Another myth is that guns are deadliest as murder weapons which has been also proven false because statistics show that gun suicide is more common than gun homocide. Another myth is that American schools have become shooting galleries. Horrible incidents like Sandy Hook and Columbine have happened but schools are still a safe place. Schools are starting to take a lot of precautions like lock down drills, metal detectors, and the presense of a resource officer. “…the odds of a child dying from a violent attack at school are about one in a million.”which may be very comforting to you but unfortunetely not to the families in connecticut and elsewhere. Another myth Robert talks about in this article is that gun regulations are incompatible with America’s gun heritage, but today four states have completely elimintated permits for handgun ownership and carrying. The last myth that Robert talks about is that the Second Amendment was intended to protect the right of Americans to raise up against a tyrannical government. If that was true it would defeat the whole purpose of the Bill...

Words: 1769 - Pages: 8