What did Turner mean when he called the frontier a “safety valve”?
SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET: When Turner spoke of the frontier as a safety valve, he meant, in part, a political safety valve. Namely, that people who were troublemakers, people who wanted to change the society, people who were frustrated because they’d lost their job or gone bankrupt – instead of trying to change things at home, make a revolution, or what-not – took up and went to the frontier to start all over again. And that was not possible in other societies. So the frontier was a place that helped [release] the pressure, [that’s what a] safety valve implies. The pressure was reduced because people could go there. QUESTION: What precisely does the term “American exceptionalism” mean? SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET: The term “exceptionalism” has been used in different ways. One, [as] Tocqueville [used it], simply refers to the fact that America is qualitatively different from Europe, and he mentioned a lot of things, but the class structure was particularly important for him, [the religious diffe
