In what context did Turner propose the frontier theory?

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The United States is a country founded on colonies, with a small proportion of its indigenous inhabitants. Most Americans are immigrants from Europe and Africa. slave. As a result, American society was heavily influenced by European influences. At the same time, American academic circles have always been deeply influenced by Europe. Based on this, for a long time, the United States was known as a country that "exports goods and imports culture." The study of American history has a European tradition. Many historians believe that American institutions, culture, and history all came from Europe. To discuss American politics, economy, culture, institutions, habits, and national development, we need to start by looking for European roots and then discuss The most important sources of the development and changes of these European roots in the American geography are the British and German traditions, because the immigrants of English, Germanic and Irish people constitute the majority of Americans. In 1893, Turner read his paper "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association, proposing the thesis of "mobile frontier" and thus forming the "frontier theory". From this, the "frontier theory" became popular in the United States, and Turner, Parrington and Beard, were called the three giants in American history and the leader of the progressive school at that time. He is the founder of modern American historiography. “It was from Turner that American history got rid of its vassal status of relying on European historiography and gradually formed its own characteristics. The concept of “frontier” in American history is different from the usual geographical concept of frontier or border; The western part of the United States is the "mobile frontier" that is constantly moving to the Pacific coast. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Turner made a systematic study of this and synthesized it into a complete theory, and then founded the "frontier theory". "The emergence, spread and great praise have a profound social and historical background. Since the Civil War, the United States has been truly unified, the domestic economic system has tended to be unified, and American capitalism has developed by leaps and bounds. Rapid development has brought about The high concentration of capital and wealth has made the distribution of social wealth increasingly disparate, and various social problems have become increasingly prominent. At this moment, the United States is in a major social development transition period, and it is urgent to establish a new social order in the field of history. He responded positively to the new way of interpreting history. He believed that in order to understand the United States and the rise and role of the forces that made the United States what it is today, we should use new perspectives to reconstruct history. The traditional "European theory" of American civilization emerged, asserting that American civilization did not originate from Europe, but emerged from the "mobile frontier" since the colonial era, flaunting the uniqueness of American historical development and the history of European countries. , can be seen as a pioneering history of westward expansion. The development process of the United States is the process of continuous expansion toward the west. At the same time, American living habits, ways of thinking, political systems, economy, and culture have continued to develop and change. In the process of integration, it was formed after a long period of integration. Turner emphasized that the frontier he meant was different from the European concept of frontier. In Europe, the frontier is generally considered to be a solid border surrounding a dense population, which is basically fixed. Unchanging. However, Turner believes that frontier is a flexible term and does not require a precise definition. In the United States, the frontier should be regarded as a frontier zone that is constantly moving and includes Indian countries and the American population. The outer edge of settlement in the report

The frontier has been moving westward throughout the history of the United States. It is not only a region, but also a development that is separate from the eastern United States. stage of society. With further westward migration, everything in the western region that was once temporarily the frontier still persists. The influence of the frontier not only penetrates into the west, but also affects the east through the psychological habits of the pioneers and the ideals and life of the west. The western frontier of the United States and its "westward movement" to develop the west have shaped the character of the United States. As the frontier continues to move westward, the old frontier will form a new world under the mutual influence of residents and the environment. A region with its own personality. The personality of each region is formed in the process of the westward movement of the frontier. Therefore, the characteristics of the United States can also find their origin in the process of the westward movement of the frontier.

With the United States. The rapid economic development and the end of the Western Movement have made the domestic market of the United States appear narrow. Capitalism urgently needs a broader market and investment venues. Therefore, Wall Street and the White House are eager to expand overseas. The emergence of Turner's "frontier theory" can be said to have emerged at the right moment. Therefore, it was not only widely applauded, but also fully utilized, becoming the theoretical basis and public opinion tool for the United States' foreign expansion. When Turner studied border areas, he discovered that the United States had close ties with its neighboring countries. These international factors in border areas led Turner to study the diplomatic history of the United States and border relations. Turner believed that the expansionist spirit of the frontier was the root of American expansionist foreign policy. For a long time, the "frontier doctrine" has had a direct and indirect impact on the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy. The first way of influence is that scholars of the "frontier theory" have close personal relationships with American political figures and exert direct influence on the latter; the second is that relevant government decision-makers and departments use the theory of the "frontier theory" to formulate relevant policies. national policy.

