1870's Issues in Kansas and Gunsmoke

The westward sprawl of civilization

There is a common thread in Gunsmoke between it and history on this issue as well.  The landscape is becoming dotted with settlers, homesteaders, and ranchers who are breaking ground and putting up fences with barbed wire.  The pioneer men who have lived off the land their whole lives are hard-put to stop the encroachment.  Matt Dillon doesn't exactly embrace the issue, but he does see the writing on the wall, and he encourages hard nose pioneers to go with the flow, albeit unsuccessfully.  Gunsmoke episodes that reflect this issue are 'Abe Blocker,' and 'Lobo.'

Bi-racial people and other racial prejudices

I don't have to explain to you what this is about.  We still have this issue today, unfortunately.  Gunsmoke brought in the character of Quint, which was really smart, because it lent itself to fertile ground from the storytelling point of view.  We see Quint in episodes like 'Quint-Cident,' where he just wants to help a woman who is alone on the prairie and needs food.  As he rides by a neighboring farm, the farmer is sure Quint is up to no good just because he is a 'breed.'  Then in 'The Renegades,' Lavinia is a snobbish young woman whose life comes to depend totally upon Quint when their stagecoach is attacked on the prairie.  Her character does a 180 in the end and she seems to have a romantic interest in Quint.

Louise Latham does a great job in an episode called 'Hawk,' where she tries her best to deny a 20+ Indian young man is her illegitimate son.  At one painful point, she yells at him, "I don't even know who your father was!"

Another side to this issue is white men marrying Indian women.  This brands them as Squaw Men.  S7 'The Squaw' deals with this, as well as 'Shona.'

One more.  A Chinaman comes to Dodge in 'The Queue.'  Two prejudiced men cut off his pigtail, or queue, and the Chinaman tells Matt he has lost his honor as a Chinese because of it.  Matt tells him if he's going to live in this country, he's got to behave like an American, not a Chinaman!

The buffalo have almost all been killed off

This issue goes hand in hand with the westward expansion issue above.  Not only have the buffalo almost all been killed off, but there is less and less open prairie to hunt them on.  Buffalo hunters have almost no concept of land belonging to anyone.  It is there, and anyone is free to come and go on it how they please.  How is a buffalo hunter supposed to change vocations anyway?

Watch 'He Who Steals,' 'Buffalo Hunter,' and 'Buffalo Man.'

The law versus the lynchers

Matt keeps saying the law is a new concept for the west.  Many understand it, even embrace it, but not the lynchers.  Lynching seems to be one thing the men just can't give up.  Horse stealers get lynched.  The episode that just kills me is the episode where a man is lynched, and afterwards they learn the lynched man was innocent.  So, the head lyncher goes to the man's farm and explains to his wife and son that their loved-one got lynched, and they're sorry, but here's his horse and gun.  This was 'Joke's On Us.'  See also 'Lynching Man,' 'Rope Fever,' 'The Good People,' and 'Hung High.'

Cattle ranchers, sheep men, and water rights

These are some common issues that Gunsmoke deals with most often.  The cattle ranchers have large, unfenced tracts of land, but they're starting to feel the encroachment of homesteaders and sodbusters on the outer fringes.  Some ranchers throw a fit about homesteaders settling on legally acquired land that they have used in the past but didn't legally own.  But in their minds, it's their land.  Watch the episode 'Harvest.'  And cattle men can't stand sheep men, watch 'Passive Resistance.'  Water rights are a big issue as well which has brought on range wars.  Watch 'The Sodbusters,' 'The Ditch,' 'The Miracle Man,' and 'The Iron Blood of Courage.'

Gunfighting

Gunfighting is something Matt Dillon would just as soon do away with completely.  However, things are not to that point yet, and nearly every man in Dodge City is still wearing a gun.  Therefore, Matt not only has to be involved in gunfights, but he needs to be the best at it to stay alive.  The reasons for a gunfight are broad; it can be a palmed card in a poker game, an insult that can't go unnoticed, or settling an old score.  Matt finds himself in a gunfight quite often, and let's face it, we love it!  These are just a few episodes with gunfights: 'Mannon,' 'Hack Prine,' 'Matt Gets It,' and 'Ten Little Indians.'

Prejudices against women

There is no denying that in 1870's Kansas, women have a rough go of it.  Women still don't have the right to vote.  But honestly, that's the least of their problems.  An unmarried woman doesn't have much choice in a career.  If she's real lucky, she works in the General Store.  Otherwise, it's a saloon, a laundress, a dressmaker, or a house of ill repute.  Married women are the backbones of the family.  While the man is doing his job of farming, the woman is doing the wash, making the meals, slopping the hogs, chopping wood, having babies and raising them, sewing clothes, and on and on.  A few women are appreciated, but for most it is a thankless job.  In one Gunsmoke episode, a woman is basically a slave for her brother at their ranch.  Watch 'Cheap Labor.'  Many women are beaten and abused by their husbands.  And pregnancies outside of marriage are unacceptable ('The Foundling.')  Other episodes include 'Nina's Revenge,' 'Little Girl,' 'Till Death Do Us Part,' and 'I Thee Wed.' 

Still having Civil War related issues

In Gunsmoke, there are still unsettled scores regarding the late war.  What do you do with a man who was a Commandante at a prison camp?  Watch 'The Mark of Cain.'  There are more "get even" type episodes.  Watch 'Groat's Grudge,' 'The Mission,' 'Nightriders,' and 'Old Comrade.'

Mental health issues

Still as common as today.  Watch 'The Deadly Innocent,' 'Moonstone,' and 'Cooter.'