Cowboys in the West

Cowboys had a very different place in society contrary to popular belief. In reality, cowboys were low paid, cattle herders, that usually roamed the west in search of work. While the popular belief is that cowboys were ruggedly heroic individuals that fought Indians and hung out in saloons. Cowboys were romanticized long after the West was colonized. It began in the 1900s with movies and skits as a form of entertainment for people that did not know any better. When in reality, cowboys rarely came in contact with Indians and never purposely put up a fight.

The idealization of cowboys also affected other aspects of western life. One thing that was impacted was the opinion of Indians. Cowboys set them out to be savages hungry for war, when many tribes were hoping to not cause any trouble. Although some tribes were violent and did attack settlers, there were still a fair enough that wanted to continue with their daily life and work without being interrupted. Another major aspect affected was the idea of settlers being able to live on their own without the help of any outside source. Cowboys were put out to be individualists that needed help from no one and could survive on their own, while historically the government played a major part in the colonization of the West. They offered land grants, loans, and even food at times. These are just a few things that were affected by the idealization of cowboys.

There are many reasons the American cowboy became idealized. Many people set up the West to be a wild and open frontier, when in reality it was full of people and cultures. This was not always a good selling point to get people to migrate west, so to romanticize the cowboy seemed like an excellent idea. It got people interested and created a great storyline for later movies. Instead of explaining how long and tedious it was for people to settle out west, "cowboys" were invented to spice things up and make them much more interesting.