Western State-Making in the Revolutionary Era



Western State-Making in the Revolutionary Era

Introduction

The western regional states consist of several naturally beautiful areas such as the mountains that are widespread along the land, the wild life and the beaches. The western region of the United States is connected to several past events that took place in the history of United States of America. Those events have a profound impact on the making of western region. Several researches and historians discussed the western state making during the revolutionary period. The revolutionary era has close connections with the western state making. This paper discusses the concept of western state making during the revolutionary era described by Turner (1895). The facts and concepts presented by Turner (1895) in the journal article are analyzed and interpreted in order to determine the happenings related to western state making during the process of revolution in the United States.

Geography of the Western United States

According to Turner (1895), the term west is not limited to a single area in the American history but it is classified as the area that includes several borders and coasts. Initially, the Atlantic coast was considered as the west part because it was situated at the west of Europe. After that the land area that lies between the Alleghenies and tide water was regarded as the western part of the United States. However, during the eighteenth century second half time period, the territorial part that lies between the Alleghenies Mountains and Mississippi were occupied and captured that resulted in the formation of the western part of the revolutionary era (Turner, 1895). In this way, the identification of the west part involving different continents resulted in the formation of an important phase in the development of the United States. The regions that involved the reclamation as being the western part were those that recently came out of the wilderness. It is also identified by Turner (1895) that the western part of the United States consisted of the free lands which is considered as the distinctive thing regarding the west. The free lands of the west had profound impact on the American development.

Colonization

Turner (1895) has also identified that the growth stages of the United States are consisted of three main phases. The first phase was the time period of institutions, European men and the ideas related to the tide- water part of the United States. During the era of colonization, the institutions and English traits were preponderated and kind of modified by the newly emerging conditions of the United States. The constant intervention of the western part with the old world leads towards the modification and influence from the new environment on the western part of the United States and prevented them from the full effect. The coastal area of the west region was also influenced by the production of institutions and the work force. The physical characteristics of the Americans of colonial era are described by the travelers as they were English people, ...