Editing Cowboy (section)

===Popular image===
[[File:Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Academy Awards.jpg|thumb|Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at the 61st Academy Awards in 1989]]
{{See also|Western lifestyle}}

[[Heather Cox Richardson]] argues for a political dimension to the original cowboy image in the 1870s and 1880s:<ref>Heather Cox Richardson ''To make men free: A history of the Republican party (2014) p. 77</ref><blockquote>The timing of the cattle industry's growth meant that cowboy imagery grew to have extraordinary power. Entangled in the vicious politics of the postwar years, Democrats, especially those in the old Confederacy, imagined the West as a land untouched by Republican politicians they hated. They developed an image of the cowboys as men who worked hard, played hard, lived by a code of honor, protected themselves, and asked nothing of the government. In the hands of Democratic newspaper editors, the realities of cowboy life -- the poverty, the danger, the debilitating hours -- became romantic. Cowboys embodied virtues Democrats believed Republicans were destroying by creating a behemoth government catering to lazy ex-slaves. By the 1860s, cattle drives were a feature of the plains landscape, and Democrats had made cowboys a symbol of rugged individual independence, something they insisted Republicans were destroying. </blockquote>

The traditions of the working cowboy were further etched into the minds of the general public with the development of [[Wild West Show|Wild West show]]s in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcased and romanticized the life of both cowboys and [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref>Malone, J., p. 82.</ref> Beginning in the 1920s and continuing to the present day, [[Western movie|Western film]]s popularized the cowboy lifestyle but also formed persistent [[stereotype]]s. In some cases, the cowboy and the violent [[gunslinger]] are often associated with one another. On the other hand, some actors who portrayed cowboys promoted other values, such as the "cowboy code" of [[Gene Autry]], that encouraged honorable behavior, respect and patriotism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Gene Autry: Gene Autry's Cowboy Code |url=http://geneautry.com/geneautry/geneautry_cowboycode.html |publisher=The Official Website for Gene Autry |access-date=July 27, 2019 |archive-date=September 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100917062349/http://www.geneautry.com/geneautry/geneautry_cowboycode.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Historian Robert K. DeArment draws a connection between the popularized Western code and the stereotypical rowdy cowboy image to that of the "subculture of violence" of drovers in Old West Texas that was influenced itself by the Southern [[Code duello#Western US code duello|code duello]].<ref>DeArment, Robert K. ''Deadly Dozen: Forgotten Gunfighters of the Old West, Volume 3''. University of Oklahoma Press; First edition (March 15, 2010). c. Introduction. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-4076-6}}</ref>

Likewise, cowboys in movies were often shown fighting with [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]]. Most armed conflicts occurred between Native people and [[cavalry]] units of the [[U.S. Army]].  Relations between cowboys and Native Americans were varied but were generally unfriendly.<ref name="Malone, J., p. 42"/><ref name="Carter">Carter, Sarah, ''Cowboys, Ranchers and the Cattle Business: Cross-Border Perspectives on Ranching History'', University Press of Colorado (2000) p.&nbsp;95. {{ISBN|978-1-55238-019-2}}</ref> Native people usually allowed cattle herds to pass through for a toll of ten cents a head but raided cattle drives and ranches in times of active white-Native conflict or food shortages. In the 1860s, for example, the [[Texas-Indian wars#Indian attacks on cowboys|Comanche created problems]] in Western Texas.<ref name="Lewis">Lewis, Mary C. ''Ebony Jr., Black Settlers of the Old West''. Johnson Publication. May 1984 . pp. 18–19</ref> Similar attacks also occurred with the [[Empire Ranch#Apaches|Apache]], [[Colorado War#Indian retaliation|Cheyenne]] and [[Ute Wars#Wars|Ute]] Indians.<ref>Michno, Gregory. ''Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes, 1850–1890''. Mountain Press Publishing Company (August 10, 2003). pp. 160–180. {{ISBN|978-0-87842-468-9}}</ref> Cowboys were armed against both predators and human thieves, and often used their guns to drive away people of any race who attempted to [[Cattle raiding|rustle]] cattle.

In reality, working ranch hands past and present had very little time for anything other than the constant hard work involved in maintaining a ranch.