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Frontier thesis and american exceptionalism

American exceptionalism - Wikipedia

doesn't focus rigidly on turner or question the originality of turner's thesis—that the frontier molded the nation's character—as historians have done in the past. finally, as scholars have been quick in criticizing the regionalist perspective of new western history, it will try and assess how historians have started giving western history a new orientation over the last decade, one that aims at reconciling the concepts of region and frontier, thus giving back to the west its significance at the national level. part of this success is due to turner’s nationalistic tone, and to the fact that the historian offered his contemporaries an interpretation of american history as a whole. in other words, far from the triumphalism, nationalism, and celebratory tones of turner’s interpretation, the new western historians’ reading of the western past is dark, emphasizing exploitation and conquest, and resting on moral ambiguity. aware of the provincialism of their history in an era of globalization, new western historians themselves have called for, in the words of patricia nelson limerick, "comparative studies of processes of colonialism and imperialism, [to locate] the region in the big picture of world history" (limerick 2001, 5). however, the work of historians during the 1980s-1990s, some of whom sought to bury turner's conception of the frontier and others who have sought to spare the concept while presenting a more balanced and nuanced view, have done much to place western myths in context and rescue western history from them. turner was never comfortable at harvard; when he retired in 1922 he became a visiting scholar at the huntington library in los angeles, where his note cards and files continued to pile up, but few monographs got published. beginning with the announcement that the frontier had gone, "[closing] the first period of american history" (turner 38), turner’s essay triggered americans’ imagination, appealed to their sense of identity, and helped justify that peculiar sense of american difference and distinctiveness. besides, turner used the words "frontier" and "west" interchangeably, with the result that the historian put an end to the history of the west at the same time as he announced the closing of the frontier, in 1893. in other words, the regionalism of the new historians creates a fossilized entity, and deprives the history of the west of the dynamism that characterized turner’s thesis. the end of american exceptionalism, wrobel illustrates more than just how the perceived demise of the frontier brought about a longing for wilderness and the pioneer spirit. it takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe. "'restless in the midst of their prosperity': new evidence on the internal migration of americans, 1850-2000. it finds him a european in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought. the west, not the east, was where distinctively american characteristics emerged. in the wake of american exceptionalism, the demands of a newly globalized world order required an understanding of the united states’ embeddedness within transnational and transcultural forces rather than a reaffirmation of its splendid isolation from them.. in history from johns hopkins university in 1890 with a thesis on the wisconsin fur trade directed by herbert baxter adams. is to avoid this isolation, and to bring the west back to relevance on the national stage that historians have recently called for a history that would go beyond the place/process, or region/frontier, dichotomy. the aftermath of this paradigm shift, american studies scholars have been compelled to confront the contradictory relationship between an increasingly interconnected world and a u. these emergent forms of comparativist analysis describe cultural production in ways that facilitate an understanding of the intricate and global relationships that pertain among literary textualities, historical explanations, and lived cultural experience. american exceptionalism has been taken to mean either that the united states is “distinctive” (meaning merely different) or that it is “unique” (meaning anomalous) or “exemplary” (meaning a model for other nations to follow) or that it is “exempt” from the laws of historical progress (meaning that it is an “exception” to the laws and rules governing the development of other nations). many reasons have been put forward, over the centuries, to argue for the distinctiveness of the american nation and people, some observers pointing to the isolation from europe, others to puritanism, or slavery. but if american exceptionalism produced beliefs to which the state has regularly taken exception, the state has nevertheless needed the fantasy to solicit its citizenry’s assent to its monopoly over actual and symbolic violence. the turner thesis asserts that the american frontier helped create a solid american identity and gave birth to many of the democratic traditions that created the american political system as we know of it today.

American Exceptionalism?

