History as Vision of Democracy

In the wake of the 19th century, the rural nature of politics and the rise of upstart Populists gave way following several failed attempts to take offices at the national level. The successor to the reformist crown in America was the middle class, urban Progressives, who sought reforms in bureaucratic management and recourse for Americans to take out their representatives (best epitomized by recall and referendums at the state level). Naturally, this transition was not like flipping a light switch from Populist to Progressive and the first two decades of the 20th century saw tensions in politics between the rural and the urban. However, writers like Frederick Jackson Turner attempted to bridge a gap between the two by turning history into an interactive discipline.

Frederick Jackson Turner’s “The Significance of the Frontier” explained that the American experience was unique in its development of a nation over one massive continental land rather than across sea and more difficult geographical terrain. His “frontier” thesis explained that the nation’s identity and its very democratic essence were inherent within the shared experience of crossing the American continent. Turner viewed American history as one of sectional interests, where each section (local, state, regional) had at one point exercised activist measures for the best results to their particular region. In his opinion, everything came out in the wash and each section’s strengths and weaknesses balanced out to create a strong nation.