Transcript Southern Colonies

New Settlers in
California and Utah
Chapter 12, Lesson 4
► On
Prologue
January 24, 1848, while working for
John Sutter, James Marshal discovers shiny
material in a ditch.
 Sutter determined that it was gold.
 Sutter attempted to keep it secret but everyone
soon found out.
► This
leads to the great California Gold Rush.
California Gold Rush
Many people made their way to California to find riches.
 Over 80,000 came looking for gold in 1849 alone.
► Those who arrived in 1849 became known as the forty-niners.
 A Monterey official said…
“the farmers have thrown aside their plows, the lawyers their briefs, the
doctors their pills, and the priests their prayer books, and all are now
digging gold.”
 By the end of 1848, they had taken $6 million in gold from the
American River.
► Many came to California by sea or traveling overland through the Oregon
Trail or the Santa Fe Trail, then pushing through California’s Sierra Nevada
mountain range.
► Americans were roughly 80% of the forty-niners.
► Others came from Mexico South America, Europe, and Australia.
 300 arrived from China, becoming the largest group of Asian
immigrants to come to America.
► Some returned to China, but the other remained, establishing
California’s Chinese American community.
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The Californios
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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – Ended the war with
Mexico and made Californios (Hispanic Californians)
citizens of the U.S.
 Also guaranteed rights to their lands but would soon be weakened.
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The Land Law of 1851 – sets up a group of people to
review the Californio’s land rights.
 They essentially had to prove what land they owned.
 When a new settler claimed the right’s to a Californio’s land it was
disputed in court.
► Some
got their land back, others did not.
Life in California
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As people arrived to a new area to look for gold they built
new communities, often overnight, known as
boomtowns.
 Only two houses existed on the Yuba River in September 1849,
until a miner arrived the next year to find a town of 1,000 people,
bringing with him hotels, stores, groceries, bakeries, and gambling
houses.
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These towns received colorful names like Shinbone and You Bet.
People arriving by ship helped San Francisco grow from a
tiny village to a city of about 20,000 people.
Most of the hopeful forty-niners had no idea how to even
mine.
 Went from one hillside to another using pickaxes and shovels
 Spent countless hours bent over streambeds “washing” or
“panning” the water for gold dust or nuggets.
Life in California
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The California Gold Rush more than doubled the world’s
supply of gold.
 For all their efforts, few of the forty-niners had lasting wealth.
Most of the miners never found little to no gold.
► The others gambled away or spent all that they had.
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Merchants made huge profits.
 They could charge as much as they liked since they were the only
places to get certain materials from.
 Eggs were sold for $10 a dozen.
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Levi Strauss – Jewish man who sold sturdy pants to
miners made out of denim.
 His “Levi’s” made him rich.
Gold Rush Society
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Few women lived in mining camps, mostly populated by
men of all races and walks of life.
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Lonely and suffering from the hardships of mining, men spent their
time fighting, gambling, and drinking.
These towns had no police or prisons and lawbreakers posed a serious
threat to business and owners and miners.
Some citizens formed vigilance committees.
 Vigilantes – People who take the law into their own hands, acting
as police, judge, jury, and executioner.
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Economic and Political Progress
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The Gold Rush ended after a few years but had lasting
effects on California’s economy.
 Agriculture, shipping, and trade expanded to meet the miner’ needs
for food and other goods.
 Many of those who sought gold remained either running a business
or working on a farm.
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California’s population went from 20,000 in 1848 to more
than 220,000 only four years later.
 This growth resulted in the need for a more effective government.
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Zachary Taylor the Mexican War Hero ( and now president)
urged the people of California to apply for statehood.
 In 1849, they choose representatives to write a state constitution.
 One approved, they followed by electing a governor and state
legislators .
 They applied for Statehood in 1850, but it caused a crisis for
banning slavery in their constitution.
Economic and Political Progress
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The South objected to California becoming a state because
it would upset the balance between slave states and free
states.
 It did not become a state until Congress worked out a compromise
six months later.
A Religious Refuge in Utah
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A visitor to the Utah Territory in the 1850s wrote
admiringly, “The whole of this small nation occupy
themselves as usefully as the working bees of a hive.”
 He was referring to the Mormons (Members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter of Latter-day Saints.)
► They
came to fulfill their vision of the godly life.
The First Mormons
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Joseph Smith (1830) – Founded the church in New York State
claiming he had visions of launching a new Christian church.
 Intended to use these visions to build an ideal society.
 He believed property should be held commonly.
 He supported the idea of polygamy (Men could have more than
one wife)
► This angered many people and eventually gave up this practice.
 He formed a community in New York, but unsympathetic neighbors
were not okay with the religion, forcing them to move on.
From New York the Mormons moved to Ohio, then Missouri, and then
Illinois.
 In Illinois a mob killed Smith, and Brigham Young took over as
head of the church.
Young decides the Mormons should move near the Great Salt Lake in
present-day Utah.
 Although part of Mexico during that time, Mexicans did not live
their due to the harsh terrain of the region.
A Haven in the Desert
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The Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake area began in 1846.
 12,000 made the trek, becoming the largest single migration in
American History.
 They began to set up communities in the desert in an area they
called the Deseret.
Through their hard work, they made a place like Deseret flourish.
 They built town carefully and irrigation canals to water their farms.
 They founded industries to become self-sufficient selling supplies to
forty-niners passing through Utah on their way to California.
The U.S. acquired the Salt Lake area I 1848 after the war with Mexico.
 In 1850, Congress established the Utah Territory and, Millard
Fillmore made Brigham Young the governor.
Utah did not easily incorporate into the U.S due to conflicts with
federal officials.
 War almost broke out between Mormons and the U.S. Army.
 Utah would not become a state until 1896.