Human Geography of the

United States
Lesson 2: The Frontier and Nation-
Building

PIERRE-ALEXANDRE BEYLIER
Maître de conférences
pierre-alexandre.beylier@u-grenoble3.fr
Introduction
 A Frontier-nation
 Territorial expansion
 Specific relationship between the American people and its territory
 Political and ideological implications

 “Americans have defined themselves through a shared geography

expressed in the future facing expansion of the frontier by individual
pioneers”

 Outline:
 I – Territorial Expansion and Manifest Destiny
 II – Territorial Expansion and Nation-Building
I – Territorial Expansion

A – The different stages

of territorial expansion
 Video
I – Territorial Expansion

 1810: 14% of Americans live west of the Appalachians

 1820: 23% of Americans live west of the Appalachians

 1840: 38,7% of Americans live west of the Appalachians

 1880-1890 => end of the frontier of settlement

 Displacement of the center of gravity from the east coast

(around Baltimore) to Ohio
I – Territorial Expansion

“The American frontier is sharply

distinguished from the European frontier – a
fortified boundary line running through
dense populations. The most significant
thing about the American frontier is that it
lies at the hither edge of free land” (F.
Turner)
I – Territorial Expansion

B – The Impact of the Frontier on the Economy

 Economic reorganization of the country

 Turning point with the Louisiana Purchase

 Development of Transportation

 Decrease of distances and prices

 Role of the Civil War

I – Territorial Expansion

 The development of transportation

Year Canals (in km) Railway (in km)

1830 1 277 73

1840 3 326 2 818

1850 3 698 9 021

I – Territorial Expansion

C – Manifest Destiny

 What is Manifest Destiny?

I – Territorial Expansion

 Articles of Confederation (1781)

“Canada acceding to this confederation, and adjoining in

the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and
entitled to all the advantages of this Union; but no other
colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission
be agreed to by nine States”
II – Territorial Expansion and Nation-Building

A – The Impact of the Frontier on

American Identity
 Geographical imagination
 Frederick Jackson Turner’s thesis
 “The frontier is the line of most rapid
and effective Americanization” (F.
Turner)
II – Territorial Expansion and Nation-Building

Questions

 What are the values that shaped American identity and

that were born on the frontier?

 What were the characteristics of the “frontier man”?

 What is the impact of the frontier on American

democracy?
II – Territorial Expansion and Nation-Building

American values shaped by the frontier

 The American Dream
 Equality
 Freedom
 Individualism and individual liberties
 Self-reliance and the self-made man
 Freedom of religion and freedom of worship
 Limitless possibilities
II – Territorial Expansion and Nation-Building

B – The Impact of the Frontier on American Political Identity

 The frontier, a factor of unification

 “American democracy came from the forest, and its destiny drove it
to material conquests” (Turner)
 “The Mississippi river is one of the cradles of American democracy”
 Clash with the North East
Conclusion – What’s next for this frontier nation?

 The frontier today

 Turner’s concerns for the future of the nation

 Economic expansion and imperialism

 The end of the Cold War and the decrease of the

frontier spirit

 Fragmentation of American society