加州淘金热调查课题

Teacher's Guide: Suggestions for Active Learning

Few

other

events

in

history

so

profoundly

changed

the

American

social,

political,

and

cultural

landscape

as

did

the

California

Gold Rush. Through the letters, diaries, and photographs of the period,

much

can

be

known

about

the

people

who

were

there.

The

film

The

Gold

Rush

and

this

companion

website

offer

insights

into

the

discovery

of

gold

and

its impact on a rapidly expanding nation moving from agrarian to

industrial

output.

Topics

include:

the

discovery

of

gold

and

how

the

news

spread; the impact of the discovery on the diverse populations already

living in California specifically Native Americans and Californios; the

rapid

influx

of

population

and

its

effects

on

San

Francisco;

who

made

the

journey to find gold and what were the various routes they took to

California;

what

were

the

successes

and

failures

of

the

mostly

young

men

and

the

few

women;

the

living

conditions

of

miners;

the

methods

of

mining

gold

and

how

this

changed

over

time;

lawlessness

and

freedom

at

the

mining

camps; how did the concepts of gender, class, and race change; what was

the

impact

of

gold

fever

on

African

Americans,

Native

Americans,

Hispanics,

and Chinese; and the Gold Rush's impact on the geographic expansion of

the United States and the idea of Manifest Destiny.

Use part or all of the film, or delve into the rich resources available

on this Web site to learn more, either in a classroom or on your own.

The following activities are grouped into 4 categories: history,

economics, geography, and civics. You can also read a few

helpful hints

for completing the activities.

History

|

Economics

|

Geography

|

Civics

At the beginning of

the film,

the

historian J.S. Holliday

says,

the Civil War in the 19th century, no other event had a greater impact,

more long-lasting reverberations, than the Gold Rush. It transformed

obviously California, but more importantly, it transformed America.

1.

Consult the

timeline

and research how the Gold Rush transformed

the

city

of

San

Francisco,

the

Territory

of

California

and

then

describe

its impact on the rest of the country.

a.

Divide the class into groups. Group One describes the city of San

Francisco before, during and after the Gold Rush. Group Two

describes

the

Territory

of

California

before,

during,

and

after

the

Gold Rush. Group Three will describe the United States before,

during

and

after

the

Gold

Rush.

Students

will

use

a

poster

size

piece

of paper to draw, use photographs, maps, and pictures from

appropriate

websites,

and

write

descriptions

of

key

events.

Before

each group presents their finding to the rest of the class, have

the

class

predict

what

kinds

of

problems

pioneers

and

argonauts

will

encounter as they migrate to the region.

b.

Imagine

that

you

are

a

young

person

living

in

San

Francisco

and

write

a

diary

entry

before,

during,

and

after

the

Gold

Rush.

In

your

diary,

describe

your

journey,

the

city

and

its

people,

whether

you

decided

to stay in California and why.

Just as the nation was shifting away from independent workers like

blacksmiths

and

becoming

a

nation

of

clerks

and

factory

workers,

the

Gold

Rush

created

a

new

model

of

the

American

Dream

that

was

more

about

taking

risks,

gambling,

and

luck

than

about

any

particular

skill

or

moral

virtue.

Previous

success

had

nothing

to

do

with

whether

they

would

make

it

or

not

and many people worried that this might corrupt the values that built

America.

2.

Read the profiles of

Alfred Doten

and

Hiram Pierce

. Research and

discuss the differences in lifestyle a forty-niner encountered that led

to a rebellion against the standards of respectability they had left in

the East.

a.

How did the draw of distant and exotic travel, hard outdoor work,

and the possibility of independent wealth affect family

relationships?

b.

How did concepts of race, gender, and class change?

c.

Give

examples

of

how

their

new

freedoms

affected

the

forty-niners.

d.

How do you think the Gold Rush changed the moral landscape of the

United States then and in the years to come?

e.

Look

at

several

portraits

of

forty-niners.

Do

the

pictures

suggest

they

were

from

a

middle- class

culture?

What

were

the

origins,

status,

and values of these men?

On

November

13,

1849,

California

held

its

first

general

election.

