What effects did the discovery of Gold have on California and the USA? The Gold Rush changed almost every aspect of California and the USA for better and for worse. The majority of people that came to California were brave souls willing to trek mostly uncharted territory, but now the Gold Rush attracted many people from other parts of the world. Towards the beginning the early settlers received the best luck in finding gold and unfortunately, those who came later had a much harder time finding free space to mine and pan along with any gold left to collect. This extreme rush of money not only inspired people from all around the world to come to California, but also invited many businesses.
The Gold Rush started at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma. California Gold Rush was during 1848–49 in the Sierra Nevada, which attracted tens of thousands people, especially young men from Latin America, Europe, South Africa and Asia. No part of California would be the same after the gold rush. Throughout the gold rush, people moving to California from abroad have added to the size of the native population and have greatly impacted the state’s technology, agriculture, geographic and economic structure. The sudden diversity in California gave people both acceptable and unacceptable effects in terms of opportunity, development, racism and human right.
In the early years of the gold rush, NSW and Victoria were the gold attracting places in Australia and attracted a lot of diggers. A lot of people came for gold for many different reasons such as, to make money and have a new life in Australia others came to find gold and return back to there countries and use the money from the gold for their farms and families. Most migrants came from the United Kingdom, less than 15,000 migrants came from European countries. The people that migrated to Australia didn’t all get along, they were all searching for the same thing and digging for gold some of them fought each other for being in the same area that they were digging in and others stole from each other for the gold. There were thousands of people digging for gold so it was very crowded and people were angry and frustrated and annoyed, some people ended up rich and others didn’t find anything.
(2b) The Great Plains was a good place to find great land. People were going west so they can get rich and own many things. (oi) People were trying to get land so they can start a new house with their new families. (oi) The struggle of traveling west to discover gold, silver, copper and land was called the California gold rush. (oi) One big reason many people were moving west was to be able to live with the Homestead Act.
The discovery and exploration of the Americas led to an initially slow but exponentially increasing westward migration by European countries. Among all the countries were England and Spain who colonized the majority of what is now the United States Eastern Coast. Both intrigued by the rumors and stories of gold and riches that beset the new lands they each did their part in western colonization; and not without reciprocal influence. Initial English colonies were established not only with cliché intentions of religious freedom but also with hopes of new economic expansion through agriculture as well as tactical, advantageous military purposes in the ever-present conflict with Spain. Mainly all original westward exploration was due to desires for gold and riches and in the case of the English this was no exception.
No single reason explains this vast westward movement; a variety of motives contributed to it. The biggest push factor for the migrants was living space. In the mid-nineteenth century, the states of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee had experiences two- and threefold population increases. Many of the people living in these areas began to feel hemmed in by neighbors living a mile or two away. Some believed that Oregon would offer them a better life, a place where they could make their fortune.
The Way West Beginning in the early 1800’s, Americans began to look west. The start of the first railroads to the Pacific began and the path was anything but easy to navigate. The draw for expanding the railroad was not only the ability to travel faster and move goods throughout the country, but the railroad also gave people a sense of freedom to move about the lands of this vast country. With the larger populations of cities like New York and Boston building up and becoming more heavily crowded, many people were searching for a way to move outward where there was more space and more freedoms including mining, farming, and natural resources. Before the railroad, the only means of travel was by wagon, horseback, or boat.
Despite having to pick up their life and leave, the immigrants came in by millions to the United States in the late 19th century and 21st century to build better lives for their families economically, religiously, and educationally. In the 19th century, the United States was an economic boom. Many Chinese came to America for the gold rush in California. They did not believe America was a new home, but a place to work and return to their families rich. Many were turned down at an immigration station: Angel Island, while others were pushed out of finding gold and forced to work degrading jobs.
In the beginning, the author explains how the first big rush of people was caused by the gold rush in 1949. Many people came to California thinking they would strike it rich quick and easy. That was not the case at all; the gold was hard to get to and by the time people started migrating to California, there were already thousands of miners there, so the profit was diminishing greatly. “Despair, isolation, and disillusionment arise out of the newcomer’s experience, turning would-be dreamers into butter antagonists who denounce the false promises of the California dream.” (Rawls 25). This quote says that many people lied about California to encourage others to go to California.
Our biggest indicator of the Native American’s true testimony were the many forms of resistance. During the Gold Rush, California was flooded with a new population, the “49ers”. Men (mostly) came from all over the United States, the rest of the world soon followed. The 49ers came in search of gold, but since many of them didn’t find this fortune, what made them stay? It’s not like they could get on a jet and fly back to the east coast.