Frederick Jackson Turner felt that the frontier shaped the American identity. The frontier led to democracy and egalitarianism. Turner gave his thesis in Chicago in 1893 and it has become one of the most popular thesis in American history.

is turner,s west a place a direction or an idea

The Frontier Thesis is a theory put forward by historian Frederick Jackson Turner in 1893, suggesting that the American frontier played a pivotal role in shaping American democracy and identity. Turner argued that the idea of limitless land and opportunity in the frontier helped to shape American values of individualism, self-reliance, and equality.

By letting the Americans learn from the past and he gave a warning to Americans of the future....

By 1930, over 60% of American history departments were teaching this theory.