Image: Frederick Jackson Turner

Description: Frederick Jackson Turner, c.1890 Category:United States history images

Born in Portage, Wisconsin in 1861, Turner began his career in newspapers, and in 1880 entered the University of Wisconsin. Following his graduation with an MA in History, he went on to Johns Hopkins University for his doctorate, returning to Wisconsin as Professor of History in 1889. It was there tha he developed his most famous work "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" which became recognised as a seminal work in the understanding of the reasons for, and the benefits of territorial expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. He describes the effects of the expansion of the frontier on the American character, its nationalism and individualism and so on, much of which he attributed to this frontier mentality. Turner died in 1932.
Usage Terms: Public domain