by installing a uniquely “american” exceptionalism as the foundational tenet of american studies, the field’s founders elevated the united states into a model that offered european societies an image of their future that would be liberated from the incursions of both marxism and socialism. concentrating on the notions of these intellectuals over several decades, wrobel shows how their reactions to the perceived ending of american exceptionalism—created by a unique frontier experience—helped shape the nation's cultural and political future., the notion of "crossroads", or "intersection", derives from the multicultural emphasis of the new western history and suggests a return to the turnerian notion of a frontier, the latter being redefined to empty it of its racist and ethnocentric connotations. according to the "germ theory", the ancestors of the anglo-saxons had devised their political and social organization in the forests of medieval germany, institutions that had then influenced the development of england, before reaching the american colonies. historians now analyse the way these groups met and interacted, and the complex situations that emerged as a result of their connections. in the late nineteenth century, frederick jackson turner, the founding father of western history, attributed the unique american character to the experience of the frontier. despite the efforts of many scholars, during the twentieth century, to point out the shortcomings and inconsistencies of turner’s interpretation, and to call for a new paradigm to explain the american past, many historians still clung to the frontier thesis. focusing, first, on turner’s interpretation, with its justification of american exceptionalism, it will then analyse the regionalism of the new western history, which has resulted in the isolation of the west from the rest of the nation. some criticized turner's frontier thesis and the theme of american exceptionalism.. national unity in which the significance of gender, class, race, and ethnic differences was massively downgraded. frederick jackson turner: "the significance of the frontier in american history" and other essays, (1999) excerpt and text search. indeed, american exceptionalism may have managed to survive as the dominant fantasy of cold war american political culture precisely because the incompatible elements out of which it was composed lacked any fixed relationship to a binding state of affairs. in arriving at this conclusion, hartz depicted frederick jackson turner’s “frontier thesis” as the articulation of a complementary representation of american exceptionalism. furthermore, the search for a clearly delineated region with tangible features has led the new historians to ignore an important aspect of the west, that is, the fact that it may also have intangible characteristics, such as an undisputed place in the american imagination. globalization does not merely require an increased understanding of “american” minority cultures and subcultures; it also demands an understanding of the relationships of these subnational formations to migrant and diasporic communities across the globe. america's great frontiers and sections: frederick jackson turner's unpublished essays edited by wilbur r. the propagation of these antiexceptionalist and postexceptionalist frames of analysis, the credo of exceptionalism has not lost its power. according to turner, it was the frontier that shaped american institutions, society, and culture., considering the american west as a "cultural crossroads", and interpreting its past in terms of "convergence", as historian stephen aron has done over the last decade, opens wider perspectives. introduction to frederick jackson turner's the significance of the frontier in american history., the regionalist perspective tends to isolate the west from the rest of the nation and of the world. by the state regents who demanded less research and more teaching and state service, turner sought out an environment that would support research. perceived expiration of a uniquely american way of life had an impact not only on the literature of the day but on public policy as well. american studies scholars, by describing the nation’s past as lacking the history of class antagonism that they posited as the precondition for world communism, cooperated with policymakers and the press in constructing a mythology of national uniqueness whose narrative themes informed u.

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Frederick Jackson Turner - Wikipedia

the "process" at the heart of the frontier experience thus redefines the newcomers’ cultural and national identity, and integrates them into a new, specifically american society. new western historians banish the "f-word" (limerick 1994, 72) from their vocabulary altogether, and replace it with the idea of "conquest". the lovestoneites were a faction whose leader, jay lovestone, had already broken with the american communist party over what was then referred to as the national question, specifically the question of whether and how to work with established u. one version of american exceptionalism no longer suited extant geopolitical demands, policymakers reconfigured its elements to address the change in geopolitical circumstances. instead he suggests that the writings of turner and other intellectuals were symptomatic of a frontier anxiety that began to take hold in the 1870s. he writes with clarity and richness and uses abundant examples.. citizens conceptualized and legitimated the uniqueness of their national identity. "turner, the frontier, and the study of religion in america. as a result, the new framework lacks the force and appeal of the old one., jeremy, and stephen aron, "from borderlands to borders: empires, nations-states, and the peoples in between in north american history", the american historical review 104 (3), june 1999, 814-841. new western historians limerick, white, cronon, and worster were lamar’s students at yale. rather than construing these disparate formulations as discrete, potentially falsifiable descriptions of an actually existing state of affairs, american exceptionalism might be better understood as a fantasy through which u. but with the dismantling of the soviet union and the formation of the european union, the united states lost both its threatening socialist-totalitarian antagonist and its destabilized, dependent european ally. but racial, ethnic, and gender minorities who refused to be aggregated within these marginalized spaces have effected fundamental recastings of the exceptionalist paradigm.[6] turner gave a strong impetus to quantitative methods, and scholars using new statistical techniques and data sets have, for example, confirmed many of turner's suggestions about population movements. turner proved adept at promoting his ideas and his students, who he systematically placed in leading universities. one of the main features of the movement is its rejection of the word "frontier", which the historians consider as racist and ethnocentric. the future organization of the field will depend in large part on how american studies scholars account for these incompatible representations of american exceptionalism (pease 2009a). cultural encounters and continental conquest, new york: hill and wang, 1997. the unbroken past of the american west, new york: w. and it has characteristics all of its own, that distinguish it from the other regions of the united states. according to turner, the westward movement americanized the pioneer, shaped american institutions, and promoted democracy. while frederick jackson turner and other intellectuals lamented nostalgically about the end of an era dominated by the rugged individualist and westward expansion, zane grey and other novelists brought to life cowboys and pioneers from bygone days who were more myth than reality. indians, empires, and republics in the great lakes region, 1650-1815, cambridge: cambridge university press, 1991.

