The New Frontiers

	Throughout history, Americans have always wanted to expand their horizons.  The Louisiana Purchase helped us to expand westward when we gained control of the land west of the Mississippi River from England.  Frederick Jackson Turner wrote of the curiosity of Americans and how we yearn for new openings.  The frontier began to establish an imaginary line between civilized and uncivilized.  To many this sounded a little dangerous but yet it made us want to establish American ways there even more.  “The American Dream” always has us searching for more than what we already have.  Now a days we have to look a little further in order to fulfill our need for expansion and opportunities.  Americans have now turned to equality  in society, the ocean, space, and cyberspace to extend psychological substitutions for the western frontier.
	As our economy continues to develop from the times of the western frontier, many have searched for equality in society.  Americans from all backgrounds were looking for equal chances to succeed.  During the expansion of the western frontier an ethnocentric ego was dominated to whites.  Surely, Native Americans were not willing to give up their land to prospective American gold miners, farmers, and people who were just looking to start a new.   The same is true for African Americans.  They were used as slaves and not given equal human rights or opportunities.  Both of these groups of people and others were in search of expanding their intelligence, status, and creativity to become equally “American” as whites.  After the men of different races began to become accepted into the American society, women began to feel the need to speak their mind for equal opportunities.  Women were just looked upon as a companion for a male who should take care of the house and kids.  These females knew they were capable of so much more and wanted to have the same rights and privileges as males.  After a long and hard struggle for equal rights, women finally got what they deserve.  Without their willpower, women would not have the freedom that they have today to pursue their goals and dreams.
         By venturing into the ocean we look for ways for it to benefit America in other ways than water to survive and travel purposes. Many people see the ocean as a mysterious place.    Our curiosity has us proposing ways for ocean life to benefit our health needs.  We see the ocean as a futuristic way of using our natural resources from the depths of the inner world to help prevent diseases and help treat ailments that already exist.
        Another area America, as well as other countries, have began to expand into is space.  We no longer have “free land” available for us to settle upon on Earth so we are looking for a new frontier in the universe.  Scientists have been observing life on other planets for years.  In the future Americans hope to find more information on how we can benefit from the solar system.  Before we know it, we could be packing our bags to visit family members who now reside on Mars.  
	The most recent substitute for the western frontier is cyberspace.  Since Turners time, the intelligence of Americans has grown immensely in order for us to create and discover the technological world.  With today’s tools and brains we are able to experience happenings all over the world with just a click of a button.
	The internet has provided us with opportunities that in Turners time (and the eras before him) were unthinkable.  Our instinct still wonders how the cyber world functions the way it does and how it became so helpful and informative to our society.  Yet, it has become such an asset to our everyday lives.  In fact, many Americans today would be lost without their twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week link to such a vast informational world at their fingertips.
         Americans have searched in many directions to expand their horizons.  American greed and hunger for prestige will always have us searching for more than what we already have.  Our intuition always has us searching for answers, opportunities, fairness, and benefits to making our country more dominant and intelligent than any other power in the world.