America's Frontier Heritage

Author: Ray Allen Billington
ISBN: 9780826303103

The hypothesis advanced in Frederick Jackson Turner's famous 1893 essay,The Significance of the Frontier in American History, has been debated by three generations of scholars. The pioneering experience, Turner suggested, accounted for some of the distinctive characteristics of the American people: during three centuries of expansion their attitudes toward democracy, nationalism and individualism were altered, and they developed distinctively American traits, such as wastefulness, inventiveness, mobility, and a dozen more. After opening with a summary of the appearance, acceptance, and subsequent dismissal of the theory, the author carefully defines the "frontier" and reviews recent evidence on its political, social, and economic characteristics. He discusses the compulsion to migrate and examines other behavioral patterns and traits in his explanation of how and why pioneers moved west. His extensive bibliographic notes constitute a remarkable guide to the literature of many disciplin

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Publish Date: 1974

Subjects: History / United States / General

This book is available in the following Community Centers: Raza Recource Centro (Location: Wall A, Shelf 3)