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California gold rush economic impact
Introduction to the california gold rush
The gold rush and its effects on the california environment
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The news did spread, and with the news began the California Gold Rush. The California Star newspaper was the first to report on the discovery of gold in the Sacramento valley of California. Of course, California was the place to know, but the news of the gold discovery took a long time to spread. This delay was due to two reasons; the discovery of gold excited the Californians so much that everyone just up and left what they were doing; ships were abandoned, bustling towns became ghost towns, and homes were left behind completely untouched. Nearly the whole population had gone to the mines. “The whole country from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and from the seashore to the base of the Sierra Nevada, resounds to the sordid cry of gold! Gold!!
On January 24, 1848, Gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill In Coloma California. This discovery, immediately spread around the globe. People from all different parts of the world came to California. People called it the place for a new beginning. California quickly became the most popular state in the United States. Even immigrants from Asia and Europe were coming to California just to get their hands on this precious gold. This also greatly affected the United States as we know it today.
John Augustus Sutter was born in Baden, Switzerland on the 15th of February in 1803. Sutter is the reason for the California Gold Rush that began in 1848. Sutter had a fort called “New Helvetia” beginning in 1842 that ended quickly in 1844. A man named James Wilson Marshall was planning to build John Sutter a water-powered sawmill, when he came across flakes of gold in the American River near Coloma, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This Discovery happened on January 24th in 1848 causing the town to have no till afterwards. Once the discovery got out it was soon the center for merchants and miners. In John Sutter’s earlier years, he claimed to have had a military background being a captain in the Royal Swiss Guard to the French King.
Three pieces of evidence from the text that shows the motivation behind the “gold fever” is that at the time many Americans were earning low wages or either had no work. This means that people with a job or that earned a little bit of money wanted to find gold to be kind of rich. Another piece of evidence that I found was that people were rushing to the grocers, hardware merchants, and the clothiers. This means that the people wanted to get ready to go find gold, so they went to different shops to go get stuff like materials like footwear, gold pans, buckets, and more items. The thing that gave the people a reason to travel to Alaska in search of fortune is that when
The American West was the land of opportunity for many groups of people from 1865 to 1890. For farmers and ranchers, the American west was a land of opportunity due to low cost of land as a result of the Homestead Act and the a chance for Americans, including immigrants and blacks, to achieve the American dream and make a profit by growing crops such as cotton for the thriving textile industry and raising cattle for the upcoming cattle industry. For the miners, the American West was seen as an opportunity to get rich through the gold and silver rush and was even popular in other parts of the world where immigrants responded to the rush as well; although most were not successful. The America West offered opportunities for Americans, both rich and poor, to establish a new life and achieve economic independence.
To justify their opposition to adding new slave states, they pointed to the statements of Washington and Jefferson, and to the Ordinance of 1787, which forbade the extension of slavery into the Northwest. Texas, which already permitted slavery, naturally entered the Union as a slave state. But the California, New Mexico, and Utah territories did not have slavery. From the beginning, there were strongly conflicting opinions on whether they should. The discovery of gold in California January of 1848 drew thousands to the territory.
The government participated in a great "push" to get its citizens to move to west. At first few people moved to the west, but this changed when gold was discovered in California in 1848. This caused a "gold rush" to the west coast which consisted of many prospectors seeking to find their fortunes in the gold mines of California. Many traveled to the west coast, however few actually found their fortunes.
The Pikes Peak Gold Rush took place between July of 1858 and February of 1861. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush was later to be named the Colorado Gold Rush due to its location. It was only the start of the mining industry. Thousands of people took place in mining, those of which were called the “fifty-niners.” William G. Russell was the leader of the expedition to the Rockies. He was married to a Cherokee Indian, which is how he heard of the gold findings in 1849. Based on the rumors of the gold that was being found in Pikes Peak, Russell organized a group including his two brothers and six companions to seek the gold. After doing so, the discovery of gold findings by the prospectors in 1858 sprung up a boom. Once the news of the gold discoveries
The economy would also blossom during this expansion. First, the Manifest Destiny included extremely inexpensive land for sale in the west. In some cases it was free since it was government land, and they passed things like the Homestead Act to encourage westward settlements. With so many people taking part in horizontal mobility by moving west, it gave the economy a chance to expand commerce. We would do this by building ports and increasing trade with countries in the Pacific. The economy also got a kick when there were gold or silver rushes in the west. These occurred in Denver, Colorado (1859), Virginia City, Nevada (1859), Last Chance Gulch (1861), and in the Black Hills of the Dakotas (1875). All of these sporadic improvements of the economy helped us grow into a big super power.New inspirations entered the art world at this time too. Many artists tried to capture the image of Manifest Destiny by illustrating families traveling west.
