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Influence of the American Frontier

Westward ho! The cry resounds throughout the whole of Euro-American history as immigrants moved from their initial, fragile settlements along the Atlantic Coast towards the lure of ever greener, richer, and emptier lands to the West. Although for much of the early part of settlement, European immigrants did not know exactly how much West there was, they wanted all of it, and this drive towards the Manifest Destiny û the idea that U.S. territorial expansion westward was not only inevitable but even divinely ordained û was a consuming force for much of the 18th and 19th centuries. This paper examines how both the reality and the idea of the western frontier influenced American society and institutions during the years 1600 to 1830, and how its influence differed from that of the ocean.

From the vantage point of the 20th century, the metaphor of the frontier seems at least as important as the reality of unsettled land (if not even more so). But this may only be the case because all one now has left is the idea of the frontier, not having had any actual land left for westward expansion for over a century. Certainly, for the farmer or rancher in 1720 or 1820, the possibility of cheap land to be had just over into the next territory could mean the difference between personal success and disaster. The frontier was myth and symbol and something to talk about, but it was also trees to be cut and fields to be cleared and planted and rivers to fish.

The reality of the frontier û with all the promises it offered and all the dangers it threatened û was of immense significance to Americans until the end of the 19th century. It made many people wealthy, gave Americans a deeply rooted sense of optimism, helped inspire visions of empire, in some ways made many Americans careless of the natural resources they had because they seemed so limitless. These were real consequences of the countryÆs historyÆs being bound up with westward expansion. ...

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Influence of the American Frontier. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:37, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1693210.html