ABSTRACT
The Cities of the Prairie reflect the overall pattern of American historical development in their responses to the four successive frontier stages that have shaped or are shaping them. The continuing frontier continues to shape the cities' environment in tandem with other external forces impinging on them. The American frontier is paradigmatic. The continuing frontier, wherever it is found, has all the characteristics of a chain reaction. The importance of geo-historical location becomes particularly evident when the "external" or "objective" influences on urban political systems are considered as limiting and directing factors shaping the range of possibilities for what is known as "local decision-making." Part and parcel of each cultural stream is a particular pattern of orientation to political action: a political culture which can be understood as a separate variable in the life of the local community. Sectionalism—the expression of social, economic, and especially political differences along geographic lines—is part and parcel of American political life.