What do you think of when you hear the term “Gold Rush”? The 1849 gold rush in California?
This mass rush of people all started in the summer of 1897; George Carmack was back from the Klondike with the gold he discovered in the summer of 1896 (SV; SV) (“The Klondike Gold Rush”). There was another ship, named Excelsior, which docked in San Francisco it also brought another miner and their riches from the Klondike (Stefoff). After the ships docked in Seattle and San Francisco, the word was out. “Even in those pre-Twitter days, word spreads fast.” (Martel). Thanks to the telegraph and many newspapers the gold rush drew many people looking for instant wealth (Stefoff). Once the people heard these telegraphs or saw the newspapers the prospectors were off to the Klondike (Glasner). The newspapers wrote an article on the boats coming to town saying “ A Ton of Gold from the Fabulous Klondike” Actually it was closer to two tons (Wharton).
There have been many discoveries that have shaped our nation as a whole. Discoveries have allowed our country to thrive and become one of the most powerful nations in the world. When we look back at our nation's rich history, it is clear to see that there was one discovery in particular that had a vast impact on the United States; the discovery was gold in California. It was in this vastly unoccupied territory that the American dream was forever changed and California emerged as a powerful state busting at the seams. The California Gold Rush shaped California into the state that it is today. California is defined by its promise of entrepreneurial success and its acceptance and encouragement of obtaining the American Dream.
Also Article 9 was weakened, these actions created an anti- Mexican atmosphere that violated their civil rights. In the state of Texas, Mexicans were not allow to vote, in New Mexico, Mexicans were victims of violence, while in California laws against them were passed. In the article Origins of anti-Mexican Sentiment, Raymond A. Paredes describes and traces the roots of the discrimination experience by the Mexican community in the United States. In the article he proposes that the anti-Mexican sentiment was born in Europe as the result of political and religious conflict. The conflict between Spain with the Catholic Church and England as Protestants, the results a powerful anti-Spanish sentiment and fear. The anti-Spanish and anti-Catholic sentiment transcended into the anti-Mexican sentiment, it was the reason that justified the reason of the abuses and racism. Besides the abuses from the American society towards Mexican Americans, they were taking over their lands, the discovery of gold in the Sierra Nevada of California in 1849 and the copper mining in Arizona. The industrial evolution and a promise of a bright future was in the south west for the Americans, but for Mexican Americans was not the same, they were work
The California Gold Rush in 1849 was the catalyst event for the state that earned them a spot in the U.S. union in 1850. This was not the first gold rush in North America; however, it was one of the most important gold rush events. The story of how the gold was discovered and the stories of the 49ers are well known. Men leaving their families in the East and heading West in hopes of striking it rich are the stories that most of us heard about when we learn about the California Gold Rush. Professors and scholars over the last two decades from various fields of study have taken a deeper look into the Gold Rush phenomena. When California joined the Union in 1850 it helped the U.S. expand westward just as most Americans had intended to do. The event of the Gold Rush can be viewed as important because it led to a national railroad. It also provided the correct circumstances for successful entrepreneurship, capitalism, and the development modern industrialization. The event also had a major influence on agriculture, economics, and politics.
The Gold Rush was one of the most influential times in California History. During the four years from 1848-1852, 400,000 new people flooded into the state. People from many countries and social classes moved to California, and many of them settled in San Francisco. All this diversity in one place created a very interesting dynamic. California during the Gold Rush, was a place of colliding ideals. The 49ers came from a very structured kind of life to a place where one was free to make up her own rules.
California started its statehood unlike any other state before or after it succession. California entered the nation as a free state in 1950, during the time of the Gold Rush. From the Gold Rush came the term “California Dream” which is the “psychological motivation to gain fast wealth or fame in a new land” (Manhattan-Institute.org). From the time of the Gold Rush up until recent years, California has been associated with obtaining fast wealth and fame. This encouraged people from all over the world to come to California in hopes of striking it rich, just as people continued to do up until the 90's. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 immensely accelerated certain changes that had been in the making for decades. For instance, California was already filled with different races and cultures, but when the Gold Rush struck, California became an international frontier where people from every continent were joining together. “California also set an important precedent for civil societies with diverse populations” (page 121). By 1850, California was flooded with over 300,000 people seeking gold. The fact that California has always attracted so many different people has created a land filled with many languages, cultures, and social customs. “The arrival and departure of thousan...