Transcript The California Gold Rush and Manifest Destiny

The California Gold Rush and
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny
• Literally means “obvious fate”
• Coined in 1845 by John O’Sullivan, a
New York newspaperman. He wrote that
it was America’s “manifest destiny to
overspread and to possess the whole of
the continent.”
• However, In 1845, Oregon territory,
California, and Texas, were not yet part
of the United States!
California before the Gold Rush
• Settled mostly by Native Americans and
Californios (Mexicans living in California)
• At the end of the war, the United States
acquired California through the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo after they won the
Mexican-American War
Gold is discovered
On January 24, 1848 James W. Marshall
found gold along the American River.
• Marshall quietly brought what he found to his
boss, John Sutter.
• Sutter was dismayed by this, and wanted to keep
the news quiet because he feared what would happen
to his plans for an agricultural empire if there were
a gold rush.
• Rumors spread anyway, and soon thousands
made their way to California to get rich quickly.
The World Rushes In
• By 1849, tens of thousands of gold
seekers from around the world had
joined the California gold rush
• 2/3 were Americans
• The rest came from Mexico, South
America, Europe, Australia, and China
49er?
The real 49ers
• Most were young men
• Spent long days digging up mud, dirt,
and stones while standing knee-deep in
icy streams
• Most originally wanted to return home,
but many ended up staying in California
The Effects of the California
Gold Rush
• San Francisco and Sacramento grew
from small settlements to boomtowns,
and roads, churches, schools and other
towns were built throughout California.
• A system of laws and a government
were created, leading to the admission
of California as a free state in 1850.
California’s Native Americans
• Between 1848 and 1870, warfare and
disease reduced their number from
about 150,000 to just 30,000