Frontier myth
Richard Slotkin, a prominent scholar on the subject, defines the myth of the frontier as "America as a wide-open land of unlimited opportunity for the strong, ambitious, self-reliant individual to thrust his way to the top.
Turner's influence can be seen in nearly every single work of Western history to follow, either dealt with directly or indirectly, particularly each time a scholar uses the word frontier.
As noted above, Richard Slotkin has devoted a career to studying the myth of the frontier, writing three books on the subject, Regeneration Through Violence, Fatal Environment, and Gunfighter Nation.
Throughout these works Slotkin defines myth as "a set of narratives that acquire through specifiable historical action a significant ideological charge.
Slotkin's definition evolves throughout the trilogy, beginning with the general understanding of the myth of the frontier as viewing America as a land of opportunity for the strong to conquer, then incorporating capitalist exploitation of the land as America evolved into an industrialist nation, finally being used a vehicle for cultural ideology in the twentieth century era in popular culture.
Mark Twain colorfully related that accounts of gold strikes in the popular press had supported the feverish expansion of the mining frontier and provoked mining "stampedes" during the 1860s and 1870s: "Every few days news would come of the discovery of a brand-new mining region: immediately the papers would teem with accounts of its richness, and away the surplus population would scamper to take possession…"[7] Similarly the life of the hardy cowboy driving dusty herds of longhorns northward from Texas to the cattle markets Abilene and Dodge City, Kansas, was romanticized by the Eastern press.
[11] Christine Bold in The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1800–1924, builds on the works of Richard Slotkin and G. Edward White to deconstruct the creation of the mythic West formula for literature (and later film/television) at the end of the nineteenth century.
Bold argues that the mythic West formula was created by a group of writers, politicians, painters, and others, whom she calls the "Frontier Club".
[12] Bold notes about eight men that were key in the group, with Theodore Roosevelt as the founder and central figure, with Owen Wister and Frederic Remington being influential.
Bold argues that it was this collection of men that brought together the cultural themes present in the myth of the frontier to create literature (The Virginian) and art that distorted the reality of the West and turned it into a romanticized place.
Bold argues the goal of the group was to sway public opinion so that they could lobby for legislation to protect hunting grounds in the West.
[13] Bold continues on to show how the Frontier Club used their money and influence to silence the voices of blacks, Native Americans, immigrants, and non-elite white men.
Movies, comics, and American literature often neglect to show realities of the journey West, and the life on the frontier.
In a study on the legends and folklore tales of the 19th century, Kent Steckmesser identified four characters that are representative of four archetype heroes, each personifying an era in the frontier: the trapper Kit Carson, outlaw Billy the Kid, gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, and soldier George Armstrong Custer.
Steckmesser concludes that each of these legends contain a few set characteristics: genteel qualities, clever traits, prowess, and epic significance.
James Fenimore Cooper brought the frontier hero to the forefront of American society through his book series that included The Pioneers, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, The Deerslayer, and his most popular novel The Last of the Mohicans.
Henry Nash Smith, in his book Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth, talking about Daniel Boone and Natty Bumppo, states "the aged Leatherstocking has likewise been driven by the increasing and unparalleled advance of population to seek a final refuge against society in the broad and tenantless plains of the west.
The myth making of Boone was primarily accomplished by John Filson, a schoolteacher from Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Filson completed a manuscript that was divided into two parts that consisted of a portrayal of Kentucky, its landscape, soil, climate, and flora to name a few items.
[21] This book became The Discovery, Settlement, and present State of Kentucke... To Which is added An Appendix, Containing The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boon.
Filson used Indian warfare, captivity narratives, and journals of spiritual revelation and growth to inflate the Daniel Boone he was trying to portray.
His older brother George Rogers Clark had been a decorated general during the American Revolutionary War, and William had always been in his shadow.
In this job, Clark was charged with "keeping the Indians at peace and protecting them from the pernicious influence of illegal traders and settlers.
The Characters that arise in James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking series has elements of Crockett (along with Boone as mentioned previously).
One of the main factors that lead Crockett to such fame was his "rise to prominence in politics and the consequent manipulation by the press of his public person.
De la Peña states that Crockett and several other men had been captured and on Santa Anna's order were bayoneted to death.
Kit was described by people that met him as being "a plain, simple, unostentatious man; rather below the medium height, with brown, curling hair, little or no beard, and a voice as soft and gentle as a woman's.
Kit was haunted by this for the rest of his life, when a friend of his offered him a copy of the book he threatened to "burn the damn thing.
The New Western History has focused on an examination of the problems of expansion; destruction of the environment, indigenous massacres, and the historical reality of the lives of settlers.
In Legacy of Conquest Limerick writes, "[Frederick Jackson] Turner was, to put it mildly, ethnocentric and nationalistic.