Turner’s research on frontier history includes American social history, economic history, political history, diplomatic history, immigration history, urban history and historical philosophy. His frontier theory makes full use of geography, The methods of statistics, sociology and political science have enabled Turner to maintain high prestige in various academic fields in the United States, and his frontier theory has been widely cited in various disciplines. Turner believes that in the development of American history, the environment of the western frontier and its colonization activities played a far greater role than the traditional influence of European immigrants. He made a huge contribution to American historiography.

First of all, Turner abandoned the traditional American historical view influenced by Europe and established the banner of independent American historiography. As far as the United States is concerned, Turner's era was an intermediate period in the development of American historiography. When the United States was founded, history was very backward and did not form an independent discipline. Later, with the return of a group of historians who had studied in Europe, American historiography began to be established. However, American historiography simply copied European ideas, resulting in some "European perspectives" on American civilization. At that time, the geographical expansion, economic expansion, and cultural maturity of the United States all prompted Americans to seek true independence in thought, academics, literature, and art, and to step out of the shadow of Europe, which reflected the strengthening of the American national consciousness of independence and " Therefore, he opposed the "panspermia theory" and emphasized the impact of the development of the western frontier on the development of American history. American historiography got rid of the vassal status of European historiography and formed its own characteristics. Therefore, some scholars commented that Turner is "a true American nationalist historian."

Secondly, Turner opposed the tendency of traditional historical views to focus only on politics, and focused on the diversity of historical research, which greatly opened up the field of American historical research. Before Turner, the content of American history generally emphasized political and military history. He believed that the original American history was too one-sided and far away from society and people. Therefore, he advocated that the scope of history should be expanded. History should not only include past literature, politics, and economy, but also include all fields of people's activities. Turner advocates studying history from multiple perspectives, with particular emphasis on the role of economic factors and geographical factors in promoting historical development. He introduced the economic historical perspective into American historiography; he also extensively understood the important role of vast geographical areas in the development of the United States, emphasized the importance of western development, and emphasized the impact of environmental and regional factors on the historical development of the United States, which had a great influence later historians.

Thirdly, Turner emphasizes the practicality of history and the connection between history and reality. Historians before Turner only used history to discuss history, and regarded it as pure academic research, lacking practicality. Turner's ideas about the purpose of history are very practical. He believes that the purpose of history is to understand what has been passed down from the past to the present, so that society can understand itself under the inspiration of the past and provide enlightenment to society. Therefore, he advocated that historians should study history with the interests determined by the current era and use new perspectives, new methods, and new insights provided by the new circumstances of the development of the times.

Finally, Turner innovated the method of historical research and advocated the use of methods provided by multiple disciplines to study history. Turner never pursued the elegance of the writing when writing. He paid more attention to the scientific content of the article. He believed that only by using natural science research methods to study history can history become an independent discipline. Turner emphasized the linkage between disciplines and respected the influence of other disciplines on history. He pointed out that all relevant social disciplines such as economics, society, geography, art and religion are closely related to history. He emphasized that in addition to being familiar with the work they are engaged in, historians must also have training in other related disciplines and can use the results of those disciplines to enrich historical works. In addition, Turner also proposed the theory of relativism in historical writing in terms of historical research methods. He advocates examining regional history from the perspective of world and global history, and opposes simply recording historical events. He believes that facts are interconnected and do not exist independently.

In short, in the American historical academic circle with many schools of thought, the "frontier theory" did not last long. But its impact on American academic circles, especially on American politics, is significant and far-reaching. The fundamental reason is that it is a product of the American expansion era and has adapted to the needs of American social development in the past century. Therefore, although the "frontier theory" is far-fetched and stretched in theory, it can still be popular in the United States and occupy a place in American academic circles.