F.J.TURNER’S FRONTIER THESIS, A SUMMARY OF THE STEPS

The steps toward city building

Turner’s frontier

“begins with the Indian and the hunter: it goes on to tell of the disintegration of savagery by the entrance of the trader, the pathfinder of civilization; we read the annals of the pastoral stage in ranch life; the exploitation of the soil by the raising of unrotated crops of corn and wheat in sparsely settled farming communities; the intensive culture of denser farm settlement; and finally the manufacturing organization with city and factory system.”

Indian origins

Pathfinders, hunters

traders

Cattle raisers, pastoral stage

Small farms

Extensive grain farms

Urban manufacturing---Cities

Chicago “where all the forces of nature intersect” Frederick J. Turner

The frontier is where “civilization meets savagery”

Frederick Jackson Turner quote