At the beginning of the 19th century, the United States launched the westward movement to expand to the west, and groups of adventurers pushed to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. After the news of the discovery of gold mines in California was confirmed, it triggered another wave of immigration. People leave their jobs at hand and flock to San Francisco, trying to realize their dream of gold rush.
/kloc-At the beginning of the 9th century, the United States began an unstoppable westward movement, pushing the American frontier from the Mississippi River to the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. 1848, people who went to California discovered a gold mine here, which immediately caused a sensation in the world and quickly formed an unprecedented gold rush, which greatly stimulated the westward movement and the development of the western United States. The gold rush is an important part of the westward movement, just like a bright fragment on a magnificent picture.
The product of "Westward Movement"
The gold rush in California is closely related to the westward movement in American history. It directly originated from a series of activities of people in the westward movement: First, the gold mine discovered in California in 1848 is located in the Sartre community in New Irvine, which is located at the intersection of the Sacramento River and the American River. It is one of the two largest early colonies of American immigrants on the Pacific coast, which was built by American immigrant Sartre in 1848; Secondly, Marshall, the discoverer of the gold mine, was an American immigrant who conquered the Pacific coast. He was born in capitalist New Jersey. 1844, he embarked on a journey to the west, moved from Missouri to Oregon, and settled in Sartre community the following year. Once again, a gold mine was discovered in the diversion ditch of the waterwheel of Marshall and Sartre sawmills. When the gold rush broke out, the wood processing here immediately solved the urgent needs of gold miners' production and life.
In fact, before this, gold mines have been discovered many times along the Pacific coast. According to the records, a large gold mine was discovered near Los Angeles in 184 1 and in Southern California in 1842. These two times did not have a shocking impact. Although the discovery of the gold mine in 1842 attracted hundreds of gold prospectors, it soon fell silent. This is because several discoveries before 1848 occurred in India, and Indian society was still in a rather primitive state, and they did not understand the economic value of gold. Moreover, at that time, there were few immigrants here, the development of commodity economy was low, and the contact with the outside world was limited. The news of the discovery of gold mines could not be spread.
However, by 1848, the westward movement had greatly improved this situation. With the continuous entry of immigrants, the continuous development of economic production and closer contact with the outside world, things like discovering gold mines will no longer be "always local". 1848 1 24, a gold mine was discovered; On March 15, San Francisco's California newspaper first published this news; On May 12, merchant Branna came to San Francisco from the gold mining area with samples of Jinsha, which confirmed the news of the discovery of gold mine. On August 19, a letter describing this discovery was published in the Herald in new york, USA, and the news spread almost all over the world. The gold rush began.
The westward movement not only means the expansion of American territory, but also makes the commodity economy and capitalist mode of production widely spread and transplanted in North America. 1In the 1940s, the development of Americans in California, as well as their way of thinking, behavior norms and interpersonal relationships, formed the cultural background of the gold rush in full swing. The sawmill mentioned above is operated in a modern way. According to the contract, Sartre provided the necessary funds for the sawmill, Marshall, who was in charge of the operation, paid a quarter of the product, and the personnel management adopted the mode of wage labor. Branna, who made the news of the discovery of gold mine "finally spread all over the world", was an "adventurous businessman, manipulator and land speculator". He founded a series of enterprises in California and set up a "head office" in Sartre community. 1848 In March, the regulars of this main store began to propose to pay the price of whisky and other commodities with gold, and Branna immediately realized the significance of this discovery. So, realizing that there would be unlimited business opportunities, he immediately tried his best to raise goods to meet customers' demand for their goods, and then got a lot of gold sands. The activities and relationships of these three people were a microcosm of the society at that time, reflecting that the rise of the gold rush was related to the stimulation and adjustment of the market economy. This connection was created by the westward movement.
Rush to the gold discovery site
After the news of the discovery of gold mines in California was confirmed, the United States boiled and the world was shocked. San Francisco, which is close at hand, first felt the impact of the gold rush. "Almost all enterprises stopped working, sailors abandoned their ships in San Francisco Bay, soldiers left their barracks, servants left their owners and flocked to the gold mine discovery site"; "Farmers pawned their farmhouses, pioneers gave up their land, workers put down their tools, civil servants left their desks, and even missionaries gave up their missionary offices and went to California." 1in June, 848, half the houses in San Francisco were empty, and two newspapers and periodicals had to stop publishing because of the departure of typesetters and the separation of subscribers. Even there are only six sailors left on the Anita. This craze then swept through Oregon in the north of San Francisco and Mexico in the south. In Oregon, only in the summer of 1848, half of the adult men, about 3000 people, left the grain that was about to be harvested and went south to California. Meanwhile, more than 4,000 Mexicans went north to California. On August 17 of this year, Mei Sen wrote: On the way to the mining area in California, because people rushed to the mining area, especially the male labor force, "the factories were idle along the way, cattle and sheep were allowed to eat in the wheat field, the houses were deserted, and the farms became deserted". The whole world seemed to sing.