'49ers

more than a football team

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WHO WERE THEY?

EFFECTS OF CALIFORNIA'S GROWTH

CALIFORNIA JOINED THE UNION

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So who were the ´49ers?

Cause and effect, right?

The Gold Rush's role

A helpful video

WHO WERE THEY?

In 1849...

thousands made the journey to california

They faced incredible obstacles in their travels. Click below to read more.

Throughout 1849, people around the United States (mostly men) borrowed money, mortgaged their property or spent their life savings to make the arduous journey to California. In pursuit of the kind of wealth they had never dreamed of, they left their families and hometowns; in turn, women left behind took on new responsibilities such as running farms or businesses and caring for their children alone. Thousands of would-be gold miners, known as ’49ers, traveled overland across the mountains or by sea, sailing to Panama or even around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America.

EFFECTS OF CALIFORNIA'S RAPID POPULATION GROWTH

AS PEOPLE ARRIVED

many changes took place

• WHOLE TOWNS AND BUSINESSES APPEARED....

• TOWNS BECAME UNRULY...

• SAN FRANCISCO GAINED IMPORTANCE...

• THE NON-NATIVE POPULATION GREW...

By the end of the year, the non-native population of California was estimated at 100,000, (as compared with 20,000 at the end of 1848 and around 800 in March 1848).

To accommodate the needs of the ’49ers, gold mining towns had sprung up all over the region, complete with shops, saloons, brothels and other businesses seeking to make their own Gold Rush fortune.

The overcrowded chaos of the mining camps and towns grew ever more lawless, including rampant banditry, gambling, prostitution and violence.

San Francisco, for its part, developed a bustling economy and became the central metropolis of the new frontier.

california joined the union

The Gold Rush undoubtedly sped up California’s admission to the Union as the 31st state. In late 1849, California applied to enter the Union with a constitution that barred the Southern system of racial slavery, provoking a crisis in Congress between proponents of slavery and anti-slavery politicians. According to the Compromise of 1850, proposed by Kentucky’s Senator Henry Clay, California was allowed to enter as a free state, while the territories of Utah and New Mexico were left open to decide the question for themselves.

Want more?

This video discusses the beginning of the CA Gold Rush and its immediate effects

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