The Frontier In American History Summary

In the novel, “The captured: A True Story of Abduction on the Texas Frontier” written by Scott Zesch narrates the story of the Indian captives to address the experiences of Texas Pioneers. The story of Adolf Korn and the others who were captured by tribes brings forward the different cultures. The book explains a series of kidnapping and how the Indians force the children to adjust to their costumes. Zesch describes what the experiences of those abducted reveal about Native American culture and pioneer culture. The author pinpoints the reasoning as to why the Comanches took captives and portrays how the stories from both the captives and the captors fit into the history of the United States West.

Susan Rhoades Neel - A Place of Extremes: Nature, History, and the American West In her essay, Susan Rhoades Neel examines the significance of the environment of the American West when shaping western history by referring to and analyzing regional approaches claimed by Webb, Limerick, Worster, and White in order to deemphasize Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis. In fact, most historians may regard Turner's theory as the most influential and adequate one in attempting at giving meaning to the mythical territory of western America as it offers a common sense for the entire American nation. Nonetheless, because of the particular emphasis on nature and the human - nature relation, new approaches have been developed in order to outline

The migration of Americans to the west was a good thing for innovation and building up the United States as a country, but the Native Americans who lived in these lands were changed forever. Any Native Americans found in lands where United States citizens wanted land was immediately excavated from their land and brought to an Indian reservation of some kind. Overtime though, these Indian reservations began to limit due to the rising population in Americans during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. “They [Lewis and Clark] provided valuable information about the topography, the biological sciences, the ecology, and ethnic and linguistic studies of the American Indian. The mysteries of

Faith Picotte History 310 (T-Th) Homework Ch. 8 1.Turner’s frontier thesis is deceptively draws and allure your inquisitive imagination into a grand scale visionary picture of settlements of specific regions, and the social societal processes. Americans realized the frontier formed and promoted a composite nationalist American society. The English dominated the coastal region. , later continental immigrants flowed towards the free lands of the frontier.

Overall, the closing of the frontier was a turning point in American history, marking the end of one era and the beginning of another. By transforming the economy and society, it laid the groundwork for the United States to become the global superpower it is today. During the period between 1865 and 1898, one additional factor that shaped American culture and character was the westward expansion and settlement of the frontier. The promise of land, opportunities for economic growth, and the idea of Manifest Destiny drove Americans to venture beyond the Mississippi River and into the

“ The first is that typical frontier community was sociologically cohesive- a kind of persistent Lockhean husking and barn-raising. The second misconception is that these particular frontier communities were reslentlessly homicidal” (pg 218). Frontier citizens worked together to obtain railroads, manage their cattle and access to cattle trails, defend themselves and families from outlaws gangs, but also they fought among themselves for cattle, for lands, for power and wealth. Which proves the contrast between Dykstra’s research and the western legends belief. Also the homicide rate in frontier compare to modern society is lower.

The idea he brought into light about the image of the frontier and the west inspiring American development can be seen throughout this time, and into the 20th century as well. As America moved to the west, more areas where becoming populated and developed, creating new challenges for the government. Some included requesting protection provided by the government against feared Indian tribes. Also, large land owning railroad companies would ask for lessening fees paid to the government and acquiring additional lands to assist them in developing rail lines in many portions of the west. As the frontier grows, the government continued passing legislation to support and give incentive to those to go out west.

From 1865 onward, Native American culture was greatly changed by the westward expansion of the united states. Government action effectively destroyed native culture. The US was not justified in its ruthless westward expansion because of the harm dealt to the native people and the change in the American economy. One reason that westward expansion was not justified was the damage done to the native people. When the US really started to settle the west in 1865, we would offer chiefs compensation to move their tribes farther west or on to reservations.

In the years following the Revolutionary War the United States would begin to expand, although not popular among all citizens, it helped shape the country into what we know today. The first acquisition of territory would be as a result of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain ending the Revolutionary War. This treaty marked the boundaries between the British colonies still located in North America and ceded the thirteen American colonies to a newly recognized country known as the United States of America. This would not be the only acquisition of territory that the United States would complete between the years of 1789 and 1815 but it would be the initial acquisition of territory that would develop this newly formed nation.

The United States gave the Indians time to move west and those that had not done so by choice were forced. The removal of the Indians was a long going issue for The United States, that no one knew just how to deal with. “Some officials in the early years of the American republic, such as President George Washington, believed that the best way to solve this “Indian problem” was simply to “civilize” the Native

What are the connections between the frontiers impacts and the style of an American way of life and to what extent the frontiers have affected the American Values? Why are the Americans still satisfied with the notion of frontiers heroism that shows in movies and TV shows today despite their awareness in persecuted acts against the Native Indian?

Discuss the importance of expansion to American history: When discussing the “first” settlement in America, there’s a bit of controversy that comes along with this statement. Notwithstanding, there is without a doubt the idea that prior to the settlement of the European’s, America was unsettled land filled with untapped potential. On the subject of who first settled in America, according to Keene, Jennifer D. , et al. “The ancient inhabitants of America, Paleo-Indians, were an Ice Age people who survived largely by hunting big game and to a lesser extent by fishing and collecting edible plants” (Jennifer D., et al., 2013, p. 4). America did trade with other countries but mainly the land was used for food supply purposes.

In addition to railroads, Congress passed numerous acts and laws to encourage people to move west. One of the first acts was the Homestead Act of 1862. Which “gave 160 acres of land to anyone who would pay a $10 registration fee and pledge to live on it and cultivate it for five year” (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, and Williams 502). Passing this law forged a “mass migration of land-hungry Europeans” (Divine, Breen, Fredrickson, and Williams 502), amazed that a country would relinquish millions of acres for free. Between 1862 and 1900, close to 600,000 families made their way west from free homesteads.

The contrasts between the American West and East in the nineteenth century range from a new start to the adventure of the living in the Wild West. The east had become overcrowded and did not allow much opportunity for people of lesser wealth. “In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. The West, he added, acted as a “safety

During the “Gilded Age” period of American history, development of the Trans-Mississippi west was crucial to fulfilling the American dream of manifest destiny and creating an identity which was distinctly American. Since the west is often associated with rugged pioneers and frontiersmen, there is an overarching idea of hardy American individualism. However, although these settlers were brave and helped to make America into what it is today, they heavily relied on federal support. It would not have been possible for white Americans to settle the Trans-Mississippi west without the US government removing Native Americans from their lands and placing them on reservations, offering land grants and incentives for people to move out west, and the