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Summary ENVS2: AMERICAN WAYS CHAPTER 4
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The impact of the american frontier- american civilization replaced the frontier more than a century ago but heritage of the frontier is
still evident in the us today. many: very fascinated by frontier bc it helped in shaping american
values. ronald reagan and george bush: recalling that time.
- for many years: frontier had been romanticized in movies,… that featured cowboy heroes
fighting indian villains. little attention to what was really happened to the native americans
(=american indians)
- now: most americans are aware of the bad side of the settling of the continent when americans
indians were killed and their lands were taken.
- the buffalo: killed off by the settlers=> loss of major source of food, culture and clothing.
- today: renewed interest in indian cultures (smithsonian)
- Frontier experience began: east coast in 1600s. ended: 1890 (last western lands were settled).
- the american frontier = the unsettled regions of the us (= mostly western part: land and life more
primitive x settled eastern part). when settled-> moving farther west. americans moved 2700
miles. belief: destiny for control.
- native americans: “reservations” to control but!!! us government broke promises.
- many americans still see aspects of the frontier, its people and their beliefs as inspiring
examples of traditional american values in their original and purest form. how did the frontier
help to shape these basic american values?
- inspiring examples of hard work: race for success. (x western frontier) gold in cali, silver in
montana, west: fertile land: adventures. april 1889: acres of good land in oklahoma -> settle.
- daily life on the frontier: less dramatic x frontier adventure stories. daily life of frontier people >
purer form of national values x cultivated eastern us.
- individual freedom, self-reliance, equality of opportunity: values most associated w frontier
heritage of america. frontier settler = model of the free individual. reason: less control over the
individual (few laws, few institutions). frontier has been idealized, still serves as a basis for a
nostalgic view of the early us. bc lost when urbanized. many people in the west hold these
beliefs about freedom from government controls.
Self-reliance and the rugged individualist
- free of society’s rules = less society’s comforts and conveniences => had to be self-reliant:
made their own houses etc.
- idealization of the self-reliant frontiersman = the rugged individualist. (american male hero): been
made physically tough and rugged by the frontier’s conditions. - skilled w guns and weapons. -
needs no help + often unmarried, without children. - is strong enough to extend his protection
beyond himself to others.
- 2 types of heroic rugged individualists: each drawn from a different stage of life on the frontier. 1)
early frontier (before civil war 1860s) : man x wilderness. hero: daniel boone. (kentucky, 1760s-
1770s) x native americans. in 1778 part of their tribe bc so impressed by his physical strength
and skills. later: escaped. his heroic strength= mastering the challenges of the wilderness.
admired as a survivor x a fighter
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