In The Significance of the Frontier in American History

According to Frederick Jackson Turner in his paper, The Significance of the Frontier in American History, the conditions of frontier life produced many intellectual traits. He described these character traits as, "...acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients...that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom." It is due to these traits that the settlers of the frontier moved west when given the opportunity. Those who did not go west were also affected by these traits since what was suitable for the Westerner could be harmful for the Easterner.
Turner ends his paper by emphasizing the importance of the intellectual traits that formed due to the frontier. Yet, what was it about the frontier that allowed the settlers to form such characteristics. America, despite being viewed as the land of opportunity by foreigners was at times viewed as the land of the lacking by its' own Americans. Thus, Easterners and foreigners who were gaining insufficient wages in the city were forced to find other ways of survival and many turned to the West. …