Turner proposes that the West was independent from the instruction and influence of the East while Limerick gives many examples of the West’s dependence on the East and how the federal government played a key role in the development of the Western frontier. Limerick gives insights that weaken the “tradition of independence” (Limerick 575).
Her critiquing of Turner alters one’s perspective of how independent the West really was by discussing slavery, economic development, and psychological restraints on rebirth. Limerick points out that the settlers who were establishing the West were originally Easterners (Limerick 573) and continued to desire the benefits of living in an eastern state with a dependable government. These people knew what it was like to be a citizen as opposed to an early settler on the ungoverned frontier. They had known the benefits of having a senator and representatives in Congress, an advantage unknown to the territories out west.
This point of view from the new westerners “did not heighten one’s independence, but lessened it” (Limerick 573).
The people from the east begrudged being part of a territory instead of a state (Limerick 573).
The governing that the West was receiving was comparable to what the South had been given as a punishment after the Civil War (Limerick 573).
These Easterner settlers were the people pushing for territorial statehood, and more importantly, for a connection with the east and the federal government. Turner reasons that American development in the frontier began separate from the East (Turner 531).
The Essay on Turner Thesis
Fredrick Jackson Turner developed the thesis that the American West created and reinforced the American ideals of: equality, democracy, opportunity, and individualism. I disagree with Turners thesis and feel that the American West created just the opposite. It created a period of inopportunity and inequality especially between the rich and the poor classes of the time period. There are many things ...
Limerick contests this due to the theory that the settlers started their “perennial rebirth” (Turner 531), as Turner would say, with a strong connection to the East. The settlers from the East did not want to forget their past and yearned for the representation in the government and its guidance and protection. Limerick addresses land subsidies and reliance of the federal government by the West as another important factor of the dependence of the frontier. The fact that the government was giving settlers land in itself shows how dependent the West actually was.
In Plenty Coup’s narrative piece he describes an incident in which he was forced from his home to meet with the president over the “future of his people”. The President wanted to take over the Indian land. “I added that we did not want a railroad built through our country because it was our hunting ground… [he] kept us in Washington for over a month” (Coups 564).
From this we see how the distribution of “free land” as noted by Turner was achieved from the Indians and used to essentially support the creation of the west. “The government continued to carve up the clan lands” (Yava 565).
Where would the land have come from if not from the Indians? Without the land subsidies, frontiersmen would not have a sense of ownership over their land. The government gave financial assistance to the West for various projects, also decreasing its independence. As a result of much of this funding, private enterprise, such as the transportations system, could not thrive (Limerick 575).
Money was given to freighting companies and railroads and therefore personal projects were scarce because they could not compete with funded companies.
Turner mentioned the improvement of railroads in the west but failed to mention how these modes of transportation came to be. He stated that with construction of the railroads the west “began to evolve” (Turner 533), not saying that it was only with the West’s dependence on federal funds that the railroads were able to transpire. The West became reliant on the government for a majority of its economic needs. Congress began supporting volunteers in Indian campaigns, post and land office positions, highway development (Limerick 575), forts, and public buildings (578).
The Essay on Homestead Act West Land Government
After the Civil War, Americans accelerated their conquest of the lands west of the Mississippi River. The story of that conquest is one of hard - working farmers and ranch families and unwavering miners. It was a tale of gallantry, of those who left everything behind to take a trial at the new life and the difficulty of working the land. While times were not going as planned, with all the fake ...
In addition to the West’s reliance on the government, according to Limerick, settlers could not let go of their pasts and consequently brought the east with them, demonstrating their dependence on their homeland. Limerick exemplifies this point by relating the story of Daniel Boone. Boone escaped to the wilderness of the West only to be followed by other pioneers and thus found himself in the predicament he began with: “intolerable civilization” (Limerick 580).
Although Boone was hoping to leave refined society, by paving the way to the West he brought other settlers with him.
Western independence was often described as liberation from the past; instances such as Boone’s show that Western Americans brought their problems with them to the frontier (Limerick 580).
Turner asserts that the frontier furnished “a gate of escape from the bondage of the past” (Turner 550), but keeping Limerick’s theory and the example in mind, one could not believe this statement. Turner also alleges that the advancement of the frontier brought individualism along with it (Turner 548).
Individualism was not present if settlers were bringing their eastern pasts with them.
These settlers were still connected to the East and were recreating their homeland and therefore they were not individualists. Slavery was another conflicting matter between Limerick and Turner. Turner chose to disregard the subject of slavery in his essay. He determined that it was unimportant to his argument and therefore did not comment on the issue. Limerick’s assertion is that the west brought the struggles of slavery to a “volatile peak” (Limerick 581).
One’s understanding of the West’s effect on slavery is rather pessimistic when Limerick’s view is considered.
Limerick’s essay brings forth a line of reasoning that suggests that the “tradition of independence” (Limerick 575) in the West was a “fantasy”. Americans were not free from relying on the federal government and the westward movement failed to help one evade the past (Limerick 580).
Her arguments drastically alter the perception of the West illustrated by Turner and contrast with many of Turner’s views. Limerick brings forth a new way of interpreting the development of the West, suggesting that it was the dependence on the federal government that helped the West pull ahead.
The Essay on Slavery In The Territories
SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES It has been said that the institution of slavery caused The Civil War. In the years leading up to America s bloodiest war, the new territories the United States acquired began to get enough citizens so that they may become states. The question that ripped Congress and this country apart was whether or not these new states would be admitted as free or slave states. You ...
