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California Gold Rush Research Paper

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The California gold rush of 1848 – 1849 and its results
The lust for gold has existed since long before the birth of Christ, from the pharaohs in old Egypt to the forty-niners during the California gold rush. Gold has always been considered as a sign of wealth and because of its rareness and value it has had a big impact on history. The willingness of people to give up all they have in the pursuit of getting rich has motivated people to leave their home and to search for fortune; this was one of the reasons why people came to the United States. In the first colonies people just had one thing in mind which was money, people was out searching for gold instead of taking care of the colony and doing things necessary for its survival. This is repeated …show more content…

Before the gold rush California was populated mostly by Native Americans and Spanish colonists. The most western parts of the US had so far been left uncivilized by the English colonists except for some explorers. Before the Mexican – American War of 1846 – 1848 it wasn’t even American territory. At the time California and New Mexico belonged to Mexico. The war started due to the President’s Polk desire to expand U.S territory in the west by having New Mexico and California as a part of the US. The war was easily won by the United States and in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was signed on February 2 1848, Mexico lost about a third of its territory. Polk desire of expanding U.S territory had succeeded. With the new territory of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico it was the largest territory claimed by the U.S after the Louisiana purchase in 1803. …show more content…

He was a European born pioneer who came to California in 1839 and received land from the back then Mexican governor close to the Sacramento River. He established a new colony and built Sutter’s Fort which today is Sacramento the capital of California. Why Sutter is one of the first guys that is mentioned when talking about the Gold Rush is because it was on Sutter’s Mill, a water-powered sawmill, that James Wilson Marshall found the first gold flakes in the American River. Sutter’s colony which was called Nueva Helvetica which meant New Switzerland where his roots where from. Located at a junction between the Sacramento River and the American River at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it was a perfect spot for finding gold. The finding of the gold was on January 24, 1848, just a couple of days before the signing of the treaty in which California became U.S territory. This timing was perfect, the word of a new state in the West could now be written about together with gold findings. The rush was on.

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