Edwar Pino HIST-2112 10/11/2011 Assignment #1 A Biography of America #16 “The West” This video starts out by telling us that America was an expanding empire in which government did not spend money, but it spend what it had the most of, land. Therefore, between 1860 and 1900 the government transformed land much more quickly than ever before, but most of the land that the government gave away ended up in the hands of a wealthy few. Thousands of Americans and immigrants shared Henry David Thoreau’s dream of finding freedom by heading west. In 1849, thinking of joining the East and West, a politician named William Gilpin told a mass meeting in Independence, Missouri, that the East should no longer hold the West in bondage. He stated,
Nevada became a popular gold digging location after the Comstock Lode had been uncovered and 340 million dollars worth of gold and silver had been found. Small findings of gold occurred in parts of Montana, Idaho and other western states that led to huge groups of gold lusting men and women. This want for gold eventually led to numerous Boomtowns showing up all over the place. These Boomtowns grew very quickly with almost every few buildings being a saloon. After the “easy to find” gold was gone mining operations were set up all over the West.
The California Dream Ever since the discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, began for over a span of 7 years the California Gold Rush. Those seeking freedom from the Midwest and East coast packed up their belongings and brought with them their families to California. Considered as a land wild and raw, California offered to thrill-seekers excitement, adrenaline and the promise that California could and would bring to one the wealth, success, and fortune one wished and sought. Though with more and more migrants and immigrants alike coming to California, the accessibility to one’s own “California dream” became more difficult to achieve. Even though the success rates in California are no longer booming nowadays as it was during the turn of
News of gold spread very quickly. An old mountain trader named John Cantrell found a sack full of gold and spread news to Kansas City, Missouri of the event and other traders brought the news to New Mexico, Fort Laramie, and Kansas. Within a short amount of time before winter arrived, Cherry Creek had gained about one hundred new people. The first arrival of gold was on August 26, 1858, which had poor people sweeping in from Kansas City, Lawrence, St. Louis, Omaha and Leavenworth to jump on the chance of changing their
A town born in a mining boom at Pikes Peak in 1858, Denver was to become an unlikely thriving metropolis by the end of the nineteenth century. What now is the capital and largest city in Colorado had the humblest of origins. General William Larimer, a land speculator from eastern Kansas, hadn’t the slightest idea of the chain reaction he put into motion when he discovered gold along the South Platte River. The Pikes Peak Gold Rush brought thousands to Colorado for instant riches. Although, scattered camps of miners settled throughout the Rockies and did not congregate in a high concentration in any particular area.
Most Americans thought building such a railroad was an impossible feat because of the enormous distance to be covered, and especially the incredible amount of money required for the daring project. Soon, Congress authorized its first federal grant, which consisted of public land to help promote and finance railroad development. More grants to the railroads were brought up throughout the decade, but the greatest land grant was the result of the Pacific Railroad act of 1862. The increase in railroad production changed the United States, aiding in making it the industrial nation it is today. As the leading method in the transporting of people and products, railroads were indispensable to American industry.
Because Chinese immigrants came to America in large numbers during the 1848 California Gold Rush and in the 1860s when the Central Pacific Railroad recruited large labor groups to build its portion of the transcontinental railroad. In the past, the immigration to America was not a major factor in the American life. But then, they realized that the immigrations can cause and changed the life of Americans and they started to pay attention about
The social economic impact brought many settlers to the northern part of California, and the discovery of “gold” brought on the American conquest in 1848. According to text; The Devil in Silicon Valley, Arthur Stephen Pitti discuses on page 32-33, how the discovery of gold in Northern California brought many settlers; as well as many immigrates, to this state right after the war. Before the California Gold Rush; “165,000 people lived in California and the vast majority of them (150,00 were Indians)”; and in 1848 a big demographic and economic change accord which was brought on by the gold rush. The discovery of gold by James Marshall, “would leak out, and the rush to California was on.” Stephen Pitti best describes it best, “As battle smoke cleared and the ink dried on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, many of the Americans who flooded into the state anticipated the sharp decline of Mexican Americans’ cultural and political influence. While more distant Southern California towns such as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego certainly experienced tumult as a result of the mineral discoveries in the Northern California foothills and many more gold-seekers passed through the San Francisco Bay area, including San Jose, on the way to the Mother Lode.” The
Covered in Gold As the United States was rapidly expanding during the 1900’s following the Civil War, government started to take a commanding role while attempting to fix many problems that were going on at the time. One of which was how to solve the Native American problem. Many people perceive the encounters throughout history with Native Americans to be peaceful and welcoming, what really happened was completely opposite. Many of the encounters that happened resulted in gruesome deaths, brutal fighting and numerous attacks (Dunn JR., 62). All of this leads to the mistreatment of the Native Americans.
In 1849, the California Gold Rush exponentially populated Northern California. Once this happened, immigrants began to outnumber the U.S. citizens. Since the immigrants were more willing to work for a cheaper cost, they began to take many of the jobs. Also, California unanimously rejected slavery and petitioned to become part of