Beating a dead horse?: the continuing presence of Frederick Jackson Turner in environmental and western history

International Social Science Review, Spring-Summer, 2002 by T.R.C. Hutton

Turner's thesis marked a departure from the prevailing trends of his time in two ways: first, it refuted the "germ theory" that portrayed the American political tradition as having been planted in the New World as a continuation of Anglo-Saxon custom. Second, it sought to replace the post-Reconstructionist opinion that the national discord brought about by slavery had been the chief motivating factor in American history. More dramatically, it was considered the first work of history to look at human events in terms of economic and sociological processes, giving form and precision to history and virtually making history a science. (9) The concept of environment acting on man, rather than the reverse, interpreted society as an organism evolving in stages of hunting, agriculture, urban manufacturing and so on. Turner described society as an organism that would, in the Darwinist sense, adapt to meet the rigors of its environment. (10) Interestingly, Turner would later protest both critics and followers who pointed out his applications of the sciences to history, saying that economics and geography played such interlocking roles in America that they were too intricately enmeshed to separate them. (11)

Early followers of Turner, primarily historians that were still products of the nineteenth century's enthronement of science, commended Turner not only for his methodology, but also for his apparent ability to explain the process of American history within a single theme. Late in his career, most criticism could be termed as nothing short of glowing. One unnamed reviewer of Turner's 1920 essay collection heaps an almost embarrassing amount of praise on Turner for "his personal magnetism and scholarly attainments."

   It is a pleasure for the reviewer, trained in a very different school, to
   acknowledge his indebtedness to him, after he began research in Mr.
   Turner's chosen subject. The writer's correspondence files contain many
   long letters from him; these are filled with references to various knotty
   questions, and they represent only one of his many acts of kindness. How
   generously does he give! (12)

Liberally using words like "charming" and "perfect," the reviewer goes on:

   His emphasis on the frontier, his analysis of its conditions, his
   insistence on its influence on the building of American character, his
   history of its movement across the continent and his proof of its weight in
   politics and national issues have formed the vantage ground for his new
   outlook on American history, the value of which his students and followers
   are further proving. (13)

Strangely, the only complaint "C.W.A." had was that Turner failed to mention Buffalo Bill Cody.

The almost sycophantic tone taken by this reviewer is a testament to the following Turner generated in the nearly forty years between his introduction of the Frontier thesis and his death. Known more for excellence in teaching rather than writing, Turner left behind a significant number of students more influenced by his revolutionary momentum than the writing that actually started the momentum. Besides being first to distinguish the United States from its Anglo-Saxon origins, Turner was virtually first among American scholars to find the means to study history by way of economics, sociology and possibly psychology. It would not be impossible to recognize the misleading principles of the Frontier thesis while appreciating Turner's unprecedented viewpoint. Often, Turner's followers remained followers not for his findings, but for the methodological model he established. (14)