Wild West Flaws

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The Wild West is the word that that has been coined for a period in American history that coincided with the movement of the white settlers west wards. It was a turbulent period and dominated by gunmen, sheriffs or lawmen, red Indians and the settlers themselves. It was the age that opened America to development and perhaps what the USA is today would never have been in case this period had not existed. This entire period was marked by courage, perseverance, adventure, inventiveness and strength of purpose. It was in fact in some ways the golden age of America and hundreds of movies and books are testimony to this period as the age that made America. The Settlers and their Wagons The white settlers who came from Britain started moving westwards from …show more content…

To counter them local lawmen emerged called sheriffs who also made a name for themselves as fearless fighters and tamers of these gun slingers. Outlaws and law men were the mainstay of the Wild West. The odd thing is that both these categories of men, one for the law and one against it were in fact interchangeable. Thus a lawman in one state was an outlaw in another state and vice versa. Some of the outlaws made a name for themselves that still lives today. One of these was Billy the Kid. He was shot dead in 1881 by his friend a sheriff named Pat Garret and mind you he was only 21 and had shot 21 men by that time. In 1881 again in Tombstone, Arizona Marshall Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with Doc Holliday shot to death the Clanton gang members in a famous shoot out at the O.K Corral. And in 1882, another notorious outlaw, Jesse James, who is also a legend, was shot in the back by a close relative who wished to collect a reward of $ 5000 offered for him at that time. Jesse James and his gang had terrorized the west for close to 2 decades. The Civil

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