Frederick Jackson Turner, "Significance of the Frontier"

The Frontier Thesis - Frederick Jackson Turner and American

the new western historians’ "ferocious, regional pride"4 is obvious in their writings, which heavily rely on their own experiences of the west and are full of personal anecdotes, so that one often wonders whether they are scholars doing western history, or westerners studying the past of their region. myth and symbol scholars ranging from henry nash smith (1950) to richard slotkin (1973) produced a thematically coherent tradition that they described as the repository of the collective representations, communally held images, and core narratives (myths and symbols) that underpinned a historically continuous “american civilization. in response to these demands, american studies scholars have redescribed the united states as one node in an interlocking network of commercial, political, and cultural forces and have developed antiexceptionalist ways of mapping the field: aztlán, the pacific rim, the black atlantic, the hemisphere, the afro-caribbean, and the transatlantic (saldívar 1997; r. this scholarship is characterized by its use of globalization (rather than exceptionalism) as its keyword, and its practitioners have supplanted the frontier and the melting pot with the borderlands and the contact zone as the cultural tropes that informed their scholarship (anzaldúa 1987; rowe 2000). presidents from teddy roosevelt to franklin roosevelt focused on the vanishing western frontier and its influence on the frontiers of the future. by frederick jackson turner - text and free audio - librivox. criticism reached its height in the late 1980s, taking the form of a "new western history", which discarded the word "frontier", and promoted a study of the west as a region, not as a process. the frontier which moved ever westwards created a rugged breed of american who were united in the common love for and freedom. Cette "exception américaine" ("exceptionalism") est mise à mal par les générations suivantes d’historiens. new american studies scholarship has begun to document these antiexceptionalist movements. discourse of exceptionalism may be best characterized by its account of the united states’ unique place in world history—the “redeemer nation,” “conqueror of the world’s markets,” and more recently the “global security state” (commager 1947; hartz 1955; p. in sharp contrast, the founders of american studies as an academic field reappropriated the term in the 1930s in an effort to portray the united states as destined to perform a special role in the world of nations. according to the new western history, the west is not some moving line advancing westward, but a region, with geographical limits and intrinsic characteristics. it also represented internal differences between classes, genders, and ethnic groups as threatening to national unity. "social forces in american history," presidential address before the american historical association american historical review, 16: 217-33 online edition. that is why historians like david wrobel and michael steiner have recently called for a study of the "many wests within the larger west" (wrobel and steiner 11), one that would go beyond both the old frontier paradigm and the fixed and rigid entity of new western history. the significance of sections in american history introduction by max farrand. as each generation of pioneers moved 50 to 100 miles west, they abandoned useless european practices, institutions and ideas, and instead found new solutions to new problems created by their new environment. bush administration inaugurated through the post-9/11 “global war on terror” possessed a meaning and function that was different from the morally exemplary, multicultural, and multilateral american exceptionalism that barack obama resuscitated in his campaign to bring about a regime change in governmental policies. nevertheless, the new historians all insist on considering the west as a fixed entity, and advocate a regionalist approach. the new generation has stressed gender, ethnicity, professional categorization, and the contrasting victor and victim legacies of manifest destiny and imperialist expansion. in other words, demonstrating that it was the frontier that gave an identity to america, the turner thesis amounts to a justification of american exceptionalism. the tea party has turned belief in american exceptionalism into the criterion that distinguishes u. the discourse of american exceptionalism imagined a soviet empire that threatened to overthrow the world order through the spread of revolutionary socialism, and it represented europe as especially susceptible to this threat.

