Name Name
Paper #1

New Frontiers

        In Frederick Jackson Turner’s The Significance of the Frontier in American History, he expresses that it is the western frontier which truly defines the American person.  I believe that this is a relevant conclusion based on the distinguished characteristics of the American people and how they could be related to the western frontier. The frontier made Americans wonder how rewarding the oppurtunities offered to them could be, thus, causing them to venture to new lands and seek benefits.  When the frontier disappeared and the exploration of land had ceased, Turner believed that the Americans would then move on to other unknown aspects of the universe to further quench their thirst for knowledge and adventure.
	The frontier gave Americans characteristics that are still visible in today’s American citizens.  Some of these may include “that courseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness” (pg. 525), a desire to control and take risks, a craving for wealth and “that masterful grasp of material things” (pg. 525) in attempts of living the American dream.  Longing to find the answers to many questions is what encourages the scientists, governments, and societies of today to embark upon unchartered territories.
        I believe the most obvious and yet most important example of this is the discovery and continued exploration of outer space.  Educating ourselves about space may be critical to discovering how the ancient earth may have formed, and I believe that this is one of the most concentrated on aspects in today’s study of new and unusual things.  This also explains why intensive research is done on the world’s oceans.  It is many’s belief that the oceans contributed to the creation of ancient earth. Although, it is hoped by many that with the continued exploration of outer space will come answers to questions of how evolution took place.  To most, space is one of the most intriguing creations known to mankind today.  It contains thousands of celestial bodies and entities that scientists wish to learn about and understand more thoroughly.  In other words, you could designate space as “the next frontier”.  In launching the space program, it is hard not to notice certain similarities between it and the frontier.  Americans approach outer space in the same manner as they did when they first encountered the frontier.  They are cautious about what can be found and of course interested in what could be present in the mysterious place.  The reason for the space program is to further educate ourselves about what surrounds us. That mirrors the intentions we had for the western frontier.  I believe that space is more of an excitement for Americans because it is harder to fully research and analyze due to it being light years away from us.  The frontier was a hands-on experience and by replacing it with the space program, we have stepped up to a more complicated task.  Ever since the era of the frontier has ended, relations with other countries have encouraged us to be more intelligent and more advanced as a nation, technologically and mechanically.  By learning more  about outer space, it allows us to be intellectually superior to other countries.  In the most recent century, it seems that this competitive side of the United States has been most prominent.  This reiterates the importance of space exploration for Americans.  They desire control and it is this control that comforts us, yet also involves the United States in conflicts of great peril.  
        This yearn for control in the world is demonstrated on another frontier, a frontier that belongs to others.  The predicament in Iraq could be considered another frontier, seeing as how it’s a world much different from the one present in the United States.  Like the frontier and outer space, Americans are attempting to dominate a world that does not belong to them.  Americans have a desire to convert things that parallel their world into a world that is like their own.  This could be seen as a situation much like the one with the Native Americans that inhabited the western frontier.  Americans feel they have the right to dominate others and their land and it is the frontier, which gave this attribute to the American people.  
        The frontier is responsible for designating Americans with characteristics still apparent in  today’s citizens.  The western frontier educated them and taught them how to discover, risk, control, and form a world for themselves.  It taught them to strive to become more knowledgeable and to better themselves as human beings.  After the western frontier became extinct, Americans were hungry for something new and they became encouraged to engage into other “frontiers”.  If and when the exploration of space is complete, it is most certain that Americans will look to other horizons for the gain of knowledge and adventure, but until then, space will appease the appetite of Americans for quite a long time.