Gun, Horse

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Gun, Horse Horizon

• Legacy of the American Frontier

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The Frontier

• A border between the known and unknown
• Physical barriers Appalachian Mountains,
• Mississippi River, Great Plains, Great American
  Desert
• Border between the the civilized and the
  wilderness
• Border between European and Native civilizations
• Border between the old, accepted, traditional and
  the new, revolutionary, alternative

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Individual Freedom

• No social control---church nor state
• Endless space---escape control (law)
• Few people per square mile---lack of community
• Emigrants---be free of your past
• Live how you want if you can---self reliance
• Dont bother others, they dont bother you

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Resourcefulness

• Must be creative to survive in the wilderness
• Every problem has an answer---can do spirit
• Rely on yourself---nobody will interfere in your
  life
• Survival is self-reliance, success is optimism
  and creativity
• Never give up

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Equality

• Everybody equal in the wilderness
• What you can do is more important than who
  you are
• Equal chances in nature to survive and
  succeed---difference only in ability
• Virgin land---no tradition, no custom, no rank
• Present is more important than the past

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The Pioneer

• Search for the new---die to the old
• Movement is holy---keep moving---to stop is to
  die (strangers on this earth)
• Travel light possessions hold you back
• Life is a quest to find a new home
• Get there first---man on the moon
• Overcome boundaries---let nothing hold you back

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Nebraska---Bruce Springsteen

• I saw her standin on her front lawn just
  twirlin her baton.
• Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent
  people died.
• From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska with a sawed
  off .410 on my lap.
• Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed
  everything in my path.

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Nebraska---Bruce Springsteen

• I cant say that Im sorry for the things we
  done.
• At least for a little while sir me and her we had
  us some fun.
• The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the
  judge he sentenced me to death.
• Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather
  straps across my chest.

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Nebraska---Bruce Springsteen

• Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and
  snaps my poor head back.
• You make sure my pretty baby is sittin right
  there on my lap.
• They declared me unfit to live said into that
  great void my sould be hurled.
• They wanted to know why I did what I did.
• Well sir I guess theres just a meanness in this
  world.