Why did Turner Ignore The Issue of Faith in Settling the Frontier?

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Why Turner Ignored the Issue of Faith in "The Frontier

Why Turner Ignored the Issue of Faith in "The Frontier

Frederick Jackson Turner 's essay The Frontier ' stands today as one of the pivotal works detailing the development of the North American continent , from the days that the Mayflower first landed on the craggy shores of what would one day become Massachusetts to the settling of the American West . For all of this commentary , however , the issue arises as to why Turner ignored the issue of faith in The Frontier

, and also it seems appropriate to determine the motive behind the omission . In fairness , and to Turner 's defense , it is not so much a deliberate jab against faith that he did not discuss it in The Frontier it perhaps is more correct to say that he chose not to include faith in the essay This statement needs further explanation in other words , it appears that Turner 's intention in writing the essay was to present an historic account of the migration of a people quite literally from coast to coast of an unsettled land , in an experiment that changed the world forever (Turner . Because of his desire to focus on the history of the events a more secular viewpoint , he avoided the discussion of faith , which is to say the sacred aspect of the situation , in an effort to present true history without the possible bias of religious overtones . If , for example , Turner incorporated religious elements into the work , the message would have been entirely different

In closing , perhaps the most succinct way of stating the choice of Turner to ignore the issue of faith in The Frontier ' is to say that his desire to present true , undiluted history could not accommodate the often subjective elements of human faith References

Turner , F . J (1938 . The Early Writings of Frederick Jackson Turner Madison , WI : University of Wisconsin Press Turner PAGE 3...