The American West was viewed as a land of opportunity and success for many people of different racial and financial backgrounds during the time between 1865 to 1890. However, the extent of success from the opportunity varied on multiple factors. For the homesteader, opportunity was based upon good weather conditions and hard work but mostly only large scale corporations succeeded. Mining provided little for the average miner; large mining industries profited instead.. At some point West was the land of opportunity and at the same time it was not a land of opportunity for Native American Indians and Minorities.…
The Donner Party (sometimes called the Donner-Reed Party) was a group of American pioneers led by George Donner and James F. Reed who set out for California in a wagon train. Delayed by a series of mishaps and mistakes, they spent the winter of 1846–47 snowbound in the Sierra…
There was a lack of preparations for this trip. They seemed more focused on comfort then they where for their necessities. For example, Reed’s wagon was a fancy two-story wagon with a built-in iron stove, spring-cushioned seats and bunks for sleeping. Reed’s 12 year old daughter Virginia named it "The Pioneer Palace Car.” Instead of Reed focusing on extra food and medicine he put his focus on comfort items.…
Frederick Jackson Turner 1893 argued that America is different because America has a frontier & as they landed, they realized the European ways didn't work very well & that they had to adapt to this new frontier & as they moved further west, they continued to adapt the frontier until the frontier began to adapt to us…
Differences in expansion of early United States history compared to the late 19th and early 20th century was reason for expansion. After expanding all the way to California, Americans became paranoid; the 1890 census said that there was no longer frontier, which clashed with Frederick J. Turner's idea that America's success had been directly linked to its ability to expand west into frontier, (as in "The Significance of the Frontier in America"), this gave way to the idea of looking…
America first took a step towards greater world involvement due to 1. The effects of the frontier on the American spirit. In 1893 Fredrick Jackson Turner delivered the idea of "The Significance of the Frontier in American History," to a gathering of historians. According to Turner, the frontier was "the line of most rapid Americanization."1 The idea of the frontier as explained by Turner looks at the constant movement westward by the European's who came to America. It speaks of the time from the first arrival until the time when there is no longer a frontier line, and how the nation developed as the movement westward continued. "Little by little he transforms the wilderness, but the outcome is not the old Europe, not simply the development of Germanic germs, any more than the first phenomenon was a case of reversion to the Germanic mark. The fact is, that here is a new product that is American. At first, the frontier was the Atlantic coast. It was the frontier of Europe in a very real sense. Moving westward, the frontier became more and more American."2 As the Americans ventured westward each new move past a frontier was developed on trials of the one before it. Whereas most of the time expansion would be met by other people whom have conquered that land, this was not the case for America, which provided it with a unique opportunity. It was then brought back to the primitive stage as each frontier was advanced upon, giving rise to new forms of government and institutions. The…
The cultural positions between America and the rest of the Western nations have completely switched. Rather than being in a position where America could become overrun by other Western cultures, the other Western cultures are in a position where they must fear being overrun by American culture. Coming from a period of incredible vulnerability after its emergence into a postcolonial state, authors like Sedgwick that promoted the idea for a truly independent and distinct American culture, and led the way for America to come into the cultural dominance that it enjoys…
In 1846, the 23 wagon Donner party consisting of 27 men, 17 women and 43 children including the Donner family left Springfield, Ill., for a fresh start in California. The journey would prove to be tragic. They became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range in October, low on supplies with winter quickly approaching. A blizzard trapped them in a pass where most of the party would ultimately remain until after December. Several rescue parties were sent out, and those in the Donner party…
“ The public perception of the “closing of the west”, along with the philosophy of social Darwinism, contributed to a desire for continued expansion of American culture”,…
If one survived the voyage to the United States they had many obstacles yet to face. Some found their way to the countryside and settled…
