California Gold Rush Chinese Immigration

Throughout its history the United States has seen a great ebb and flow in the amount of immigrants entering the country. For a country that was founded by immigrants many of its policies in the 19th and 20th centuries sought to exclude and limit the amount of immigrants coming from many continents, including Asia and Africa. Chinese Immigrants increasingly started showing up in Northern California at the start of the gold rush in 1849 and would establish a large enclave known as China Town in San Francisco. Immigrants from China were particularly targeted with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, that made illegal, the influx of Chinese laborers that had been migrating to the US just a few years prior.

From about 1870 - 1900, about 12,000 immigrants fled to the United States. They fled for a range of reasons. Some of these include social, economical, political, and social. The Chinese arrived around the time of the California Gold Rush. They arrived along the shores.

Finding gold would be a good way to make some easy money. Well that’s not always true. In the late 1850’s people started finding a lot of gold in California. But people didn’t realize the challenges they would face. Some challenges people would have to go through during the California Gold Rush were the travel, the crime, and actually becoming successful.

The California Gold Rush is one of the most known gold rushes in the U.S. The phenomenon was started by James Marshall when he found gold in the American River and he said “My heart thumped for I knew it was gold.” Because of his findings the California Gold Rush was born in 1848, then died seven years later in 1855. During these seven years California accumulated over 300,000 people that left their homes to mine for gold. If the gold rush never happened California would most likely belong to Mexico. The California Gold Rush, a phenomenon that drew thousands of people trying to strike it rich with gold had both positive and negative effects in California.

As a result of European dominance over China after the Opium War, many Chinese immigrated to the United States for a better life. Upon arriving, the Chinese worked in mining and constructing railroads, they faced discrimination from workers in the American economy, and the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to limit the future of Chinese immigration into the United States. Due to all these obstacles that they encountered, the immigration to the United States for a better life did not go as planned for the Chinese.

The Gold Rush supposedly inspired the largest mass movement of people in world history because of the incredibly large masses of gold being found in the West. People found thousands of dollars in gold and people of all different cultures and backgrounds moved Westwards in hopes of finding gold as well. The Gold Rush left a positive effect on American History because Americans became wealthier and more foreigners came to California which expanded diversity.

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall changed the course of America while overseeing construction at Sutter’s Mill on the American River in Coloma, California when he discovered gold flakes at the bottom of the river. The news of gold quickly spread throughout the world triggering the largest mass migration of people ever seen since the Crusades. Within months, over a hundred thousand Americans along with thousands of emigrants from around the world flocked to California in search of gold. The emigrants exposed the American to new ideas and cultures and helped develop new technologies. These new ideas and technologies helped bring America to its height of power, and developed the American Dream. Despite the positives, the Gold Rush produced several negative side effects which are still visible today. Thus the American gold rush of 1848 was one of the most important events that shaped the United States.

Many Asian American conflicts rose in the 1850’s. It was the age of gold, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world all took part in the Californian gold rush. After working for the transcontinental railroad many retired chinese laborers decided to strike it rich near the American River. Many native Californians, California residents, and even Transcontinental travelers heavily despised the Chinese. Thousands of Chinese casualties occurred during the gold rush, however only 2 ever went to court. That was because they weren’t citizens and Americans didn’t know how to deal with them. The American government also created the foreign miners tax, making it harder for the immigrants to do much in the gold mines. Tools were taxed and

Did you know that the start of the California Gold rush brought more than 250,000 people west to California? The Gold Rush was a defining time in the history of California. The outcome of the California Gold Rush was a significant compromise in the nineteenth century because it led to forming of towns as people migrated, forming of California as a state, and the Compromise of 1850.

Annotation: In the 1850s, many Chinese immigrants moved to America because of the gold and jobs opportunities . In 1882, President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act . Which this document stated as that Chinese immigrants would be banned and looking for work for 10 years. I will use this in paper by saying everyone should be treated equal should be able to come to America to work and received a better life. Not everyone is coming to attack us or start another war .

The Chinese immigration Act, now known as the Chinese exclusion act. This was mostly being taken place in California and states of the west of the Rocky Mountains. Chinese immigrants came to the U.S for the california gold rush, this event provided many jobs, hope for a good future, and hope to give a good life to their families.Nativists

The California Gold Rush influenced California, as well as the whole result of our country. It made the development of our country into Western America and California. It brought one of the biggest and possibly craziest mass movements in history. It brought a huge number of Americans (and nonnatives) to run to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's keeping in mind the desire of striking it rich. The gold rush shaped California history.

Twenty percent of them were not American. “Later known as “forty-niners” for the year the gold rush began in earnest, these people came from all over the world.”(OM 383) People from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and northern continent were part of the gold rush’s history. With the dream of finding gold and establishing a flourishing society just like all the others. For example, many times the Chinese involvement were left out of the picture. They came; immigrating from political controversy that was going on in their country. Although they did play a big role in the gold rush, their motive was not gold, but to find work. Foreigners were willing to work harsh, extensive hours for little pay. Americans were not willing to work long hours, wanted the Sabbath off, and demanded higher wages. As stated by Antonio Franco Colonel, “Those who came later [mainly Anglo Americans], were possessed by the terrible fever to obtain gold, but they did not get it because their digging yielded but little or nothing, or because their work did not correspond to what they took out.” (TTP 181) For reasons like these immigrant miners were preferred, often leaving American miners unemployed. This was a cause of envy and tension between different racial groups. People from all over the world were contributors to the gold rush although it is not conveyed as an international historic

After the Mexican cession many settlers came to California. Some were looking for gold or freedom. They were white Americans, slaves from the south, Chinese, and the Mexicans and Indians that were already on the land. The white Americans were looking for gold. Slaves from the south were looking for freedom. The Chinese wanted gold, but instead got put to work in mines and they did not receive any gold. The Mexicans and Indians that were already there were normally murdered or died from starvation.

Gold, gold, gold in California! It lasted barely a decade. However, the California Gold Rush was a grand adventure for a generation of brash young men, most of them citizens of a brash young nation. The journey to California for finding gold was hard and dangerous—the forty-niners had a tough time.