Turner, Frederick Jackson (1861-1932), an American historian, became famous for a theory he presented in 1893 in his paper “The Significance of the Frontier in American History.” Turner claimed that the nature of American democracy was a product of the frontier, which rewarded resourcefulness and ingenuity, encouraged individualism, and offered land and a hope for a better life.
Another of Turner’s works, The Significance of Sections in American History (1932), won the Pulitzer Prize for history in 1933. Turner’s list of publications is relatively short for a historian of such stature, but he had an enormous influence on his students and others. Many outstanding works in Western history were done by people inspired by Turner and stimulated by his ideas. Turner also pioneered in using the materials and methods of the geographer, the economist, the sociologist, and the statistician in history. He was born on Nov. 14, 1861, in Portage, Wisconsin, and taught at the University of Wisconsin and Harvard University. He died on March 14, 1932.
