Frederick Turner Response Turner's Work Thesis

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From Patricia Limerick's approach, this paper can derive its own thesis as to how the frontier phenomenon truly influenced the development and values of the American society. In my opinion, the truth is that the United States is such a large country that a phenomenon such as the frontier and Westward expansion could not have influenced to the degree to which Turner believes it had the development of the American society. There are several reasons for this, all discussed below.

First, many of the values, especially the institutional and democratic values, have, in fact, been unchanged for the best 250 years. The Constitution itself has barely been modified, with the exception of a limited number of amendments. The main institutional powers, the executive, the legislative and the judicial powers are all based on the same principles and format from 1776 and the first years thereafter. The political system, with minor consolidations during the 19th century, has also remained the same, focused on a bipolar party system. None of these basic elements of the American society has changed in any way because of the influence of the frontier phenomenon.

Second, the intrinsic characteristics of the American people that came about with the ideas of democracy, most notably the free market economy, had also been a fundamental element in the construction of the American society, much as the others had. This, again, happened without any influence from the frontier phenomenon. The fact that the American society had been forged on the idea of challenges that had to be met was valid even before the Westward expansion.

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The spirit and values of the economic free market, including competition, were there before the end of the 19th century and were in no way influenced by the frontier. The challenges that the initial settlers had faced forged the values that the new challenges could not change later on.

Finally, the argument that the United States is simply to big for an event such as this to be considered fundamental to the evolution of the American people is also important. The differences between the West and East coast are sometimes so great that it is difficult to find a common denominator as to what influenced the developments of the communities on the two coasts. It is more likely to go along with the ideas that both these communities stemmed from the same pool of values and norms, those that the Founding Fathers had laid down 250 years ago.

Turner is too radical in expressing the fact that the Western expansion has actually defined American development. One can say that it has influenced, but to a similar degree to which other events in the history of the U.S. have influenced it as well. As an element of the American history, the frontier certainly plays a role, but it is not the role that 1776 has played on the nation, with the creation of the fundamental institutions and democratic construction that still makes the United States the world soundest democracy......

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