Word: frontier
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Democracy flourished on the frontier. First in the small towns of New England, then later in the prosperity of the middle western plains, democracy grew in the process of town building and the community effort required to produce prosperity. Abraham Lincoln was its symbol and proponent in the nineteenth century...
...approach American democracy is to look at its genesis. But the sources of American democracy have never been well understood. When in the late nineteenth century Frederick Jackson Turner, a Harvard professor of History, came out with his thesis attributing the growth of democracy to the influence of the frontier environment, it was greeted with warm applause, then critically torn to shreds. Yes, America had developed its own brand of democracy the critics agree; but, no, the "frontier" thesis was not an accurate analysis of its growth. Since that time no single work has appeared to unravel the somewhat mysterious...
...time has transformed America. At the start of this century Progressives tried to give more life to American democracy and Theodore Roosevelt boomed out the old spirit in new forms. But the modern century was not as simple as the last -- the communities had already been built and the frontier had been closed -- the American environment had radically changed...
Undoubtedly this description of past and present is an exaggeration. But the characterization contains a clear Kernel of truth. In the new industrial state the initiative of America has seeped away, and in its place we are left with only fear and dependence. The spirit that pushed the American frontier ever Westward is increasingly a diminishing force in the people...
...metropolitan communities which have replaced the small towns and frontiers have also given the American nature another aspect. We live closer together and yet farther apart. Americans live more to the square mile than ever before, and yet are more reluctant to go next door to ask for a bottle of milk. Football is favorite national sport, because it gives us the sense of missing community experience, but on the subways everyone looks at the ceiling. We delight in togetherness on occasions, but shy away from each other the rest of the time. Thus, the cities have not increased...