Frederick Jackson Turner – 1861–1932

On July 12, 1893, Turner, a University of Wisconsin history professor, delivered a speech as part of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in which he presented census statistics that revealed the “closing” of the American frontier; that is, he explained, the population figures no longer demarcated a distinct western limit of settlement. With the frontier closed, Turner declared his belief that the “restless, nervous energy…dominant individualism…buoyancy and exuberance” traditionally engendered in the American character by the presence of the frontier would now be channeled into ventures abroad, and the United States would enter an age of imperialism.