Frontier MythsAngela Brown

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The West by 1900•A decline in the amount of unorganized territory created the sense that the opportunities of the frontier were fading.•1872 the federal government established Yellowstone National Park to preserve western landshttp://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/Yellowstone/Maps/map_yellowstone_caldera.gif

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•Nations 1st national park Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho•1890 the Superintendent of the census announced the end of the frontier.

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Turner’s Frontier Thesis•Fredrick Jackson Turner 1893 – claimed the frontier had played a central role in forming the American character•Forced settlers to shed old ways and adapt, innovate, and invent

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•Created Americans who were ready for adventure, bent on self-improvement and committed to democracy•Disregarded contributions of women, African Americans, immigrants, government, and big business.http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/FRONTIER/Image/fr-vista.jpg

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Frontier Realities•Diverse Western settlers – women, Chinese, Japanese, and African Americans •“buffalo soldiers” – Native Americans called the all-black ninth and tenth cavalry regimen

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Limited View of Democracy•gave women the vote before eastern counterparts but…•ran over rights of native Americans and Asians•Settlers treated vast resources as though they were limitless

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Creating the Myths•1870 dime novels of writers like Edward Wheeler•1883 William F. Cody “Buffalo Bill” Wild West Show•1902 Frederic Remington’s painting The Cowboy

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•Stereotypes – fixed ideas held by people•strenuous life for men

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•1912 Juliette Low founded the American Girl Scouts because she feared civilization had made girls too soft. •She praised women homesteaders for strength and intelligence. •Made scouting techniques for tracking woodcrafts, and wilderness survival the core of her program.

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•Reality is much more complex than the myths. •It is balance between the dream of endless opportunities and the fact that opportunities were not equal for all.

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