An Archetype Of The Wild Frontier

How does Turner explain the recurring need for communication and transportation along the American frontier?

The exploration and settlement of Texas was built on the three Spanish institutions: missions, presidios, and ranches. A mission was a religious and educational center, a presidio was a military outpost or base for protection, and a ranch provided resources needed for survival. Through the influence of Hispanic culture in Texas, ranching in Texas has been established and further developed.

This last week in Professor Acebedo-Gonzalez’s class we read Chapter 1 in The Wilding of America: Money, Mayhem and the New American Dream. In the beginning of Chapter 1, Charles Derber gives us a clear idea of what “wilding” is and the different types of wilding that exist today. According to the book, wilding is “self-interested or self-indulgent behavior that hurts others and weakens the social fabric” (Derber, p.11). Also described in the book are four types of wilding: expressive, instrumental, incipient, and petty wilding. Derber however, focuses on one and is concerned with one in particular: instrumental wilding. It’s the type of wilding in which is most connected with Americans and the American Dream, and no one realizes what effect it can have on each other (Derber, p.7). Throughout the chapter, Derber provides stories as examples for each type of wilding that supports the definitions. On page 7 he states, “A wilding epidemic tears at the social fabric and threatens to unravel society itself, ultimately reflecting the erosion of the

Mexican ranchers known as Tejanos fought to keep their land after the Mexican American War. Some examples of Mexicans farmers in the towns of Camargo and Reynosa owned about thirty-six thousand head of cattle, horses and sheep. Trade between those towns along the Nueces River and the countryside was very successful. Across the towns of Brownsville, McAllen and Edinburg after Texas became a state, Anglo merchants marry prominent Mexican land-grant families to gain control of acres of land. Subsequently, to make a contribution to the trade between

The author Teja also does an acceptable analysis of the land-use patterns around the Mission of San Antonio. With the many diverse groups and families settling San Antonio, Teja covers the diversity the area goes through. Teja could have placed more emphasis in painting a picture that San Antonio was the focal point in the Northern Boundary lands. I highly endorse this book for a person looking to study the growth of San Antonio in the 18th Century. “Community in San Antonio de Bexar did not spring up overnight. It was the product of a Shared struggle for survival among people who initially had little in common.” (pg. 160)

The first settlers of the Atchafalaya River Basin were different Native American Tribes, including the Houma, Chitimacha, Tunica-Biloxi, Opelousas, and Atakapa Tribes. The Atchafalaya River, however, got its name from the Choctaw tribe. They arrived to the Atchafalaya River Basin in the time period around 1760 and decided to call the river the “hacha falaia”, which

Texas became flooded by adventurous and land hungry North Americans that were unfamiliar with the native Texans' history and

Into the Wild is a book about a young man named Chris McCandless and his decision to go off and live in the wild. He decided to walk deep into the Alaskan wilderness and abandon all of his possessions and family. This book is the authors, Jon Krakauer, version of Chris McCandless’ story put together through interviewing and speaking with people who knew Chris as well as by using letters Chris wrote to his loved ones.

In Red Earth: Race and Agriculture in Oklahoma Territory, Bonnie Lynn-Sherow gives an in-depth agricultural and racial account of the Oklahoma Territory settlement focusing on African Americans, white settlers, and Native Americans after the land rush. Throughout the book, Lynn-Sherow depicts the Oklahoma Territory from the first Oklahoma land rush in 1889 to the year before it became a state, 1906. Lynn-Sherow puts emphasis on three specific counties in Oklahoma Territory that are identified with each of the three groups of people previously mentioned. The counties include Logan County, Blaine County, and Caddo County. The sources used throughout Red Earth, which include oral accounts, aid in her explanation by explaining how different life

The land of each indian tribe in texas were both affected by their environment in a positive way. Their environments allowed the american indians to a better way of life and in order to survive. The caddo of the southeastern culture and the comanche of the plains culture both used their environment to allow a better way of life.

“A few years after the war ceased, railroads extended west, and markets were established within driving distance of Texas” (Haynes, 278). The railroads were a huge impact on Texas because around that time transportation was very poor. The railroads allowed for goods and other resources to be traded and sold for profits. Texas was known for having a background in farming and ranching because of its Mexican ancestry. Farming and ranching became very important to Texas’ life and economy. Texas’ economy, population, and environment was flourishing, as more and more settlers came along. The ranchers and framers were soon starting to settle in all parts of Texas. “Thes frontier counties we traveld in are nearly all Settle up from the old States mostly

With the Treaty, the United States became a continental empire (Greenberg 25). It was in total possession of the terrain between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Nomadic societies of the Great Plains held title to the majority of lad through binding treaties with the United States. They exerted physical control of massive stretches of the west, but to white spectators, the claims were illegitimate. In 1851, the United States allotted territories to numerous Plains tribes to lessen the frequency of intertribal conflicts (Greenberg 25).

Not only that but he also focuses on the problems that are arousing on the frontier, describing the different classes of people that live here and the challenges they overcome or encounter. He also describes the events of the actual was itself, to give us a better understanding of everything else that is going around at that time. The ways he sets up the book chronologically really gives the reader the opportunity to understand more than the war itself. Slaughter also focuses on the problems on the frontier as we mention he dedicated a whole chapter to the problems that the Native American tribes bring to the Americans while at war. Slaughter also focuses on the problems and disagreements between the people of the East and the

Western, a genre of short stories that are set in the American west, primarily in the late of the 19th century (“Western” 598), and still being told until today by films, televisions, radio, and other art works. The major of moving to the west was because of the Homestead Act, 1862 (“U.S. Statues at Large” 392) which would give lands to people who stayed there for five years. This lead to a huge wave of immigrants moved to the West, and they had to face to many hardships and conflicts such as Indian attacks, tornadoes, blizzards, and illnesses.

The emergence of western history as an important field of scholarship started with Frederick Jackson Turner’s (1861-1932) famous essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American history.”[1] This thesis shaped both popular and scholarly views of the West for the next two generations. In his thesis, Turner argued that the West had to be taken seriously. He felt that up to his time there had not been enough research of what he in his essay call “the fundamental, dominating fact in the U.S. history”: the territorial expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. The frontier past was, according to Turner, the best way to describe the distinctive American history and character.