Question of the Day

Did You Know?The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache.

The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

1. What do you think this song is about, or what do you think is the story behind the song?

2. What overall impression do you have about the song?

3. What lyrics in the song ‘stick out’, or tell you something?

Do You Know?… What comic strip did Jim Davis launch in 1978?

Garfield

The Days of 49 by Bob Dylan

The Gold RushThe Gold RushEssential Questions:1.What are the events that started the Gold Rush?2.How did the Gold Rush impact cities?3.Who were the Forty ‘Niners?4.How did the Gold Rush impact Native American cultures?5.What are the immediate and long term effects of the Gold Rush?

HistoryHistory Started at Sutter's Mill on

January 24, 1848

James Marshall, a workman for John Sutter, found pieces of shiny metal along the American River

Rumors soon started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by a San Francisco newspaper

On December 5th, President James Polk confirmed the discovery of gold

Immigrants from around the world invaded California

San FranciscoSan Francisco When residents learned of the

discovery, it became a ghost town of abandoned ships and businesses

The population of San Francisco exploded:◦ 1848 their were 1,000 people◦ 1850 there were 25,000 people

Strained the infrastructure of the city

Ships arrived with goods from around the world◦ Ship captains found their crews

deserted as they went to the gold fields

The Forty NinersThe Forty Niners The first to rush to the gold fields

(1849)◦ They were families & everyone

helped◦ Some families set up boarding

houses to accommodate the influx

Largest group of ‘49ers were Americans◦ 90,000 people arrived in 1849◦ 50,000 to 60,000 were Americans

Soon word of the Gold Rush had spread◦ Gold-seekers and merchants arrived

from virtually every continent

By 1855, at least 300,000 gold-seekers, merchants, and other immigrants had arrived in California

Collision of CulturesCollision of Cultures Gold became less

plentiful, and resentment towards foreigners grew

Foreign Miners Tax (1850)◦ $20 per month tax on

every foreign miner◦ Many foreign miners

refused to pay the tax and left the country

◦ Others, like the Chinese, stayed in mining or other city jobs

Native Americans, not interested in gold were almost annihilated

Costs of the Gold RushCosts of the Gold Rush The Human cost:

◦ Native Americans became the victims of disease, starvation, and attacks

◦ 1845 the Native American population was about 150,000

◦ 1870 it was 30,000◦ Laws and taxes sought to

drive out other immigrants

The Environmental cost:◦ Gravel, silt, and chemicals

killed fish and destroyed the environment

Immediate EffectsImmediate Effects During the Gold Rush:

◦ Towns and cities were chartered◦ California became a state in Sept.

1850

Improvements in transportation between California and the East Coast◦ In 1855 the Panama Railway,

spanning the Isthmus of Panama, was finished

◦ In 1863, the Transcontinental Railroad started construction in Sacramento

The Gold Rush propelled California from a little-known territory to a center of the global imagination

Long Term EffectsLong Term Effects California was perceived as a place

of new beginnings, where great wealth could reward hard work and good luck

The California Dream spread to the rest of the United States

It became part of the new "American Dream"◦ “The new dream was the dream of

instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck.”

Generations of immigrants have been attracted by the California Dream

California:◦ Gold Rush images are on the State

Seal◦ The California state motto is "Eureka"◦ State nickname is the "The Golden

State”