Definition: Turner Thesis (scroll down for definition)

Definition: Turner Thesis

After the closing of the American Frontier, Harvard professor Frederick Jackson Turner wrote a thesis in 1893 that concluded that the West (Frontier) personified the story of America. He displayed the importance of how the Frontier line had always sparked individual strength and democracy. He believed that the West was the most important component of the American story. Adversaries of the thesis conclude that Turner overemphasized the importance of the frontier, as other issues like immigration and industrialization were larger stories.

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