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Exceptionalism | Keywords for American Cultural Studies

-----, "going west and ending up global", the western historical quarterly, 32 (1), spring 2001, 5-23. the attacks on turner by the "new western historians" had the unexpected result of energizing his supporters and made turnerian approaches even better known to the public. a vast complex of ideas, policies, and actions is comprehended under the phrase “american exceptionalism. the fundamental recasting that the term underwent in the field of american studies transposed exceptionalism into a multilayered academic discourse: as an explanatory discourse and interpretive paradigm, exceptionalism shaped american studies research practice by regulating how scholars went about identifying, selecting, formulating, and resolving scholarly problems. critics complained that turner celebrated too much the equalitarianism and democracy of a frontier that was hard on women and minorities. it is also what turns pioneers into americans, the frontier being "the line of most rapid and effective americanization" (turner 3). indians, empires, and republics in the great lakes region, 1650-1815 analyses how europeans and indians met in the region around the great lakes, and how their interactions, exchanges, and "creative misunderstandings" led to the birth of a new society (white x). place, culture, and regional identity, lawrence: university press of kansas, 1997. "frontier in american history: the methodological concepts of frederick jackson turner," in stuart rice, ed. recent years western history has seen pitched battles among "turnerians," "antiturnerians," "neoturnerians," and "postturnerians," with the only point of agreement being his enormous impact on historical scholarship and the american mind. nature and history in the american west, new york, oxford: oxford university press, 1992. for instance, (semi)aridity, ethnic and racial diversity, and "a legacy of conquest", are considered as giving the western region its distinctiveness.-----, "the adventures of the frontier in the twentieth century", the frontier in american culture, grossman, james r.’s frontier thesis constitutes a landmark document in american historiography for several reasons.’s thesis met with a huge success, and has had an extremely long-lasting impact. in the history of religion, for example boles (1993) notes that william warren sweet at the university of chicago divinity school, argued that churches adapted to the characteristics of the frontier, creating new denominations such as the mormons, the church of christ, the disciples of christ, and the cumberland presbyterians. the experience of the frontier, the westward march of pioneers from the atlantic to the pacific coast, distinguishes americans from europeans, and gives the american nation its exceptional character. micheaux promoted the west as a place where blacks could transcend race and earn economic success through hard work and perseverance. "from frontier to region: frederick jackson turner and the new western history," pacific historical review 64 (november 1995): 479-501 in jstor. finally, turner provides his contemporaries with an american history, which explains the process of americanization whereby a unique nation was created out of diverse peoples and cultural practices.” these scholars articulated the transhistorical themes (assimilation, political liberation, cultural rebirth, and social mobility) to the national myths through which they were idealized (the melting pot, the endless frontier, american adam, virgin land) (h. their approach rejected the frontier process all together and looked at the west as simply a place. the frontier proves over multiple generations produced characteristics of informality, violence, crudeness, democracy and initiative that the world recognized as "american. "the significance of the frontier in american history" (1893) online edition.

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The Role of the West in the Construction of American Identity: From

the final paragraph of turner’s essay reads as follows: "what the mediterranean sea was to the greeks, breaking the bond of custom, offering new experiences, calling out new institutions and activities, that, and more, the ever retreating frontier has been to the united states directly, and to the nations of europe more remotely" (turner 38). it should be no wonder, then, that their revisionism has not appeared as appealing as turner’s grand synthesis. it was a long time before historians started questioning turner’s "frontier thesis", so strong was the appeal to americans’ imagination generated by this justification of american exceptionalism., kerwin lee, "reclaiming the "f" word, or being and becoming postwestern", the pacific historical review, 65 (2), may 1996, 179-215. indeed, turner was an american historian, who read the westward movement as the key explanation for american history. | 2011exchanges and transformations:the middle ages, the renaissance and contempory reworkings. society is described as an organism in constant evolution, and the wilderness transforms old world institutions into distinctly american ones. sectionalism essays are collected in the significance of sections in american history, which won the pulitzer prize in history in 1933. frontier thesis changed the way Americans viewed their history irreparably. the frontier thesis was not local or regional history, it was american history writ large. jackson turner (1861 – 1932) was one of the two most influential american historians of the early 20th century. rejecting the notion of frontier altogether, new historians suggested a rewriting of the western past that focused on the west as a region, with geographical limits and specific characteristics distinguishing it from the other american regions.. citizens’ belief in exceptionalism and the state’s production of exceptions to it might be best described in psychological terms as structures of denial. it strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin" (turner 4).. political society lacking in the feudal traditions that had precipitated the violent confrontations in france’s moment of revolutionary transition, grounded his “end of ideology” thesis on this absence. and debates around the idea of an "american identity" existed long before turner penned his frontier thesis. it remained the most convincing way to explain the american past and american identity for a very long time. wrobel uses articles and commentaries from periodicals in the 1870s and 1880s to show both an awareness of the frontier’s significance to a distinctive national character and an uneasiness that this molding influence was about to end. the regionalism of the new historians results in parochialism, and runs the risk of being regarded as irrelevant to american history at large. joseph stalin devised the phrase “the heresy of american exceptionalism” in 1929 to justify his excommunication of the lovestoneites from the ranks of the communist international (j. (1945) and henry steele commager (1947) cited alexis de tocqueville’s nineteenth-century account of his travels through the united states in democracy in america (1835) as definitive verification of the doctrine of u." his emphasis on the importance of the frontier in shaping american character influenced the interpretation found in thousands of scholarly histories. interestingly, members of the movement do not agree on the limits of the region: some include alaska and hawaii; others consider that the pacific slope does not share the same characteristics as the rest of the region; while still others disagree over the northern and southern edges of the area. in the 1950s, historian walter prescott webb discussed the aridity of the west, and made it the main characteristic of the region.

