Talk:American frontier

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the American frontier article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Add new text under old text.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Start a new topic

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1: 6 months

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (center, color, defense, realize, traveled) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

This level-4 vital article is rated B-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.
It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Geography Low‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Geography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of geography on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GeographyWikipedia:WikiProject GeographyTemplate:WikiProject Geographygeography

Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

WikiProject Geography To-do list:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : See Requested articles/Social sciences/Geography, cities, regions and named places and Missing articles about Locations
Assess : Tag related article talk pages with {{WikiProject Geography}}. To help assess the quality and importance of geography articles, please see: Unassessed geography articles and Unknown-importance geography articles.
Cleanup : See Geography articles needing attention
Deletion sorting : Listed at Geographic related deletion discussions
Geographical coordinates : See Articles missing geocoordinate data by country
Infobox : See Geography articles needing infoboxes
Map : See Wikipedia requested maps
Notability : See Geography articles with topics of unclear notability
Photo : See Wikipedia requested photographs of places
Stubs : See Geography stubs

Latter Day Saint movement Mid‑importance

	Latter Day Saint movement portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Latter Day Saint movementWikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movementTemplate:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movementLatter Day Saint movement
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Military history: North America / United States / Early Modern

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	Early Modern warfare task force (c. 1500 – c. 1800)

United States: Old West / Arizona / History Top‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject American Old West (assessed as Top-importance).
	Arizona portal This article is supported by WikiProject Arizona (assessed as High-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. history (assessed as Top-importance).

History Low‑importance

	History portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the subject of History on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject HistoryTemplate:WikiProject Historyhistory
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Text or other creative content from this version of American frontier was copied or moved into Bibliography of the American frontier with this edit on 05:16, 2 December 2023 UTC. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

On 27 March 2025, it was proposed that this article be moved to Wild West. The result of the discussion was not moved.

Section sizes

Section size for American frontier (84 sections)
Section name	Byte count		Prose size (words)
Section name	Header	Total	Header	Total
(Top)	5,223	5,223	141	141
Periodization	10,627	14,274	721	945
Terms West and frontier	3,647	3,647	224	224
Maps of United States territories	723	723	43	43
History	13	198,860	0	18,490
Colonial frontier	4,258	8,393	387	757
From British peasants to American farmers	1,607	1,607	116	116
Wars with French and with natives	1,372	1,372	142	142
Steady migration to frontier lands	1,156	1,156	112	112
New nation	1,874	27,694	157	2,509
Land policy	3,638	3,638	374	374
Acquisition of native lands	3,359	3,359	200	200
New territories and states	1,226	1,226	120	120
Louisiana Purchase	4,410	4,410	410	410
Fur trade	2,456	2,456	221	221
Federal government and westward expansion	5,782	5,782	592	592
Scientists, artists, and explorers	4,949	4,949	435	435
Antebellum West	23	41,083	0	3,833
Religion	3,328	3,328	222	222
Democracy in the Midwest	1,682	1,682	205	205
Southwest	3,818	3,818	115	115
Manifest destiny	2,332	2,332	210	210
Mexico and Texas	3,367	3,367	367	367
Mexican–American War	3,763	3,763	363	363
Growth of Texas	1,510	1,510	95	95
California gold rush	6,254	6,254	722	722
Oregon Trail	4,537	4,537	478	478
Mormons and Utah	5,895	5,895	550	550
Pony Express and the telegraph	2,145	2,145	213	213
Bleeding Kansas	2,429	2,429	293	293
Civil War in the West	616	6,489	44	663
Trans-Mississippi theater	3,085	3,085	305	305
Peacekeeping	2,788	2,788	314	314
Postwar West	20	23,576	0	2,397
Territorial governance after the Civil War	2,888	2,888	304	304
Federal land system	4,926	4,926	523	523
Transcontinental railroads	9,369	9,369	922	922
Migration after the Civil War	2,512	2,512	239	239
Alaska Purchase	2,528	2,528	271	271
Oklahoma Land Rush	1,333	1,333	138	138
Indian Wars	3,010	26,419	166	2,428
Indian Wars east of the Mississippi	1,771	1,771	199	199
Indian Wars west of the Mississippi	13,227	13,227	1,255	1,255
Forts and outposts	2,042	2,042	209	209
Indian reservations	6,369	6,369	599	599
Social history	22	51,147	0	4,701
Democratic society	1,420	1,420	158	158
Urban frontier	4,293	4,293	404	404
Race and ethnicity	28	9,871	0	1,107
European immigrants	1,047	1,047	79	79
African Americans	3,701	3,701	515	515
Asians	3,485	3,485	347	347
Hispanics	1,610	1,610	166	166
Family life	2,144	3,492	217	332
Childhood	1,348	1,348	115	115
Prostitution and gambling	4,153	4,153	401	401
Law and order	9,622	21,479	731	1,646
Banditry	7,597	7,597	592	592
Feuds	4,260	4,260	323	323
Cattle	5,329	6,417	520	653
Cowtowns	1,088	1,088	133	133
Conservation and environmentalism	4,272	6,275	425	589
Buffalo	2,003	2,003	164	164
Government	1,038	1,038	117	117
End of the frontier	6,733	6,733	496	496
American frontier in popular culture	2,304	16,961	155	1,370
Popularizing Western lore	3,153	3,153	310	310
20th-century imagery	2,147	8,541	152	748
Cowboy images	6,394	6,394	596	596
Code of the West	2,963	2,963	157	157
Historiography	6,255	6,255	448	448
See also	39	3,349	0	0
General	1,357	1,357	0	0
People	648	648	0	0
Study	132	132	0	0
Literature	481	481	0	0
Games	692	692	0	0
Explanatory notes	44	44	0	0
References	28	28	0	0
Further reading	5,021	5,021	0	0
External links	75	2,029	0	40
Culture	75	75	0	0
History	868	868	0	0
Media	1,011	1,011	40	40
Total	252,767	252,767	21,477	21,477

