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.
Slavery is the great and foul stain upon the North American Union.
You gotta understand - the state of Mississippi was in rebellion. It had rebelled against the United States. Now that has been a very difficult story for America to tell, but that's what actually happened.
In retrospect, the political and cultural climate in the early '60s seems both a time of innocence and also like a sultry, still summer day in the Midwest: an unsettling calm before a ferocious storm over Vietnam, which was not yet an American war.
Why are some things remembered and others forgotten? That is the theme I want to pursue about the Second World War.
There comes a time in the life of every nation when it stands at the crossroads of history and must choose which way to go.
The histories of the poor and the powerless are as important as those of their conquerors, their colonizers, their kings and queens.
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