Wrobel, The End of American Exceptionalism

Ch. 1
What did the existence of the American frontier put off or allow Americans to avoid?

What concerns about frontier were surfacing in post Civil War era?

Ch.2
Why did anxiety about frontier peak in the 1880s?

What was the great concern over land ownership?

What did government do in response to the increasing anxiety over the frontier?

How did immigration play into the growing anxiety?

What foreign policy debate did anxiety lead to?

How did popular culture express the increasing concern about the frontier?

Ch. 3
What political, social, and economic crises seem to converge in the 1890s?

How did some like Rodney Welch specifically challenge the agrarian myth of the West?

How did literary figures and writers express concern about the frontier and west?

What did some fear would happen with growing population and the lack of new lands in frontier?

What other pessimistic or more negative consequences of frontier closing were expressed by other intellectuals and elites in 1893 at the same time Jackson gave his famous talk?

Ch. 4
How did the frontier closing contribute to the irrigation debate? What were arguments of both sides?

How did frontier affect or shape views of the environment and wilderness?

How did frontier affect immigration debate?

Ch. 5
How did the closed frontier fit into desires and demands for expansion of US?

How did Josiah Strong, Frederick Jackson Turner, and Woodrow Wilson each contribute to debate over expansion?