Jackson Turner Significance

Frederick Jackson Turner was a well educated man and was known for many historical writings and thesis. Even though he did not produce much work, he is still known to many in the early 1900’s as one of the top influential historians of his era. His research led to a massive library of information. One of the leading thesis he developed was “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. It was a speech where he made it known that the American frontier was closed. His idea came from the 1890 United States census, which told the tale of how the population had reached at least two people per square mile.
Turner’s “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, the model for understanding American History. With the research of the …show more content…
"The most important effect of the frontier has been in the promotion of democracy here and in Europe. As has been indicated, the frontier is productive of individualism." (Turner, 34) With a lot of support from the people of his day there has been a wide spread of criticism from his claims. Causing “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” to become one of the controversial topics of American History. Many of the critics claim that Turner’s thesis was lacking some knowledge on of economics of past industrial America, but how could a man with such information and research be considered ignorant. Turner was also criticized for not including the Native Americans in his writings.
Turner did have a lot of support for his thesis. They strive to defend the idea of the frontier as an opportunity to achieve individualism, democracy, and freedom. The supporters strive to make his claims valid and having a strong reasoning. The role of the frontier according to Turners supporters was to welcome the opportunity that the west had to offer and they had more room than they were led to