The expansion and settlement in the western part of United States of America is as a result of the discovery of gold in the newly possessed Mexican Cession. The discovery of gold in California is attributed to the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) whose genesis was the scramble for territorial dominion between the U.S. and Mexico. This war was brought to a peaceful end by the signing of the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty in February 1848 that saw River Rio Grande mark the border between America and Mexico ( Smithsonian American Art Museum, n.d). Both countries had no idea, by then, that the signing of the treaty meant to spur America’s rising wealth and prestige through the fortune of gold in the rivers and streams of California. This war was nothing about gold but only about territory and border. The sparsely inhabited, semi-arid wilderness of California would turn out to be a gold-rich field that would attract multitudes from across the world. This Mexican-American war contributed in part the California Gold Rush which in turn contributed to the American westward expansion. This paper, therefore, examines how California gold rush contributed to the American westward expansion in that era of gold.
Events that led to the Discovery
In order to better understand the culmination of California gold rush, it is important to consider the events that led to the discovery. The crisis that had earlier started came to its peak in 1836 during the battle of San Jacinto which the Texans Army triumphed over the Mexican forces leading to the declaration of the independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico. However, Mexico failed to recognize this victory and threatened to declare a war with the US in the event the US made Texas part of itself. After Texas voluntarily offering to join the US to become its 28th state in 1845, Mexico went forth to declare a war that was referred to as the Mexican-American War (Cushing, 1920). Later after 2 years of continuous conflict, the US won the battle leading to the US’ occupation of the Mexican cession, a new region that comprised of modern-day California, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. This victory was significant in the history of the US as a transcontinental and Expansionist Empire as well as a factor that shaped the current American land as one nation.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Discovery and the Hunt for Gold
Gold was first discovered in California's South Fork American River in January 1848 by James Marshall, who worked in Sutter’s Mill as a carpenter and sawmill operator. Marshall spotted a shiny nugget of gold at the bed of the river one early morning during his routine checks of the water-powered sawmill. After picking, examining and identifying it as gold, he took the news to his master, Sutter, to confirm the discovery. Despite Sutter confiding in his workers not to share out the news, within a few months the news was everywhere and the gold rush kicked on. Men from across the country such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sierra Nevada, and so on left their cities for the Sierra Nevada to search for gold (Charles, 1922). All workers who served at Sutter’s sawmill left their jobs and sought their fortunes in the streams and rivers. Male bankers, lawyers, and doctors from the East Coast upon receiving the news, they abandoned their professions and migrated to the west in search of the gold. Schools, ships, families, shops, police camps etc. were all deserted as the people moved westwards in response to this gold wave. The largest influx took place in 1849 even as news penetrated farther across the world and as a result, those who moved westwards in search of gold were referred to as forty-niners, for they arrived in the year 1849 ( Getchell, n.d). Fortune seekers used all routes possible to access the port city of San Francisco.
The highly dedicated fortune seekers were met by different plagues as they traced their way to the gold mines including attacks from hostile natives, attacks from wild animals, diseases such as pneumonia and cholera, loss of belongings, exhaustion, harsh weather conditions such as thunder, scorching heat, dust and high waves, and lack of fresh food. These conditions, however, did not stop people from moving westwards. The city of San Francisco registered a sharp population increase in 1849 from 812 to 20,000 which in turn translated to rocketing land prices from $16 in 1847 to $45,000 in 1849 ( Smithsonian American Art Museum, n.d). The cost of living went high as the prices of goods increased steadily. Business entrepreneurs found bigger financial success through the sale of products and services to gold miners than those people who sought for gold. The gold rush presented highly profitable opportunities more for women who earned wages that marched the earnings of a congressman for serving as domestic workers helping in cooking, clothes washing and ironing (Taniguchi, 2000).
The California gold rush was historically and culturally important as the source produced huge quantities of gold yearly that translated to enormous sums of money in return. This huge revenue generation led to massive expansion, development, and settlement in the western part of the US. On average, the gold rush saw the number of settlers from across the world including countries as far as China and Australia rise from 2,700 in 1847 to 300,000 by 1854 (Clay & Jones, 2008). The increased need for traveling of fortune seekers and transportation of the materials necessitated the construction of a transcontinental railway and other infrastructure. The western part of the acquired land would not have sparked any much interest from settlers and merchants due to its semi-aridness were it not for the discovery of gold. Many people who wished to own land opted for Oregon in pursuit of their farming interests due to its fertility while California’s only source of attraction was the gold discovery. For this reason, the expansion, development, and settlement in the west were greatly owed to the discovery of gold which many people saw as an opportunity to acquire wealth and prosperity. It was the gold discovery that initiated further speculation in the West thus leading to the discovery of other mineral elements in such areas as Pikes Peak in Colorado and Tombstone in Arizona.
References
Charles, J. P. (1922). Gold discovery in California. Annual Publication Of The Historical Society Of Southern California , (2), 18-25. doi:10.2307/41168794
Clay, K., & Jones, R. (2008). Migrating to riches? Evidence from the California gold rush. The Journal of Economic History , 68 (04), 997-1027. doi:10.1017/s002205070800079x
Cushing, C. S. (1920). The acquisition of California, its influence and development under American rule. California Law Review , 8 (2), 67. doi:10.2307/3474451
Smithsonian American Art Museum (n.d). The Gold Rush and Westward Expansion. Retrieved from http://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/The-Gold-Rush-and-Westward-Expansion.pdf
Getchell, M. (n.d). The Gold Rush. Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-gilded-age/american-west/a/the-gold-rush
Taniguchi, N. J. (2000). Weaving a different world: Women and the California gold rush. California History , 79 (2), 141-168. doi:10.2307/25463691
