Question

What does Turner say about American distinctiveness (or "exceptionalism") in the essay? What evidence does he provide for his argument?

Answer 1

Answer:

Frederick Jackson Turner is considered the founding father of Western history, for his lecture "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893).

Explanation:

In it, he stated that it was the westward movement that best defined the United States, meaning that the exceptional character of the American nation was given by the life in the frontier, the westbound journey of pioneers from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast.

Turner understood that the free land, its endless recession, a mixed-race and the advancement of settlements to the west, are main factors in American development.

Answer 2

Answer:

Regarding American distinctiveness, Turner says that many distinctive characteristics that define typical American and American institutions, originated from the continuous change in culture or civilization of the natives who receded as they interacted and had conflicts with the colonists and settlers who came from dissimilar backgrounds into a "free land" that increased in population and had settlements that advanced westward; these events made the American people have distinctive qualities that are quite unique and different from their foreparents—mostly Europeans.

The evidence that Turner provides for his argument is a list of distinctive and admirable qualities such as inventiveness, agility and strength, social mobility, physical mobility, deep faith in democratic values and national interest, and the ability to be self-reliant, and continually moving or having restless energy.