The Impact of the American Frontier

Résumé ou Introduction

Asking American citizens about their notion of the American frontier, you will receive very similar answers most of the time. Basically, Americans link the American frontier with the “Wild West”; an image that includes cowboys wearing hats and being equipped with weapons as it was reflected in various Western movies or entertainment shows in the last few years. However, it is worth mentioning at this point that a lot of Americans today also consider other aspects of the American frontier, such as what the frontier historically speaking actually was: It refers to the unexplored areas of the United States that were settled from approximately 1600 to 1890, beginning in the east towards the west including violent treatment of Native Americans, the original inhabitants. The American frontier served as an important factor in forming fundamental American values, namely “individualism”, “self-reliance”, “equality of opportunity”, “hard work” and “can-do spirit” (Kearny Datesman et al., 2005), but it also had a negative impact, that is familiarity with the use of weapons.