Why the Towns in the West Were Often Lawless and Violent

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Why the Towns in the West Were Often Lawless and Violent

In this essay I will be explaining why the towns in the West were

frequently lawless and violent. The various factors why the West was

lawless are: Geographical factors, social factors and values and

attitudes.

To begin with one of the reasons that the west was often violent and

lawless was due to geographical factors. The size of the West was vast

and this contributed to this problem. This is because it was

impossible for officers to enforce law and order everywhere, and as a

result of this people took the law into their own hands and abused

justice. For example when Nathanial Boswell was made sheriff of Albany

Country by the government of Wyoming Territory in 1869, he became

chief law enforcer of an area covering 16,000 square miles, which is

evidently too much for one individual to cover. This means that there

was no efficient police force on the frontier. Another explanation why

the West was unruly is that there was a lack of speed through

communication. As a result of these, people took advantage of the

loose control in society and frontier life became lawless.

The next factor contributing to the lawlessness and violence in the

West is social factors. The very lawlessness of the West attracted

characters with an aggressive back round. For example, the famous

outlaw brothers, Frank and Jesse James, were examples of men who had

been educated in guerilla warfare, by the confederate, (southern)

army, throughout the American civil war. An additional example is that

some men, such as the brutal murderer Bill Longely made no such

excuses for themselves. Lonely just reveled in the lawless existence

of the West. Vicious men such as the examples above were in the civil

war and they drifted towards the frontier where they thought they

could put their 'skills to use' subsequent to the civil war.

Another factor contributing to the lawless west is values and

Attitudes. People in the West had an exceptionally independent

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