DU Historians please help me out

[jmg257]

10. "Wild West" not so wild...and it seems the govt had little to do with that...

The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality
By Thomas J. DiLorenzo
This article appeared in the Fall 2010 issue of The Independent Review

Contrary to popular perception, the Old West was much more peaceful than American cities are today. The real culture of violence on the frontier during the latter half of the nineteenth century sprang from the U.S. government’s policies toward the Plains Indians.
...
In contrast, an alternative literature based on actual history concludes that the civil society of the American West in the nineteenth century was not very violent. Eugene Hollon writes that the western frontier “was a far more civilized, more peaceful and safer place than American society today” (1974, x). Terry Anderson and P. J. Hill affirm that although “[t]he West . . . is perceived as a place of great chaos, with little respect for property or life,” their research “indicates that this was not the case; property rights were protected and civil order prevailed. Private agencies provided the necessary basis for an orderly society in which property was protected and conflicts were resolved” (1979, 10)."

http://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?a=803