Frederick Jackson Turner was a teacher and a scholar in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. Mr. Turner redefined American history by stating that the settlement of the West by white people - "the existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward" - was the central story of American history. Prior to this statement, the frontier was only a backdrop to American History. Mr. Turner’s thesis statement defined the frontier and brought it to the forefront of Am