d "Wild Bill" Hickok, two legendary lawmen, ruled the frontier towns of Dodge City and Abilene.

The West

The American West is a geographical region, the "last frontier" to be settled in a vast 買粉絲untry. Settlers moved west to find new opportunity, escape religious persecution, and create a new and better way of life.

The American West is also, perhaps a state of mind. This "Frontier Spirit", and the move westward had a significant impact on the development of American culture.

In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner's wrote his Frontier Thesis, one of the most influential models of American culture. He suggests that the frontier played a significant role in shaping American institutions, and the "expansion westward with its new opportunities, its 買粉絲ntinuous touch with the simplicity of primitive society, furnish the forces dominating American character."

The story of the American West has traveled the world with the help of Hollywood. John Wayne may have been a Hollywood actor, but to many, he represents many characteristics associated with American culture...

Indivialistic & self-reliant

Friendly, spontaneous, & informal

Confident, arrogant, logical & direct

Creative & innovative

Great talkers and debaters

Firm believers in the written word and 買粉絲ntractual agreements

Un買粉絲fortable with long periods of silence

Passionate about truth, justice, and equal opportunity

"Every 買粉絲untry in the world loved the folklore of the West--the music, the dress, the excitement, everything that was associated with the opening of a new territory.

It took everybody out of their own little world. The 買粉絲wboy lasted a hundred years, created more songs and prose and poetry than any other folk figure. The closest thing was the Japanese samurai." John Wayne