Should there be made a page for the Albertan stampede wild west?

Alberta in Canada had a old/wild west era as well with stampedes. Shouldn't there be made a page talking about that era? Leikstjórinn (talk) 14:10, 22 June 2025 (UTC)[reply]

this doesn’t read as relevant (development of democracy)

the paragraph about the development of democracy that has this as it's second line "Selwyn Troen has made the comparison with Israel…" doesn't read as relevant. It doesn't accurately account for or analyze the development of democracy in either settler colonies, and is reading like its doing something political rather than informative. If the paragraph described the development of democratic processes or institutions, it might be relevant, though here it reads as awkward, unnecessary and politically motivated. Also, it doesn't problematize indigenous genocide in either colony, so the actual points of comparison are ignored. Can we remove it? Kikila mai Tawhiti (talk) 17:56, 19 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Keep this is a major scholarly article in a leading scholarly journal that covers the methods of comparing frontiers. The article spends about a third of its space on negative aspects of US and Israel. Rjensen (talk) 19:02, 19 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support removal as not relevant. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:59, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Support removal as well. Scholarly or not, it's not relevant to the article. Intothat darkness 11:50, 20 October 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"Wild West" redirects here and it really shouldn't

The term "Wild West" references a fictional, hyper-violent version of the actual American Frontier when the actual frontier was, well, boring.

Should a new "Wild West" article be created specifically for the Hollywood version? - Immigrant laborer (talk) 20:53, 19 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

No. The term "wild west" was actually a contemporary one in addition to the later stuff. And I don't think you can call the frontier boring. Intothat darkness 00:48, 20 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

Is the term "Wild West" a reference to violence? I was under the impression that the term simply depicted the Western United States as a vast wilderness. Dimadick (talk) 04:08, 20 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]

It's a broader term encompassing both the wilderness and the perceived level of violence there. Wild can also mean "untamed," which was applied to both the land and the people who settled there. Intothat darkness 11:44, 20 May 2026 (UTC)[reply]