“The rich will get richer while the poor will get poorer” incapsulates America from the 1870s to the 1900s. This period was a time for tremendous social change and economic growth for America. Big businesses rose and there were new innovations in science and technology, but it masked the underlaying problems of corruption, depression, working conditions, low wages, etc. This time period was given the name “The Gilded Age” by a writer, Mark Twain, to describe the increasing glamorous lifestyle of the rich while the poor suffered. Even though it was a time of widening the gap between the rich and poor, it was still a great time of progress for many. Frederick Jackson Turner, born on November 14, 1861, in Portage, Wisconsin, was a 20th century historian that is most well …show more content…
He argued the western frontier greatly shaped American democracy and character. In his most famous essay, ““The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” Turner asserts the frontier, ‘"is the line of most rapid Americanization”’(——PBS-). The frontier, according to him, shaped American democracy and
He is known for his famous essay, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. In this essay, he talks about a thesis which he calls the frontier thesis or turner thesis. He stated that going west with the frontier developed the democracy. The ending of the frontier brought together people from all over the world. Therefore, it is not the end but is the beginning of a new era as Americans.
In 1893 Frederic Jackson Turner a historian, introduces the “Frontier Thesis” in Columbian Exposition, he explains from this thesis about the importance of American history. Frontier thesis remarks the end of a great historic society. Because Frederic Jackson argues that continuous western settlement had an extraordinary impact on American social, political and economic development throughout 20th
The Gilded Age, a forty-eight year period at the end of the nineteenth century, was described as a time that has a rotten core covered with gold paint by Mark Twain. During that era, after the Civil War, the nation had been filled with unscrupulous businessmen and massive corruptions. Similar to the situation in the Gilded Age, the wealth gap in today is enormous and hence causing people to call it the second Gilded Age. Although society in the U.S. is different nowadays, the economic and political situation from these two time periods share many similarities. Gilded Age is an era where economy grew astonishingly.
Frederick Jackson Turner was a major figure among American historians who lived during the years between 1861 to 1932. His famous essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” was published in 1893 and he became known for his studious exploration of American history during the United States’ westward expansion. Frederick Turner stated in an interview that his interest in the study of American frontier’s past, because of his upbringing in Wisconsin which is a newly emerged state from its own trail-blazing past. Turner earned his master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin and where he met a noteworthy teacher, Professor William Francis Allen, who guided him toward the study of history. Turner attended John Hopkins University
In American Society during the 1800s, the Frontier was a land full of mysticism, mystery, adventure, and potential. The idea of American pioneers, explorers, and travellers conquering the formidable and uncivilized Frontier carried a sense of allure among American Society, which corresponded to fashioning the American identity associated with expansion, determination and perseverance. Fredrick J. Turner’s The Significance of the Frontier in American History, explores the concept of overcoming the challenges of the Frontier and, by overcoming these challenges, helping to craft aspects of the American identity, portraying the Frontier as a land in need of taming, a land that is “the meeting point between savagery and civilization”. It was the Frontier, Turner argued, that helped to construct the identity of America, an identity associated with vanquishing problems with resolution and hard work.
The Gilded Age was an age of rapid economic growth. Railroads, factories, and mines were slowly popping up across the country, creating a variety of new opportunities for entrepreneurs and laborers alike. These new inventions and opportunities created “...an unprecedented accumulation of wealth” (GML, 601). But the transition of America from a small farming based nation to a powerful industrial one created a huge rift between social classes. Most people were either filthy rich or dirt poor, with workers being the latter.
As Turner pointed out, his own views on how he believes that the American frontier was formed by the different characteristics of the people who made it happen and formed America. He states that the attraction to the frontier made a dramatic change to America and the West due to the different cultures each race brought unto the country allowing each one to accept as well change persons perspective of each others culture. (Turner, 1996.) The frontier helped everybody make a part of the history because of the necessities the frontier helped provide. It was and it continues to be a part of history because the frontier continues to change peoples life as they still continue
The saying that history repeats itself has been proven to be true time and time again. History seems to be doomed to repeat itself as if lessons were never learned from past mistakes. The Gilded Age is a unique period in American history that is undoubtedly repeating itself in the modern day. Corruption, unprecedented immigration, and the massing of wealth by the top 1% of the population are just a few of the things that characterize this period of American history. The same issues that plagued America over 100 years ago are re-emerging in todays’ society leading scholars to say that America has arrived in “The Second Gilded Age”.
In their writing, Frederick Jackson Turner and Jack London provide benchmarks for how facing the frontier affects man and his ability to survive. However, the authors themselves could not have been more different in their approach to the subject. Frederick Jackson Turner credits the American frontier as the one main focus in shaping the American character. In The Significance of the Frontier in American History, Turner expresses “The result is that to the frontier the American intellect owes its striking characteristics.” (Turner 1136).Turner felt that the hardship of the frontier molded all American’s characteristics and made them more adept to overcome adversity.
Imagine working sixteen hours a day in an unsanitary, dangerous, place for a big business gaining two dollars. This is what laboring-class Americans had to go through during the Gilded age. Politically, the first largest American labor union was formed during the Gilded age and many other organizations formed as well as violent strikes. Socially, different ethnics joined together to share their thoughts and realize the evils of big business and of the federal government. Mentally, most we 're losing their personal life while some were financially stable and glad.
The contrasts between the American West and East in the nineteenth century range from a new start to the adventure of the living in the Wild West. The east had become overcrowded and did not allow much opportunity for people of lesser wealth. “In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. The West, he added, acted as a “safety
In 1890, America was seen by millions of immigrants across the globe as the “Land of opportunity”. The place where anyone could become rich if they worked hard enough, equity was evenly distributed to all, and all could live comfortable and enjoyable lives. While for some this dream became a reality, the vast majority of these immigrants were dirt poor, living in cramped unsanitary living conditions, and working low paying, dead end jobs to scrape by while trustees sat on millions of dollars and lived lavish lives. This period of American history is simply known as the “Gilded Age” because although it was a time of prosperity for the US economy, life wasn’t as “golden” for the vast majority of the US population as it was made out to be. This
Wealth, poverty, technology, decadence, the Gilded Age was a time of change and uprooting of past systems, schools of thought, and standards. It was a time of both hope and doubt for the majority of the population and brought many to be empty handed or exceedingly wealthy. The dynamic between rich and poor was shifting to a gap of wealth never before seen in the young country. The gilded age’s built up wealth disparity faded away over time. Yet today it seems that a resurgence of these features is rearing its ugly head again.
The decade between 1890 and 1900 expressed a crucial time in the United States of America’s history. Many people experienced struggles throughout this time while others prospered. Mark Twain suggested that despite the significant achievements of the United States, Americans experienced poverty. This statement is an accurate description of the lively hood people experienced in their daily lives during the Gilded Age whether it was positive or negative. Many people during this time period focused on the positive outcomes that resulted from the Gilded Age such as new inventions, the gospel of wealth, additions of land to the country, urbanization, and middle-class improvements.
Authors Frederick Jackson Turner and Zitkala-Sa can be compared in one aspect: they both have a great deal to say about land, agency, and the American frontier. The similarities between the two end there, however. Turner is a major proponent of typical frontier ideology. He is passionate about the land, but only insofar as it can be used for further westward expansion. He insists that “Americans” are characterized by their rugged individualism, yet cannot imagine Native Americans as anything other than a single-minded collective, a mere object for colonists to act upon.