Frederick Jackson Turner - Conservapedia

”—american studies“‘frontier anxiety’ pervaded american writing, speech, and thought. hector st john de crèvecoeur wondered: "what then is the american, this new man? the discourse of exceptionalism erected the image of a hardworking unified national monoculture to ward off the dangers posed by the globalizing of economic exchanges. as an ethos, it supplied the attitudes of belief through which “americanists” (in and out of the academy) practiced their mode of national belonging. from the colonial period, when empires and nations converged, met and clashed in the west, to the modern-day west, which remains, with its international boundaries, a crossroads of peoples, the region has always fed on these contacts, exchanges and interactions. ironically, then, even though turner has been the whipping-boy of the new western historians, old and new historians have more in common than the latter would admit. second, turner’s explanation runs counter to the eastern establishment, and its colonial and atlantic coastal emphasis. massip, « the role of the west in the construction of american identity: from frontier to crossroads », anglophonia/caliban, 31 | 2012, 239-248. as one critic observes, "[a] western history is somehow not quite fully ‘american’" (klein 214). this homogenization masks subregional variations and basically suppresses one of the main characteristics of the broader region: its diversity, or lack of uniformity. presidents from dwight eisenhower to barack obama have depended on this nationalist discourse to authorize their practices of governance, while historians and literary scholars turned it into the principle of selection by which they decided what events to give representation in the historical record and what literary and cultural works to include in the u. uncanny parallels between the 1890s and the 1990s make the book even more compelling. should be no wonder, then, that criticism of the frontier thesis appeared rather late. ignored gender and race, downplayed class, and left no room for victims. [thus defined, the frontier] involves […] a much more complex process of mutual exchange in which neither culture, native american or euro-american, could remain unchanged" (nobles 12)., stephen, "convergence, california, and the newest western history", california history, 86, september 2009, 4-13. wrobel shows that racists, nativists, and malthusians used the closing of the frontier to support their arguments; so did conservationists, preservationists, and anti-regulationists; and so did imperialist expansionists, monopolists, labor leaders, marxists, progressives, and new dealers. not only does the frontier stand as the bedrock of the american nation, it also creates a new people, "a mixed race, english in neither nationality nor characteristics" (turner 23). cette "exception américaine" ("exceptionalism") est mise à mal par les générations suivantes d’historiens. moos (2002) shows that 1910s to 1940s black filmmaker and novelist oscar micheaux incorporated turner's frontier thesis into his work. all american historians should read this provocative and well-written study. he emphasizes how it influenced debate on public land and immigration policy, expansionism, and the merits of individualistic and cooperative political systems. the west’s uniqueness is central to both interpretations, explaining the exceptionalism of the nation at large for turner and his followers, and the significance of the western region, with its distinctive history, cast of characters, and environment, for the new historians. neither is it the story of the unique and exceptional subduing of an empty land, but a tale of environmental destruction and despoliation.

