A Cultural Heritage: The American Cowboy. The history of the American cowboy is deeply intertwined with the expansion and development of the United States, particularly in the 19th century.

The cowboy tradition has its roots in the Spanish vaquero tradition. When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, particularly in what is now Mexico, they brought cattle and their ranching techniques. The term “cowboy” itself comes from the Spanish “vaquero,” which means cowman.

As Americans moved westward, especially after the Mexican-American War (1846-1848), they adopted and adapted the vaquero techniques. The open range system of cattle ranching became prevalent.

The period from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the late 1880s is often considered the heyday of the cowboy. This was when vast cattle drives from Texas to rail-heads in Kansas became common, driven by the demand for beef in the East.

Cowboys would drive large herds of cattle over hundreds of miles. These drives were tough, fraught with dangers like stampedes, river crossings, and sometimes hostile encounters with our First Nations people or cattle rustlers.

This era solidified the cowboy’s image: the wide-brimmed hat, boots with spurs, chaps, and the lasso. Their life was one of solitude, self-reliance, and a unique camaraderie formed on the trail.

The invention of barbed wire in the 1870s allowed landowners to fence off their property, which, along with the expansion of railroads, reduced the need for long cattle drives.

The harsh winters of the late 1880s, particularly the Great Die-Up of 1886-1887, where many cattle died in the cold, combined with overgrazing and a saturated beef market, led to a decline in the open range system.

While the long cattle drives ended, ranching did not. Cowboys continued to work on ranches, managing cattle, but now within fenced pastures.

As a Cultural Heritage, the American Cowboy skills turned into sport with the rise of rodeos, which started as informal competitions among cowboys to now being professional sports showcasing roping, riding, and other cowboy skills.

The cowboy became an enduring symbol of American freedom, rugged individualism, and the spirit of the frontier. This image was popularized by literature, Wild West shows (like Buffalo Bill’s), and later by Hollywood.

American cowboys have influenced everything from fashion (denim jeans, cowboy boots) to music (country and western), and their ethos has been romanticized in countless films, books, and songs.

While the romanticized cowboy of media often differs from historical reality, the core values of hard work, independence, and connection to the land remain central to the cowboy identity.

The history of the American cowboy reflects broader themes of American history: exploration, conflict, adaptation, and the mythologizing of the frontier life. Today, while the traditional cowboy lifestyle has largely transformed, the spirit of the cowboy continues to be celebrated and lives on in various forms across the U.S. and beyond.

Are western cowboys are a dying breed?

In the modern world of today, the sentiment that “western cowboys are a dying breed” echoes through various discussions and cultural portrayals, reflecting both a literal and metaphorical decline in the traditional cowboy way of life.

Efforts to preserve cowboy culture are evident in places like Hawaii with the paniolo, where there’s a conscious effort to maintain traditions through generations. This indicates a recognition of the cowboy as not just a job but a cultural heritage worth saving.

The traditional cowboy lifestyle faces economic challenges. Low salaries, the hard nature of the work, and the allure of urban life contribute to fewer young people taking up the mantle. This shift suggests a literal decrease in numbers of those pursuing traditional cowboy work.

In media and literature, like the references from “Longmire,” there’s an artistic acknowledgment of cowboys as a “dying breed,” which serves to romanticize and mourn the perceived decline of this icon of American heritage.

However, not all views are about decline. Some discussions, especially those seen on social media, argue that cowboys are not so much dying out as they are evolving. The spirit of the cowboy, with its associated values of independence, integrity, and connection to the land, persists in modern ranching, rodeo circuits, and even in broader cultural expressions.

The rodeo circuit, ranch work, and even the cultural identity of being a cowboy continue to thrive in certain communities. This suggests that while the traditional image might be less common, adaptations of the cowboy lifestyle are still very much alive.

Public sentiment indicates that there’s a mix of nostalgia, respect for the tradition, and a recognition of the harsh realities facing modern cowboys. There’s an acknowledgment of the decline in traditional terms but also an appreciation for those keeping the spirit alive in contemporary forms.

While the traditional notion of the western cowboy might be seen as diminishing due to cultural, economic, and lifestyle shifts, the essence and modified forms of cowboy culture persist. They adapt rather than disappear, suggesting that the “dying breed” narrative captures a transformation rather than an end. This nuanced perspective reflects both a respect for tradition and an understanding of cultural evolution. As a Cultural Heritage, the American Cowboy may change somewhat, but it won’t soon be passing away.
 

Over the course of this most recent election cycle many may have heard about how Donald Trump has plans to eliminate the Department of Education at the federal level if he were to become President.

I’ve seen quite a bit of back and forth on the internet with those being in favor of eliminating the USDoE, and those in favor of further expanding it’s reach.

The USDoE has been around in some form or the other for a long time and has quite a storied history:

Way back in 1867 the original Department of Education was created under President Andrew Johnson, but it was soon demoted to an office within the Department of the Interior in 1868. Its primary function was to collect information on schools and teaching that would help states establish effective school systems.

The department was originally proposed by Henry Barnard and the then leaders of the National Teachers Association (renamed the National Education Association).

Barnard served as the first commissioner of education but resigned when the office was reconfigured as a bureau in the Department of Interior known as the United States Office of Education due to concerns it would have too much control over local schools.

In 1953, under the Truman administration, the functions of the Office of Education, as it was known to be at the time, were transferred to the newly created Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

In 1972, under the Nixon administration, the Emergency School Aid Act led to the establishment of an Assistant Secretary for Education within HEW, indicating a growing focus on educational policy.

In 1979, under the Carter administration, the Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law, which came into effect in 1980. This act split the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare into two separate entities: the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The new Department of Education was established to help strengthen the federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual. It was also designed to help supplement and/or complement the efforts of states, local school systems, and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private educational institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education.

Shirley Hufstedler became the first Secretary of Education under President Carter.

During the Reagan administration, Ronald Reagan aimed to abolish the Department of Education, seeing it as an overreach of federal government into state affairs, but this effort didn’t succeed due to opposition.

In 2001, under the Bush administration, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was passed, representing a significant expansion of the federal role in education through standards-based education reform.

The Race to the Top initiative under then President Barack Obama, was a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, encouraging states to compete for federal education funding by implementing certain educational reforms.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was also signed by President Obama in 2015, this law replaced NCLB, giving states more flexibility in determining school accountability systems.

The role of the Department of Education has always been a contentious one. Critics argue it represents federal overreach into what should be state and local matters, while proponents see it as vital for ensuring educational equity and standards across diverse states.

There have been ongoing debates about its effectiveness, the bureaucracy it has created or otherwise might create further on down the road, and whether education policy should be more localized.

As of 2024, the Department of Education oversees federal assistance to education, distributes funds, enforces federal educational laws regarding privacy and civil rights, and aims to ensure equal access to education.

Because of the overwhelming amount of bureaucracy the USDoE has accumulated over the years, the specifics of its policies and initiatives remain somewhat unclear and are pretty much left to the wind as each administration that comes along tries to mold it into what it might think is best for them and their respective ideologies.

Regardless of whether or not Donald Trump becomes President, I can see somewhere down the road where the USDoE might eventually come up against the June SCOTUS Chevron ruling in some fashion, thus curtailing somewhat the tremendous bureaucratic expansion the department has seen over the past 50 or so some odd years. When you look at the history of the U.S. Department of Education, one might come away with notion that it just might need to be scaled back a bit.