Demands

for some sort of civil authority had been mounting for months. Pressure

grew for better communications and political connections to the rest of

the United States. Unwilling to delay any longer, 48 Californians had

convened in the town hall at Monterey in September and had hammered out

their own constitution. Although only about 12,000 people cast ballots,

the constitution passed -- and without waiting for approval from

Washington,

California

promptly

declared

itself

the

nation's

31st

state.

On

New

Years

Day

1850,

one

of

California's

newly-elected

Senators

set

sail

for

the

nation's

capital

to

press

for

his

state's

immediate

admission

to

the Union.

3.

What

do

you

think

was

the

primary

catalyst

for

California

statehood

--

the

issue

of

slavery

in

the

United

States,

the

idea

of

manifest

destiny,

the

gold

rush,

or

a

combination

of

all

three?

Divide

the

class

into

groups

with each defending one of these ideas.

a.

Examine

the

actions

and

motives

of

President

James

K.

Polk

in

regard

to

the

Mexican-American

War.

Then

read

his

remarks

to

Congress

when

it is proven that gold is found.

b.

Examine the sectional crisis between the North and the South and

the balance that existed before California was admitted as a free

state.

Read

African

Americans

in

the

Gold Rush

and

write

about the

experiences of

Stephen Spenser Hill

.

c.

Examine the Compromise of 1850, which brought California into the

Union, along with other provisions that would keep the Union

together for a while but soon would lead to Civil War.

In 1847, the United States defeated Mexico in a two-year conflict known

as the Mexican War. When the peace treaty was signed in early February

1848,

Mexico

was

forced

to

cede

an

enormous

swath

of

territory,

including

California,

to

the

United

States.

Neither

country

was

yet

aware

that

gold

had been discovered just days before.

4.

Using a map, find the boundaries of Mexico before and after the

war.

Do

you

think

there

would

have

been

a

different

outcome

had

both

sides

known

of the gold deposits?

a.

Read

Mexicans

in

the

Gold

Rush

and

the

entries

for

Antonio

Coronel.

How

did

the

outcome

of

the

Mexican-American

War

affect

the

attitudes

of the miners working side by side with diverse ethnic groups?

b.

Write

a

letter

from

Coronel

to

another

family

member.

In

the

letter

describe his early successes, his eyewitness accounts of violent

discrimination as more miners arrived from elsewhere, and his

decision to leave and why.

President

James

K.

Polk

used

the

philosophy

of

Manifest

Destiny

to

expand

the territories of the United States.

5.

Define

a.

Using

the

timeline

give

specific

historical

milestones

of

Manifest

Destiny in the U.S.

b.

How did the idea of Manifest Destiny create racial and ethnic

tension?

c.

Do you see

any examples

of the idea

of

destiny

American or international politics?

In the film, historian Brian Roberts said the California Gold Rush was

America's first large-scale media event.

6.

Explain what he means by this.

a.

Specifically

what

was

the

role

of

the

media

in

the

expansion

of

the

United States?

b.

How was the Gold Rush characterized by the media? Do you see

parallels today of the media and political events?

c.

What were newspapers like before, during, and after the Gold Rush

event?

d.

Read

about

Samuel

Brannan

.

Find

examples

of

newspapers

from

the

Gold

Rush era and design your own 1848 newspaper front page. Include

interviews

and

stories

with

forty-niners

and

others.

What

will

your

headlines be and how do you make this decision?

History

|

Economics

|

Geography

|

Civics

In the

film, historian James

Rawls

says that the real chance for success

in the Gold Rush was not in mining the gold but mining the miners. There

were people who had the foresight to see the economic possibilities the

Gold Rush would create (examples:

Samuel Brannan

, John Studebaker,

Levi

Strauss

,

Charles

Crocker

).

Today

San

Francisco's

streets

are

named

after

many of these people.

1.

Research a historical figure that went on to amass great wealth

as

a

result

of

mining

the

Gold

Rush,

not

gold.

Write

a

one-two

page

paper

about this person.

2.

One of history's great ironies was the fact that neither James

Marshall nor John Sutter became rich as a result of their discovery of

gold

in

1848.

Research

the

lives

of

these

two

men

and

what

became

of

them.

Then compare and contrast these men to the historical figures above who

amassed great wealth. Was this fair?