The frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.
Interpretation
The closing of the American frontier marks a significant turning point in the nation's development.
Frederick Jackson Turner's quote reflects on the idea that the American frontier, which symbolized the opportunity for expansion and growth, has come to an end. This closing signifies the conclusion of a formative era in American history, shaping the country's identity and its path forward. Turner's thesis suggests that the experiences of living and settling on the frontier were central to the American character, and without this frontier, a new chapter in American history must be written.
In practice
In a discussion about American history, we can reference Turner's quote to highlight the importance of the frontier period.
That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom - these are the traits of the frontier.
So long as free land exists, the opportunity for a competency exists, and economic power secures political power.
The practical value of history is to throw the film of the past through the material projector of the present on to the screen of the future.
'Slavery by Another Name' is an important book that I think all Americans should read, about how, following the end of slavery, a new system of racial and social control was born, known as 'convict leasing.'
For it was in the golden prime Of good Haroun Alraschid.
The memory of the Second World War hangs over Europe, an inescapable and irresistible point of reference. Historical parallels are usually misleading and dangerous.
Racial inequity in how the immense benefits of the original G.I. Bill were disbursed are well-documented, and we've all seen how these inequities have trickled down over time, leaving Black World War II veterans and their families without the benefits they earned through service and sacrifice.
Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
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