When Frederick Jackson Turner announced in 1893 that "the.
American character did not spring full-blown from the Mayflower,".
but that "it came out of the forest and gained new strength each.
time it touched the frontier, "his speech punctuated nearly three.
centuries of examinations into the American wilderness. From.
Jamestown and Plymouth Plantation to the Louisiana Purchase of.
1803 and the subsequent expedition of Lewis and Clark, to Turner's.
"Frontier Thesis" at the Colombian Exposition of 1893, the geography.
and ecology of the American continent was the center of debate.
among Americans. Two primary views of the wilderness were.
contested: the wilderness either contained savagery and temptation.
which threatened the authority of the community or it represented a.
new Garden which could flourish with the proper cultivation by.
European settlers. Although these contradicting views of the.
wilderness shared the goal of establishing a civilization by removing.
obstacles presented by the natural environment, the state of.
wilderness that originally, characterized the young nation eventually.
became the source of natural pride and identity for America.
William Bradford wrote about the first type of nature.
previously described . In his manuscript entitled "Of Plymouth .
Hardin 2.
Plantation," Bradford describes the Wilderness as something hideous.
and desolate. He and the other settlers he was traveling with are.
constantly being described as fighting the weather, Indians, and.
nature by the Grace of God. Bradford sees himself as a Moses.
figure. He is leading these people to the promised land. He believed.
God sent them to this land, and is constantly praising Him for.
delivering them from harm. Bradford states," for summer being.
done, all things stand upon them with a weather beaten face, and.
the whole country full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and.
savage hue" (49). The land that they discovered was harsh and.
