Law and Order Flashcards
Was the west really wild?
Hollywood were known to exaggerate the myth of the west in their movies, their movies such as butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were greatly dramatised hence holly wood and the film industry hyperbolised the nature of the west.
Writers also hyperbolised the conditions in the west , several ‘dime novels’ where published about characters such as Buffalo bill but the story told were only loosely based on real events and were changed with the intention of captivating settled audiences in the east and west who were hungry for drama.
Painters also dramatised their work to highlight the savage nature of the west because scenes of the extra ordinary and wild were more appealing and unexpected so were more profitable as people wanted the paintings due to intreuige.
What examples of lawlessness on the plains were there throughout the period of westward expansion.
Various crimes happened on the plains
firstly in the Indian culture horses would be stolen there would be no law to bring justice to this so the outcome of stealing horses would often be war. horses were worth going to war over in the Indian culture as they were very valuable and were hence greatly treasured by the indians. Plus crimes such as horse steeling were serious as often horse were means of travelling large geographical areas over the plains. Cowboy particularly as well as the indians were known to have a close relationship with horses whom they utilised in their profession to round up cattle hence the cowboys were protective over their horses and would often come to terms of disagreement which could spark conflict over horses.
Conflict also arose among the early settlers such as the 49ers , thing such as claim jumping became a particular problem , gold was highly valuable hence people were willing to resort to criminal behaviour to attain it , this meant they were willing to enrage others by jumping there claim (taking their stretch of land ) in order to rake it for gold. Within the gold rush there were also many racial attacks. The prospect of gold intreiueged people from many different walks of life , thus many fioregin nationals such as the Chinese and Mexican were working by the claims in the hope of gathering gold. As a consequence there was lots of racial prejudice , the whites and Americans believed they were superior to the people migrating to America from Asian lands and hence these ethnic minorities where subject to discrimination as the Americans believed it was their right over the migrants rights to gather americas gold. Moreover the little law enforcement that there was at the time showed bias to the Americans as they do seemed to treat migrants as inferior , thus racial prejudice when un challenged .
Racial discrimination as an act of lawlessness became particularly evident in 1885 in a mining town known as rock springs in Wyoming , in this year the town was subject to a race riot . White winners swarmed to ‘china town’ rock springs a place highly populated by Chinese men and killed several of them as they were outraged that they were being allowed to work the mines.
Homesteaders also had lawless tendencies despite the fact the practice of fence cutting was illegal it was often done in order to access water sources or to extent the land of a homesteader , this was often overlooked by the law as it was impossible for the laws officers to confront the problem every time it happened as it was such a common crime normally this crime was brought to justice among groups of homesteaders although relations may remain frictions and the matter may be solved through means of harsh words threats or violence.
Cattle rustling is also an example of lawlessness on the plains , cattle that was unbranded would be stolen and moved from ranch to ranch in order to build up the herd , cattle barrens thought they were superior soil ever they sent out rustlers it was justifiable however if any of their cattle were stolen they would be extremely enraged and seek revenge which was demonstrated in the event of the Jhonson County war in Wyoming , where50 cattle barrens and gunslingers tried to launch an attack on the town of buffalo as they believed they had stolen their cattle , although this attack was resisted due to the the resistance of Nate Champion it exemplifies that the cattle barrens where more than willing to take the law into their own hands when they suspected criminal behaviour.
As the rail roads ran through such barren areas there were vulnerabilities and due to poverty and the nature of some people living on the plains such as demoralised soldiers and freed slaves as well as criminals fleeing justice meant that often these trains which ran the course of barren lands were often robbed in stage catch robberies as there were no witnesses in the surrounding land to provide any evidence of the occurrence and the emptiness of the plains allowed a swift escape across the land, Butch Cassidy the renown leader of a gang called ‘the wild bunch’ was known for being a stage coach robber. These outlaws often went unprossecuted as there was no evidence that could be held against them. The Reno gang also terrorised the rail roads and robed many transcontinental trains.
