Feature: All Features of Southwest Desert
Region: Southwest Desert
Topics: T - C - G - OThis page features an abstract of a paper from STC-Link's Materials Archive. To view the entire paper, click here.
The Significance Of Deserts In American History When Frederick Jackson Turner searched for the meaning of the frontier, he took water for granted. At the meeting point of civilization and wilderness, Turner claimed, American pioneers developed the essential qualities of democracy and the American character. In their development, pioneers faced obstacles and hardships -- Indians to remove, forests to clear, sod to break, rivers to ford. They did not face thirst or chronic drought.
In Turner's frontier, effort earned its proper rewards in opportunity and abundance. A generous, providentially arranged environment gave the United States the raw material for expansion on an extraordinary scale. The only sad news came in 1890 with the ostensible close of the frontier. Nevertheless, by that time expansion had fixed American expectations in a tone of optimism.