The Midwest As An Idea

• by George Bailey • Published: May 31, 2007

The idea of the Midwest as a cluster of states linked by cultural similarities was developed at the end of the nineteenth century. The term Midwest derived from the Continental Congress's Northwest Ordinance, a crucial development in America's westward expansion. Several aspects of the isolation of land in the enter of the country fueled a new conception of America as a nation in relation to the continent. To begin with, some Midwestern states like Ohio became a refuge for veterans of the Revolutionary War. In the process of their migration other pioneers followed them and settled the frontier. On the other hand, before the Midwestern territory was staked out, the notion of expanding America by the addition of new states, rather than by expanding existent ones, was hardly taken for granted. The addition of this territory opened the door to a new method of settling American lands, and specifically fueled the ambition to settle the west. The historian Frederick Jackson Turner popularized, among much else, the association of fierce individualism and American struggle and triumph with the influence the establishment of the Midwest had. Once, the boundaries of the Midwest were primarily determined by their proximity to the Great Lakes. Now, however, most states located in between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains are considered to be a part of the region.