AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: Turner's Frontier Thesis (Day 173/309)

Hey APUSHers, let’s chat about Turner’s Frontier Thesis as part of my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

Distribution of the population of the United States: 1890, Library of Congress

From 1865 to 1890, three million families started farms on the Great Plains which led the superintendent of the U.S. Census to declare there was no longer a frontier line and the West was closed.

Frederick Jackson Turner, Wikimedia Commons

In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented a thesis claiming that the conquest of the American West had profoundly impacted American identity and democracy.

Pioneers of the West, Wikimedia Commons

He believed that as Americans migrated westward, they had developed characteristics of independence, individualism, and a spirit of innovation which were distinctly American qualities.

American Progress & A Thing Well Begun is Half Done, Wikimedia Commons

In his interpretation, a crucial epoch had ended with the recent mass settlement of the West. While historians debated the thesis, it also fueled discussions about future American foreign policy.

Turner's Frontier Thesis posited that the existence of the American frontier played a pivotal role in shaping the nation's character and that the frontier's closing in 1890, symbolized the end of an era.

Join me tomorrow as I explain the “New South” in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!