In the fall of 1848, James Marshall made a discovery that would impact, not only the United States California
- People from different nationalities traveled to
California - How did the Gold Rush helped/benefit
California
1. People of many nationalities traveled to California in search for gold. What were the hardships they experienced? How were they treated?
ReplyDeleteThe thought of becoming rich brought many foreigners to America, but it certainly was no picnic for them. The foreigners who have gone to California to strike it rich endured many difficulties, almost offsetting the benefits of the Gold Rush. In the text, it states “The presence of peoples from around the world shattered the Anglo-American dream of a racially and ethnically homogenous West…In their eyes, no “foreigner” had a right to dig for gold”( pg.422) showing that foreigners to an Anglo-American were a big no-no. To drive them away, the California legislature passed the Foreign Miner’s Tax Law, bombarding the foreigners with high taxes. Some immigrants who persisted were even executed. The life of an immigrant was even more challenging if you were Chinese, Amerindian, or Californios. The Chinese were treated as blacks and Amerindians: segregated and with limited rights, as well as encountering a great deal of violence. Native Californians, Californios, were treated as foreigners and shooed away. In the passage, it says “Numbering 150,000 in 1848, the Indian population of California fell to 25,000 in 1856. Californios exploited native peoples, but the forty-niners wanted to eradicate them. Starvation, disease, and a declining birthrate took a heavy toll. Indians also fell to murder.” (pg.433) which demonstrates that the Gold Rush made the Indians life worse than before.
2.How did the Gold Rush help/benefit California State?
Although there were many problems that came up during the Gold Rush, it still benefited California. The forty-niners or gold-seekers accumulated “…81 million ounces of gold, nearly half of the world’s production.” (pg.423) It also brought many hard workers to America as shown here: “Ninety percent of the Central Pacific Railroad’s 10,000 workers were Chinese. The Chinese also made up nearly half of San Francisco’s labor force, working in the shoe, tobacco, woolen, laundry and sewing trades.”. And although the Anglo-Americans didn’t like foreigners in their work force, “…fearing that it would undercut white labor and drive it from the country”, there was at least a lot more workers increasing production in America and there weren’t any labor shortages.
1.When gold discovery was publicly out, newspapers went crazy with stories how much gold is available in California. People came from different corners of the world with hope to get reach. History tells us local people heard many languages on the streets. In small town you can hear English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Kanaka, Asian Indian, and American Indian Languages. History says “In 1850, the California legislature passed the Foreign Miners’ Tax Law, which levied high taxes on non-Americans to drive them from goldfields. We can only imagine that hard time came.
ReplyDelete2. Because of this huge crowd from other countries California state become growing. People came to find gold, they work hard, they they invested right away. California becomes a big center. Manufacturing was growing more people arrived, new cities, roads, industry was developed.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. The California legislature passed the Foreign Miner's Tax Law which put high taxes on non-Americans to drive them from the goldfields. The Chinese were segregated and made ineligible for citizenship and denied public education and the right to testify in court, as were Indians and blacks. Americans took the Californios land even though the US government had pledged to protect their land titles. Native Americans in my opinion suffered the most. The population fell due to starvation, disease and even murder. To survive they had to move to remote areas of the state.
ReplyDelete2. The obvious benefit was wealth even though only a few 'struck it rich'. Mining operations became larger, however, as a result the individual miner's opportunities decreased forcing them to take up farming, open small businesses or to work for the corporations that forced them out. I would say population growth, however, I don't know that it was considered a benefit due to the fact that foreigners weren't exactly welcomed. I would agree with Maryann when she says that it brought more workers, increasing production in America.