The End of American Exceptionalism

"dear lady": the letters of frederick jackson turner and alice forbes perkins hooper, 1910-1932. critics have severely criticized the pessimism of the new historians, and some, like novelist larry (. examining the past became for scholars who were steeped in exceptionalist convictions a personal quest whereby they would understand the meaning of their “american” identity through their uncovering of the special significance of the nation’s institutions (chase 1949; p. the disunity of the concept of the west, the similarity of american expansion to european colonialism and imperialism in the 19th century, and the realities of minority group oppression revealed the limits of turnerian and exceptionalist paradigms. "from frontier to region: frederick jackson turner and the new western history," pacific historical review 64 (november 1995): 479-501 in jstor.” while they might seem to be little more than straightforward descriptions, these multifaceted frameworks and value-laden perspectives did not explain what american exceptionalism meant; they performed the overdetermining fantasy work that regulated what it was supposed to mean, in what ways it should be analyzed, and how those meanings and modes of analysis were normalized (hodgson 2009; pease 2009b). "turnerians all: the dream of a helpful history in an intelligible world," american historical review 100 (june 1995):697-716 in jstor. he circulated copies of his essays and lectures to important scholars and literary figures; he published extensively in highbrow magazines; he recycled favorite material, attaining the largest possible audience for key concepts; and he wielded considerable influence within the american historical association as an officer and advisor for the american historical review. while the new western history stressed the ethnic and racial diversity of the west, and studied its past through the prism of multiculturalism, the new emphasis on “convergence” highlights the connections, interactions, exchanges, and "the complex weave of cross-cultural connections that these interactions have generated" (aron 4). he argued that different ethno-cultural groups had distinct settlement patterns, and this revealed itself in politics, economics and society. american frontier and western issues: a historiographical review (1986) online edition.” and the disparate significations of this complex are neither compatible nor derived from a shared semantic source.. uniqueness in terms of absent and present elements—the absence of feudal hierarchies, class conflicts, a socialist labor party, trade unionism, and divisive ideological passions; the presence of a predominant middle class, tolerance for diversity, upward mobility, hospitality toward immigrants, a shared constitutional faith, and liberal individualism. while turner’s outlook rested on a rejection of the "germ theory" and the proclamation of the exceptional character of the american experience, the new western historians promote the affirmation of a western identity through their emphasis on the distinctiveness and uniqueness of the region. role of the west in the construction of american identity: from frontier to crossroads. turner's sectionalism thesis had almost as much influence among historians as his frontier thesis, but never became widely known to the general public as did the frontier thesis.. citizens to disavow the state’s exceptions that threatened their beliefs, the discourse of exceptionalism regulated u. its settlement was the last stage in the completion of the country, thus marking the closing of a crucial period in american history, the west has had a special place in the nation’s self-image, and it has always been considered as central in the construction of american identity. therefore, through its emphasis on the notion of "convergence", the latest scholarship seems to give a more complete picture of the western past, paying as much attention to the edges and zones of contact as to the center of the region. slatta (2001) argues that the widespread popularization of turner's frontier thesis impacted popular histories, motion pictures, and novels. "beating a dead horse: the continuing presence of frederick jackson turner in environmental and western history. first, turner rejects the "germ theory", which claimed that american institutions and customs had been imported from europe, therefore stressing the continuity of institutions and de-emphasizing the significance of american experience. announced the frontier thesis is a scholarly paper in 1893, "the significance of the frontier in american history" read to the american historical association at the world's fair chicago. critics have severely criticized the pessimism of the new historians, and some, like novelist larry mcmurtry, have gone as far as calling them experts in "failure studies" (mcmurtry 32).

