Part one of term paper
Frederick Jackson Turner's groundbreaking and controversial essay is based on his definitive thesis, "The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development." ( Turner, p. 27) An introduction by Harold Simonson analyzes and describes the author and his in ...

Part two of term paper
... under a prominent historian who supported "germ theory" or the theory that all historical change is based on antecedents. According to "germ" theory, everything in America -- from culture to government -- would find its roots directly in European heritage. Turner disagreed with the "germ" theory, believing that environmental influences were much more important in historical development that hereditary influences. Turner could not account for the history of his own state of Wisconsin purely in ...