While there are a few different definitions of "Frontier", the one that rings true the most for me currently is "the extreme limit of understanding or achievement in a particular area". I compare America's current frontier with the frontier wilderness of America's past. Todays' wilderness is the unexplored regions of America; in geography, in our society and in our thinking. I think about how the dense, dark forest of todays' politics and culture keeps us from seeing what is truly going on behind the scenes. Then I think of those in Americas' history who have braved new frontiers.
I can't help but think of David Crockett, one of our most notable frontiersmen. Born in 1786 in a pioneer cabin in Eastern Tennessee, the 5th of 9 children, David learned early in life that he "stood no chance to become great in any other way than by accident." Skilled woodsmen, Military Scout, Colonel, professional hunter, teamster, farmhand, hat makers' apprentice, manufacturer, Public Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, Congressman, American Folk Hero - all terms applicable for David. He shared his personal maxim, "Be sure you are right, then go ahead" throughout his life.
Most of David's learning came from experience, not books or schooling. In fact, he "went [to school] four days, and had just began to learn my letters a little, when I had an unfortunate falling out with one of the scholars - a boy much larger and older than myself." David knew the boy would continue to bully him, "so I concluded to wait until I could get him out, and then I was determined to give him salt and vinegar." David waited in some bushes on the path where he knew the bully would have to go by. Sure enough, when the bully came by, David, "pitched out from the bushes and set on him like a wild cat." The bully cried out and gave up the fight. David left home that same day, at the tender age of 13, to make his own way in the world. He returned home to visit a couple of years later, hiring himself out as a farmhand to a couple of different men to pay off money owed to them by David's father.
David stated, "I began now to think, that all my misfortunes growed out of my want of learning. I thought I would try to go to school some, so I proposed to him [a married son of a friend who had a school] that I would go to school, four days in the week, and work for him the other two, to pay my board and schooling. I went for nigh on to six months and this was all the schooling I ever had in my life."
While in the military, David's scouting and hunting skills saved the army from both more Indian wars and starvation. He served under General Andrew Jackson, through the arduous marches, ferocious battles with the Indians and near starvation. During most his life, David hunted bears - not an easy feat and one that most men never even tried. In less than one year alone, David killed 105 bears. Most of the bear meat was for or given to neighbors, or those who David came across who were starving.
As a magistrate, David stated, "My judgments were never appealed from, and if they had been they would have stuck like wax, as I gave my decisions on the principles of common justice and honesty between man and man, and relied on natural born sense, and not on law, learning to guide me; for I had never read a page in a law book in all my life."
David married, had 3 children, and then his wife died. David remarried to a woman who had 2 children from her previous marriage and she and David had 3 children between them. David's second wife passed away and he remarried a third time.
David served 3 non-consecutive terms in Congress. While running for office, David said, "I told him that when I set out electioneering, I would go prepared to put every man on as good footing when I left him as I found him on." While in Congress, Crockett spoke for those people he represented, stating, they had "mingled the sweat of their brows with the soil they occupied." As a Congressman, he fought for the tax and land rights of poor settlers. He even stood against then future President Andrew Jackson in 1823, when he supported a candidate running against Jackson for a Congressional seat; as well as opposing President Jackson's infamous Indian Bill, stating, "it was expected of me that I was to bow to the name of Andrew Jackson, even at the expense of my conscience and judgment. Such a thing was new to me, and a total stranger to my principles. I would sooner be honestly and politically damned, than hypocritically immortalized." Even when disagreeing with President Jackson on political platforms, David once disarmed a would-be assassin of President Jackson, wrestling him to the ground.
In his autobiography, written in 1834, while David was still in Congress, he stated, "I am now here in Congress, this 28th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four; and that, what is more agreeable to my feelings as a freeman, I am at liberty to vote as my conscience and judgment dictates to be right, without the yoke of any party on me, or the driver at my heels, with his whip in hand, commanding me to ge-wo-haw, just at his pleasure. Look at my arms, you will find no party hand-cuff on them! Look at my neck, you will not find there any collar. But you will find me standing up to my rack, as the people's faithful representative and the public's most obedient, very humble servant." In his last bid for Congress, David stated, "I told the people of my district that I would serve them faithfully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I will go to Texas." He lost that election and he did go to Texas.
At the Alamo, David and his men (a 30-man armed brigade) were encouraged to keep shooting because of their effectiveness, even when the army was told to stop returning fire to conserve ammunition. He and his men used their rifles as clubs, due to having no time to reload, as the fighting was in such close quarters. They all died at the Alamo, standing and fighting for the frontier of Freedom.
How does the life and lessons of David Crockett help America's Current Frontier?
* Keep a Frontier Attitude - strong, resolute, self-sufficient.
* Diversify Your Skills - know what you need to work on and then do the work.
* Make a Plan and Go Forth and Make It Happen.
* Help Your Family Succeed.
* Share with those Less Fortunate.
* Stick to Principles of Common Justice.
* Leave People Better Off for Knowing You.
* Vote Your Conscience.