American exceptionalism - Wikipedia

Review of The End of American Exceptionalism: Frontier Anxiety

as prominent new western historian and author of the landmark study the legacy of conquest patricia nelson limerick states: "conquest forms the historical bedrock of the whole nation, and the american west is a preeminent case study in conquest and its consequences" (limerick 1987, 27-28)..history: world war ihistory: world war iiintelligence studieskansaslawliterature: americanliterature: generalmilitary studiesnational securitynational security: foreign relationsnative american studiesnatural historyphilosophypolitical science: american governmentpolitical science: international relationspolitical science: public administrationpolitical science: public policypolitical science: state and local governmentpolitical science: theory and philosophypolitical science: urban politicspresidential studiesregional studiesreligionsociologywomen's studies view all. "social forces in american history," presidential address before the american historical association american historical review, 16: 217-33 online edition. in recasting japanese internment camps, “operation wetback,” and the vietnam war as deviations within the historical record, scholars aligned themselves with state policymakers by removing these troubling events from the orderly temporal succession organizing the nation’s official history. throughout the twentieth century, historians have tried to assess the significance of the west, regarded, by some critics, as "the most distinctively american part of america" (bryce 315). frederick jackson turner: "the significance of the frontier in american history" and other essays, (1999) excerpt and text search. etulain, author of writing western history“a superb and original analysis, rich in interdisciplinary detail. turner famously described the frontier as the space on the map where lingering european influences were perfected into an absence as the inexhaustible wilderness promised to all of the “americans” who answered the call of the wild frontier (f., frederick jackson, "the significance of the frontier in american history", the frontier in american history, new york: dover publications, 1996 (1920), 1-38. two theories in particular were influential, the "frontier thesis" and the "sectional hypothesis. the origin of genet's projected attack on louisiana and the floridas, pp. observers have traditionally highlighted the uniqueness of the nation, like, for instance, tocqueville, who remarked: "the position of the americans is […] quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one" (tocqueville 36-37). as the founding father of western history, frederick jackson turner is famous for a lecture he gave in 1893, entitled "the significance of the frontier in american history".. citizens bring these contradictory political and cultural descriptions into correlation with one another (pease 2009a).[1] turner is best known for his 1893 frontier thesis (also called the turner thesis), as well as his his theories of geographical sectionalism, his many phd students, and his leadership of the history profession. therefore, discarding the word frontier and defining the west as a region make it possible to study its twentieth-century history, which had been completely overlooked by the "old western history", a label that appeared following the birth of the new western history, to emphasize the novelty of the latter. the turner thesis has had an extremely long-lasting impact, and may be considered as one of the main documents of american historiography. what remains to be seen is whether the attempt of the latest generation of historians to reconcile the notions of "place" and "process", while stressing the role of the west in the construction of the american nation at large, proves as complex as the new historians’ narrative, with its focus on racial diversity and on the consequences of westward expansion, and yet as compelling as turner’s synthesis. they characterize the west in terms of individualism, frontier violence, and rough justice. but this discourse drew its structure out of its difference from the historical trajectories that it attributed to europe, the soviet union, and the third world. to turner, indeed, the frontier was "the meeting point between savagery and civilization" (turner 3).”—western historical quarterly“one of the most important books of recent years in the history of american ideas.“a lucid and rewarding synthesis of cultural and western history. at the site of the geopolitical face-off between the united states and the ussr, exceptionalism delineated the irreducible incommensurability of the two global powers.

. american credo, it is certainly ironic that the word is not originally an “american” coinage. turner famously asserted: "the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of american settlement westward, explain american development" (turner 1). throughout the cold war era, american studies research, teaching, and publication proved indispensable to the state by constructing a nationalist and, ultimately, an imperialist discourse out of the exceptionalist norms they propagated throughout europe and the so-called third world. "turnerians all: the dream of a helpful history in an intelligible world," american historical review 100 (june 1995):697-716 in jstor. his pulitzer-prize the frontier in american history (1920) was a collection of older essays. insisting that "[the] true point of view in the history of this nation is not the atlantic coast, it is the great west" (turner 3), the historian offers a new perspective on american history. of the “myth and symbol” school of american studies endowed the cultural forms and historical events under their analysis with traits that further corroborated exceptionalist assumptions. because this process of going back to primitivism, experiencing a rebirth, being offered new opportunities, and furthering progress and expansion keeps repeating itself, the frontier makes the american past exceptional. according to the "germ theory", the ancestors of the anglo-saxons had devised their political and s (. the new historians, on the other hand, are westerners, who focus on the western region, cutting it off from the rest of the nation. while the regionalism of the new historians tends to create a fixed and fossilized entity, the latest studies highlight the porosity of borders, giving back to western history the dynamism and movement that characterized turner’s thesis. rather than construing american exceptionalism as the instrument for representing and evaluating these geographies, these transnational and regional models conceptualize social movements and modes of cultural transmission as passing back and forth between disparate local and global systems of power. :american west, frontier thesis, new western history, regionalism, exceptionalism, american identity, crossroadstop of page. of the flaws and shortcomings of the new historians’ revisionism, other western historians have suggested, over the last decade, another approach, "a newest western history" (aron 4), that seems to go beyond western exceptionalism while still demonstrating the significance of the west and of the western past.”—nebraska history“a landmark in the debate over the significance of the frontier in american history. observing that three centuries of westward expansion bred national traits that distinguish americans from europeans, turner claimed that "to the frontier the american intellect owes its striking characteristics" (turner 37), such as individualism, energy, optimism and enthusiasm. according to a critic, "by abandoning the idea of the frontier and making the west as place the center of [their] focus, [the new western historians have] drained away some of the drama of life on the edges where people and places meet" (weber, in worster, armitage, malone, weber, and limerick 316, italics in the text). the western past is not a one-dimensional story of white men marching westward and replacing savagery by civilization, resulting in the ennoblement of the american character, but a multicultural tale highlighting ethnic and racial diversity, with people coming from the east, but also from the north, the south, and the west. while turner, in spite of his sweeping assertions and fuzzy definitions, wrote a national history, the new historians limit the scope of their analyses to the westernmost part of the united states. a professor of history at wisconsin (1890–1910) and harvard (1910–1922), turner trained scores of disciples who in turn dominated american history programs throughout the country. by 1930 a majority of leading american universities offered courses on the history of the west patterned after turner's models. historians and political theorists approached the past in search of historical confirmations of the nation’s unique mission and destiny. the new historians try so hard to define and study the west as a region with distinctive characteristics that they fall into the trap of generalization. studies and cultural studiesart, architecture, and photographybiography, memoir, and lettersblack studiesconstitutional studieseconomicseducationenvironmental studieshistory: american westhistory: civil warhistory: europeanhistory: legal and constitutionalhistory: militaryhistory: russian and soviethistory: u.