Bank robberies often were also a problem out on the plains , their Wass poor law enforcement and hence banks could be robbed without prosecution to gain wealth , plus the banks seemed to be doing well as they moved out of the great American depression , gangs such as the James younger gang were notorious outlaws who completed several bank robberies as they returned from war and found they could not re adapt to civilian life hence turned to a life of crime.
There were also often shootings , poor law enforcement meant that citizens took the law into their own hands , the values and attitudes of people living in the west the meant even petty crime such as cheating while gambling could be solved through excessive means such as shooting or hanging, wild bill hillcock was known to have had a gun down with a fellow gun fighter and glorified him self with his tale tales of all the men he had gunned down , lawlessness was part of the culture of those in the west they had come to solve all crimes with violence as the goverment had not provided them with the nessisary materials or enforcement officers to established civilised communities.
which factors encouraged lawlessness ?
Geographical factors
the west was east and initially sparsely populated , transport across the land was initially slow hence law enforcement could not physically reach crimes in enough time to have any effect . As the plane started to become more settled and were divided into states and such alike more law enforcement was set up and based in different states across the plains however even then some of these law officials did not have the capacity to patrol and enforce the law on such large geographical stretches of land.
political factors
politicians were unwilling to pay for more law enforcement officers , plus the reliability of the existing law enforcement officers was questionable they would sometimes work in union with criminals for profit or to see those who were seen as inferior be taken down this was exemplified in the Johnson county war in buffalo Wyoming when the government actually provided cattle barons with guns. Often judges could also be bribed which meant they were politically corrupt as they were not acting in the interests of others but rather to benefot themselves.
Social factors
there were conflicts between different ethnic groups such as freed slave, Chinese , europeans , native Americans and white settlers. Plus the social situation was made difficult as often ex soldiers found it difficult to adjust their lives back to that of a civilian and acted irraticllyand morally as they could not readjust and had been damaged by war and corrupt. There was also conflict between Northern and southern soldiers .
Economic factors
lots of people were trying to make money on the plains which meant they were prepared to be lawless in times f desperation to attain money, there was also conflict between people competing within the same field of business such as small ranchers and cattle barrens as they were both selling cattle yet only the best or cheapest would sell as the cattle market began to narrow as demand lessened as tastes changed.
The values and attitudes of people
the general feeling on the plains was that if a person had a problem they should sort it out themselves the homesteader life was an independent was and as was the lives of ranchers , mormons and others whom settled the plains, lots of people had an affinity for vilionce as society was very provoked as people carried weaponry specifically those such as cowboys and gun slingers as a symbol of status , simple disagreements could hence quickly escalate . Plus laws were very primitive such as if you shot a man in self defence you did not break the law.
Lifestyle factors
lots of people such as the cowboys would live lives in which they would work hard however become irrefutable as they would spend their wages in saloons in cow town and drink heavily as well as pay for prostitutes this lifestyle made the individuals unreasonable as they were commonly under the influence of alcohol and hence were irrational for proportion of the time / when the oppertunity to be so arrived. There were allots of men concentrated in smaller areas this encouraged prostitiution and also meant there were no women their to offer a hand as a calming influence.
Types of law enforcement
vigilantes
the vigilantes were people who willingly took the law into their own hands , they drove suspected criminals out of town and lynched them, they did so as when towns were first set up law and order was profoundly bad sherifs often accepted bribes as they were badly payed so this meant criminals could be payed off. vigilantes helped in some cases where nothing was being done to bring criminals to justice however on the most part it just added to the problem as they could mob and lynche innocent people which quite possibly made them criminals , they did not operate within the law and Brough justice to towns through means outside of the governments approval however the law enforcement in town knew they were in operation .
Why were the plains lawless
didn’t think it was worth seeing people to mining towns…
Famous examples of lawlessness
Billy the Kid Wyatt Earp Wild bill hill cock The Reno The James younger Gang butch Cassidy , the Sundance kid and the wild bunch John Wesely Hardin
