In October, I wrote about the Safety Valve Thesis in American history - the idea that 18th and 19th Century Americans, unhappy with their lot in, say, Boston or Baltimore could just head out and find a new life in the West, even if “the West” meant Ohio. This was a luxury not afforded Europeans, it was argued. The creator of the theory, whom I now describe, was a distinguished American academic called Frederick Jackson Turner. At the height of his career, Turner was regarded as one of the two or three greatest historians in the United States. He theorized the frontier had an immense impact on the psyche of the young nation and helped form our sense of place during a critical time. It was, and is, a compelling notion as we consider what it is to be American. But there was more to Turner’s life than this.
© 2024 John Oliver
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