The Code of the West

From the time when the first American pioneers entered the grasslands of Texas until the day when the frontier itself was no more, the West was a magnet for lawlessness.  Respectable folks did their best to impose law and order and in some places gunfights were unknown, there were no lynchings, and barroom brawls were rare.  However, violence was romanticized to a remarkable degree and things like a denial of social restraints helped make the West a haven for the bad guy.

What made the law of the gun so important in the American frontier?  One reason was the need to fight the Indians - to oust them from the frontier settlements.  Another reason was the Civil War from which hatred and bitterness grew in places like the Kansas-Nebraska border.  Gangs of looters and murderers in those border wars became a training ground for many of the West's most notorious outlaws.

Finally, the geography of the region was probably the most important reason that the gun was so important on the American frontier.  The nature of the population in the West's early days was young, male and adventurous.  The nearest neighbor was miles away, and the courts of law were even further.  Men thought of themselves as rulers of their lands - possession was 9/10 of the law to the settlers.  The nearest town, with the sheriff, judge and court of law was so far away, who was left to keep law and order?

So the West was so sparsely populated that there was no one close enough to establish law as any effective force.  No society can exist without some kind of rules, however, so there emerged a "Code of the West."  The Code was romantic, mannerly and idealistic, which made it an inadequate substitute for the law:
1.  A man's word was his bond.
2.  Rustling and stealing was evil
3.  Shooting an unarmed man was contemptible
4.  Strangers were to be treated with hospitality
5.  Handshake were as good as lawyer agreements

Next time...The Code at work
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On August 16, 1896, while salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada's Yukon Territory on this day in 1896, George Carmack reportedly spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West.