The Historical Writing Of Frontier By Billington Of American Historian

The beginning of the 20 th century was a period of rapid development in American history.During this period,the American historian Turner used the concept of frontier to explain the development process of American history,and the “Frontier Hypothesis” that was formed was very popular for a while,but only in the 1930 s,the “Frontier Hypothesis” has been widely criticized by the historians,the glory is no longer.At this time,several scholars emerged in American history who insisted on defending the “Frontier Hypothesis”,and Ray Allen Billington was one of them.Billington,as the defender and successor of Turner’s theory,insisted that the frontier was an important factor affecting American history.From the perspectives of the Westward Movement,the social environment,and cultural dissemination,it has been systematically demonstrated that the current national character of the United States has been influenced by the western frontier to a considerable extent.In particular,it proved that American national characters such as idealism,optimism,nationalism,anti-intellectualism,curiosity,and extravagance have emerged from the frontier in the long-term development and have been influential to this day.In addition,it also demonstrated the image of the American frontier in the eyes of Europeans.The specific images such as “savagery” “promise” “equality” and“opportunity” were spread to Europe through the secondary processing of image makers,and Europeans accepted them after arriving at these frontier images,a large number of responses were made,which in turn had a certain impact on American and European thought.Through a large and meticulous collection of frontier historical materials,Billington came to solid conclusions,making Billington the contemporary heir to Turner’s theory,the last defender of the traditional frontier school,and a place in the history of western American history.On the issues related to the western and the frontier in the United States,Billington’ s views are important and cannot be ignored.