all of these usages differ from the version of american exceptionalism as the structure of disavowal that postexceptionalist scholars excavated in their aspiration to emancipate americanists worldwide from the exceptionalist fantasy. as early as the 1870s and through the 1930s, many americans believed an important era had ended and worried about how this closure would affect society and democracy. his values represented a challenge to historians of the 1960s and later who stressed that race, class and gender were all-powerful explanatory tools. criticizing turner for his focus on white male pioneers, the revisionists also aim at writing the history of all the actors of the western past: men, women, families, african-americans, chinese, mexicans, native americans, etc. the policy of france toward the mississippi valley in the period of washington and adams, pp. disneyland's frontierland of the late 20th century reflected the myth of rugged individualism that celebrated what was perceived to be the american heritage. bogue, "'not by bread alone': the emergence of the wisconsin idea and the departure of frederick jackson turner. redefining the "frontier" as "a meeting place of peoples in which geographic and cultural borders were not clearly defined", historians jeremy adelman and stephen aron associate the concept with that of "borderlands", in order to study "the variegated nature of european imperialism and of indigenous reactions to colonial encroachments" (adelman and aron 815-6)..11the new historians’ desire to separate west and frontier, while stressing the inconsistency of the latter notion, translates into a regional approach to the western past. hector saint john, letters from an american farmer [1782], new york: fox, duffield, & company, 1904. the pioneer experiences a "rebirth", a return to primitivism, the frontier americanizing him by destroying his inherited culture: "the wilderness masters the colonist. while turner depicted the westward movement as a march of civilization and progress, the new historians denounce the expansionism and colonialism of the nation. the lovestoneites provoked stalin’s condemnation when they proposed that the united states was “unique” because it lacked the social and historical conditions that had led to europe’s economic collapse. finally, it depicted an american past that was as glorious and noble as that of any old world power. his model of sectionalism as a composite of social forces, such as ethnicity and land ownership, gave historians the tools to use social history as the foundation of all social, economic and political developments in american history. the cold war, american exceptionalism had produced an image of u. much of their revisionism consists in refuting his thesis, but the new western history also suggests a new reading of the western past. exceptionalism was thus an academic discourse, a political doctrine, and a regulatory ideal assigned responsibility for defining, supporting, and developing u. in addition, he relates how it affected and was affected by such diverse social and political issues as racism, industrialization, irrigation, tenant farming, class struggle, government intervention, and the naturalist movement. "correspondence of the french ministers to the united states, 1791-1797" in american historical association.”—great plains quarterly“a stimulating and valuable contribution to american intellectual history and to the history of the american west as well. wrobel makes a fine contribution to the study of myth by analyzing the anxiety, or angst, americans felt about the frontier in the half-century after 1890. the frontier, they argued, shaped uniquely american institutions such as revivals, camp meetings, and itinerant preaching. the public has ignored academic historians' anti-turnerian models, largely because they conflict with and often destroy the icons of western heritage.


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