American West history and settlement patterns

Frederick Turner and Women on the Frontier

Would women make a difference?

Turner's exploration of the American frontier examines the development of "civilized" society. As the frontier advanced, chaos was turned to order and the ideals of freedom advanced. Frontier life differed significantly from life in the cities and the already "civilized" areas of the country. Turner paints life on the frontier, as freedom from societal norms and ideals. Men on the frontier were physically removed from society and developed an attitude that they were free to create their own destiny. However, Turner's view of the west is decidedly biased, as he left out the role of women. This research will explore the differences that the inclusion of women makes in Turner's theories. It will support the thesis that the inclusion of women in the thesis changes the outcome of Turner's theories considerably.

Turner's theory explained why Americans were inherently different from their European roots. The challenges of the frontier gave Americans a sense that they could conquer and tame anything. From the frontier came the tough American spirit and a sense that every man has a right to pursue their own destiny as they see fit. The story about the American frontier is about breaking the ties that bind, a concept that formed a major theme in Turner's work.

The chapter titled, "Dominant Forces in Western Life" begins with a macro view of the settlement of the Mid-west. He highlights the number of Presidents that came from this territory, presenting this as evidence of the success of the region. Turner traces many lines of migration that formed the states of Ohio and Indiana. After an extensive explanation of the settlement and development of the area, Turner then spends a brief time explaining the social forces that were at work. He tells of the men who built up lumber interests in Wisconsin, mentioning that while the men were pursuing these important activities, their women were off to Europe on holiday. This is only one example where Turner paints women as absent or counterproductive to the cause.

The role of women in shaping the American Frontier is well documented through the many pieces of evidence that they left. One must consider that the role of women during Turner's time was governed by strict gender roles, from which women seldom strayed. Women's roles were relegated to taking care of the home and children, leaving the men free to pursue "more important" tasks. The world of women and the world of men were different. This attitude was the result of Victorian ideology that permeated the upper and middle class of society, particularly in the east. Turner was from this upper class, eastern class. It is not surprising that these attitudes are found throughout his writing.

This class structure was the world in which Turner lived, one in which one dare not break traditional roles. Turner's exclusion of women from the text mirrors the societal structure and attitude in which he lived. Turner's thesis is decidedly a product of major societal views of the time. It represents a biased interpretation of the ideals that he expresses. The most obvious shortcoming of Turner's theory is a decidedly male-centric perspective. However, one must consider the society in which Turner lived and the influence that it had on his writings.

Had Turner included women and Native Americans as central figures in his treatise, it would have been rejected by his audience. Inclusion of women would have represented breaking strict societal norms and would more than likely have led to Turner's work being chastised and dismissed, rather than becoming a major ideology in American History. Tuner's thesis has a limited scope, which reduces its credibility in modern eyes. The omissions in Turner's thesis are the key shortfalls of his concepts.

Now, one can understand the reasons for Turner's omissions. By modern standards, they discredit the piece as an accurate representation of the American Frontier. However, from Turner's perspective, these were perfectly acceptable, and necessary omissions. From Turner's viewpoint, women's place was in the home, tending the crops and raising the children. However, if Turner could step out of his own cultural biases and see women on the frontier for their real contributions, his theories would have read differently.

Migration to the west was done by families and family groups. Other than the early fur traders, later migrations involved family units. Women were the ones to maintain homesteads and stake their claim to the new world. Women were the ones to set down permanent roots in the new frontier. Their role as keepers of the home and children cannot be minimized, as these very activities were the ones that made occupation of the west a permanent endeavor. Without the women to perform their pre-determined jobs as keepers of the home and hearth, occupation of the west would have been a transient affair.

The women were considered the keepers of society and morality. It was their job to make certain that culture was maintained in the home. In the beginning, settlements were isolated, but they later grew into more complex structures. Women helped to shape the larger scheme of frontier culture by the way they kept their homes and the values that they instilled in their children within their cabin walls. The values that they instilled in their children became the values of the new frontier and eventually the new nation.

One of the most important contributions of frontier women arose from the situation in which they were placed. Unlike their city cousins in the east, frontier women were often placed in survival situations where they had to break traditional jobs in order to survive. They hunted and defended themselves. They had to do what they had to do to survive. This position often made them break traditional gender roles, thus redefining traditional roles. They were rugged and independent, an admirable quality the Turner attributes to frontier men, not women.

This newfound freedom and independence was a result of isolation from the rest of society. Eastern values were not likely to be reinforced on the frontier. There was no one to chastise a woman for breaking traditional roles, as would be the case in the east. Women on the frontier were the first to experience a new identity, one in which they were the creators of a society. The spirit of the frontier women drove the women's movements of the early 20th century.