Well after getting a good laugh from Caldwell\u2019s post, which makes\u00a0some very valid points on the lack of evidence and rather outlandish claims of Turner’s work,\u00a0I do not want to add insult to injury and further coat Turner\u2019s work with criticism. Yes, his work is somewhat glorified and possibly absurd; however, I do think some good came out of this work that is quickly noted in the post. I do think Turner accomplishes his goal of shining bright light on the memory of the \u201cAmerican frontier\u201d and the history of the masses of those who courageously decided to pack up and head for the Great West. Yet, these points have been mentioned throughout Caldwell’s hilariously harsh\u00a0historical critique\u00a0so I won\u2019t spend time on them. What I will spend a little time on is some of the interesting phrases I pulled out from Turner\u2019s western frontier historiography.<\/p>\n

Granted I do think many of Turner\u2019s statements are beyond reasonable and he may have some misguided history of the west, but because I do not have much background in frontier history or of the great expansions into our new territory at the time, I am apprehensive to shoot down all of his claims. I find myself reading some of them and being intrigued to have this \u201cfrontier history\u201d Turner wants expanded to shine some more light on his claims of significance. For example, the bold claim that, \u201cAdministratively, the frontier called out some of the highest and most vitalizing activities of the general government. The purchase of Louisiana was perhaps the constitutional turning point in the history of the Republic\u2026\u201d (10) This statement carries much weight with it and I would be interested to hear what past historians have to say about that as well as some men who held positions of office in the government before the time of the purchase. Besides claims such as those, I did find myself following Turner\u2019s notions that the frontier was purely American and its Americanization began to diminish some of England\u2019s influence on America. He states, \u201cThat fact is, that here is a new product that is American\u201d and \u201cThus the advance of the frontier has meant a steady movement away from the influence of Europe, a steady growth of independence on American lines.\u201d (2) I find this argument of Turner\u2019s a little more evidence based than others he makes and also truly just finding it more believable and significant than his other bold claims.<\/p>\n

With that being said, I did found Turner\u2019s work extremely enjoyable to read one, because I don\u2019t know much about the west and its formational significance to the greater picture and two, because of the consistent bold claims by Turner that seemed to keep me flipping the pages. Also, someone teach me how to hyperlink on this thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well after getting a good laugh from Caldwell\u2019s post, which makes\u00a0some very valid points on the lack of evidence and rather outlandish claims of Turner’s work,\u00a0I do not want to add insult to injury and further coat Turner\u2019s work with criticism. Yes, his work is somewhat glorified and possibly absurd; however, I do think some … <\/p>\n

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