Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

American West q2

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

The reasons that there was such a high level of lawlessness in the west can be split into five main factors: Geographical factors, political factors, social factors, economic factors and the values and attitudes of people in the west. The main geographical factor is the sheer vastness of the west. It was a large and mostly empty area and travelling was a difficult and time consuming process. Not only was the west mostly vast and empty, but at the time transport methods were slow so any judges or hired officials could take months to reach a town in the west. However, not only did the geography of the west hinder any forms of law enforcement, but it also helped criminals. ...read more.

Middle

This is because politicians simply didn't see the west as an issue worth spending money despite the high rates of lawlessness. Settlers didn't just go to the west from all over the country, but from all over the world. This caused conflicts between the large amounts of ethnic groups. There was also the fact that settlers followed a don't trust anyone philosophy because they didn't know anyone and didn't feel safe. This meant that there many potential sources of conflict. On top of this, following the civil war soldiers returned home with no idea of how to function in regular life again. So instead they decided to put their 'skills' to use and take to a life of crime. ...read more.

Conclusion

The values and attitudes of people in the west also contributed towards the high levels of lawlessness. Almost every man in the west carried a gun and even in the rare cases where there was law enforcement available, people chose to solve problems themselves. With there being high rates of drinking, gambling and prostitution in the west, arguments could break out easily and quickly evolve into violence. With it being legal to shoot a man if he had a gun claiming it was self defence, gunfights were all too common. In conclusion I think that that the combination of lack of law enforcement and the large amount of people that carried, and were willing to use, guns, are the main reasons for the high lawlessness in the west. Joseph Williams 11RW Abertillery Comprehensive School Law and Order in the American West Assignment One Question 2: Why Were Towns in the West Violent and Lawless Places? ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE History Projects section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE History Projects essays

  1. 'Law and Order in the American West'

    beaver's neared extinction and buffalo meat and buffalo hides became more popular in Europe the buffalo became the Fur Trappers' primary target. The Fur Trappers were not the only ones interested in the buffalo trade but any settlers who saw their potential as a means of earning money.

  2. American West

    Mining towns were rough and competitive environments. In 1849 gold was discovered in the west this led to a movement better known as the Gold Rush. A process of mass immigration took place resulting in many people flocking to the west of America. To cater for this change new houses had to be built, quickly, and because

  1. HIstory American West

    This was caused by the demobilization in the Civil war. Many people were unwilling to forget what had happened and there were lots of racial attacks. One well known racial attack happened in 1885 in Rock springs, Wyoming, where 51 Chinese people were killed.

  2. Arab-Israeli Conflict

    In this war, American help was extremely important because their help allowed Israel soldiers to block off attack coming from Syria. Considering these wars, I believe that U.S help was a very key factor in the success of Israel in these wars.

  1. Whocontributed most to the settling of the American West, Wagon train migrants or gold ...

    There was not a lot of difference between the populations of the states, as they were both fertile farming land. The farmers manly came from the east. Places like Philadelphia, New York and Miscopy. After 1848 when gold was discovered 380, 000 people went to California.

  2. Portchester Castle Q2

    Due to the effectiveness of this offensive technique, plinths can be seen on nearly every square keep of every castle ever built. Although it is a different style of castle, Rochester Castle has a very similar keep and plinth to the one at Portchester, however Rochester is not similar in shape or size.

  1. World War 2 Letter

    In the battle of the Somme, we released artilleries for 7 days 24 hours non-stop, it was so exhausting. It came to a time that we were stalemate for so long that the war became a contest of attriction; who ever lost the most men would lose that day.

  2. swansea and the Blits version 2

    They knew what they were looks for whilst flying over. Luftwaffe aircrafts photographed large areas of Britain, flying too high and to fast for any chance of the interruption by fighter aircrafts or anti-air craft artillery. They went about their business for several months without being caught.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work