Through the established liberty by releasing Americans from European mindsets and the old, dysfunctional customs of the mother country, treaties with foreign nations and native tribes; political compromise; military conquest; establishment of law and order; the building of farms, ranches, and towns; the marking of trails and digging of mines; and the pulling in of great migrations of foreigners, freedom, voting, citizenship, blacks, whites, war within, the use of the land, the development of markets, and the formation of states, created the evolution of the american identity and a prosperous nation full of equal opportunity. But this Evolution of the american identity of the frontier isn't over yet, John F Kennedy once said, that “there is still today a frontier that remains unconquered—an America unreclaimed. This is the great, the nation-wide frontier of insecurity, of human want and fear. This is the frontier—the America—we have set ourselves to reclaim.” The frontier is evolving everyday from scientific innovation to today Electronic frontier. Americans never stop moving…
England, a small and familiar place for many, was a community with very strict rules and beliefs. The Church of England was the dominant power over the country, and not everyone was happy with this dictatorship. Once the land in America was founded, Puritans and other men searching for freedom gathered and sailed across the sea to the new land. America became a “melting pot” full of various traditions, cultures, and beliefs from England as well as new “American” ideas. This process took time and involved adapting and hard work to civilize the land. In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner discussed and wrote about the frontier and how it shaped American characteristics. He talked about the steps the Europeans had to take to transform the environment into one with reasonable laws and into one with more of a community rather than mere wilderness. “As successive terminal moraines result from successive glaciations, so each frontier leaves its traces behind it, and when it becomes a settled area the region still partakes of the frontier characteristics. (Turner 153)”1This quote talks about the frontier having characteristics from the old country, England, as well as new developed ones from America. Turner’s argument is based off the European men arriving in American and having to adapt to the Indian lifestyle which consisted of hunting and of living off the land. Later the Europeans introduced their own more civilized ideas to further the society and build up the area as a whole. Turner only talked about the male figures shaping America and completely disregarded women and their roles in the community. Although Turner’s “frontier thesis” involving males shaping America became a very prominent idea, Elizabeth Ashbridge and Mary Rowlandson, two women, wrote about their completely different experiences. Elizabeth Ashbridge and Mary Rowlandson both represent victims of slavery and viewed the frontier as a place of fear, confusion,…
The speech “The Significance of the Frontier in American History" was look at like a foundation paved for future Americans to compare theories that hadn’t even come about yet with history questioning. Turner’s view on the American character was shaped around the views of the thesis of the frontier. National identity comes into play also with this speech as a attribute of and American should be. Turner exclaims how American history was drilled by the frontier and blaming that on why Americans are the way they are in today’s society. Surprisingly this thesis has been respected by many people in the historian community because Turner makes great emphasis on the expansion to the American West was the largest change that America would ever see in their culture.…
Part one: The author imagines himself an Englishman who has come to settle in America (in 1783). Through the eyes of this English settler, the author describes what he would see upon coming to America and how different it would be from Europe. Unlike in Europe, America has a far smaller gap between rich and poor and titles, based on class and honor, (such as prince, duke or lord) are non-existent. For the most part the people living in America are farmers and live in comfortable but modest houses. It is clear from the author’s words that he thinks America is great place to live.…
There was talk about gold in Sacramento, California which is why moma and dad left, so on the 14th I took Jimmy, Annabeth and my Uncle George Reed and we left our old home. I remember just looking back thinking how much I’ll miss the good parts of my old life the friends, the good memories but I needed something for me, this was for me. Anyways we followed others families like the Donner family the Groves and more along with the “27 wagons that were loaded with fancy foods, liquor, and built in beds and stoves.” (Donner party) This assured me we were gonna be alright, I knew I was strong to get to Cali. As the journey began other families did join in too as we followed the California trail and we first got to Independence Missouri on April 10th. We resupplied ourself and after that a storm was coming, I knew we would suffer a little so I made sure Jimmy and Anna got comfortable by assuring them nothing would happen during the storm because as much as I hated always taking care of them I really loved them. Then once we left Missouri more people kept joining together but on May 25 we encountered a problem the Big Blue…