Turner’s frontier theory became a massive influence on the United States and shaped how people viewed the “American Character.” It was thought that the Americans embraced this theory because it provided a credible explanation for the nation’s exceptionalism (Woodard, 2023). It was seen that the frontier’s connection to primitive society and the many opportunities it presented is what made America distinctly different from Europe. He also thought that the abundance of free land and the settling of this land resulted in the idea and trait of self-reliance and individualism (Faragher, 2024).To me, this explains where the idea that the United States is better than other countries came from. I think because this theory became such a dominant idea of American history at the time It began to shape how history was taught in the future.
I think that because this theory shaped a lot of American history it tended to cover up a lot of other things that happened. They tended to be forgotten because of how prominent this idea was. This could also be the case for what happened with most of Native American history after this theory came out. I think that this could be why the Wounded Knee massacre is one of the last topics of Native American history taught in schools, especially because this event happened before this theory hit its peak in popularity. So because of this everything else that is taught after this is a reflection of this theory. Another reason why Wounded Knee could be one of the last events in Native history to be taught in schools is that in one of the papers we read the author said something along the lines of that this was the final battle in which the Indians would show any hostility towards the white brothers. To me, this could be because any other confrontation between the Natives and the whites would be drowned out and left in the dark while other events like this theory are highlighted in history. Or it could be because this is the last event dealing with the Native Americans that people thought was worthy of talking about. This theory about the frontier is important to look past because even though it was said to be “closed” native history and the work towards their sovereignty has continued well into the present and the future.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Jackson-Turner
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-myth-american-frontier-got-start-180981310