First effective settlement: Histories of an idea

Abstract

The thesis of first effective settlement, stated by Wilbur Zelinsky in 1973 and by several of his contemporaries under other labels, has been an important one in academic research examining the role of early occupance in shaping the later characteristics of places and communities. Essentially the same idea was a commonplace in American discussions during the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries regarding such topics as missionary work on the western frontier, the uses and value of local history, and the status of slavery in the national territories. It represents a case of an idea that arose and flourished independently in two different periods in lay and academic settings. In both settings, it reflected the outlook of its authors in depicting social change as largely exogenous rather than endogenous.