Lesson 39 – Settling California and Utah Unit 6-The Nation Grows Lesson 39 – Settling California and Utah

Review As settlements and trade increased in the Southwest, conflicts with Mexico increased. These conflicts led to war between the United States and Mexico over control of these disputed territories. The United States, and it’s idea of Manifest Destiny, won and gained control of the disputed region, which is now known as the Mexican Cession. All that remained was to settle the newly acquired territories.

California Gold Rush With California now being a territory of the United States, people from all over the world traveled to California in search of quick riches. In 1849, more than 80,000 people went to California looking for gold. Those that arrived in 1849 were called forty-niners..

California Gold Rush Many of the new settlers had left other successful jobs, including some lawyers, doctors, and priests. Many of the gold seekers traveled by sea to California, while others traveled overland using the Oregon Trail and Santa Fe Trail.

California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush Americans made up 80 percent of the forty-niners, while others traveled from Mexico, South America, Europe, and Australia. A group of 300 men came from China, becoming the first large group of Asian immigrants to come to America. Although some returned to China, many remained to help establish California’s Chinese American community.

Chinese in California Gold Rush America: The Story of Us (Gold Rush)

Land Law of 1851 Californios were considered American citizens according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which also guaranteed them the rights to their lands. The Land Law of 1851 set up a group that would review the Californios’ land rights. If a settler claimed the land, the Californio would have to prove it was their land, which often led to them losing the land.

Boomtowns and Cities As more people arrived in California, new communities, called boomtowns, were built almost overnight. Small villages became large cities due the amount of gold seekers and adventurers arriving by ship. San Francisco went from a small village to a city of more than 20,000 people in just a couple of years

Boomtowns and Cities

Life in California Most forty-niners had no experience mining, so they traveled from place to place, spending hours digging, “washing” and “panning” the water, looking for gold dust and nuggets. The California Gold Rush doubled the amount of the gold supply in the world, but led to very few forty-niners becoming wealthy.

Life in California Most of the miners found very little gold. Many forty-niners who did find wealth, lost their riches through gambling and wild spending. Merchants made huge profits though because they could charge whatever they wanted to, due to the fact that the miners had no where else to buy food and supplies.

Life in California Eggs were sold for $10 a dozen. A Jewish immigrant named Levi Strauss became a very wealthy man by selling the miners pants made of denim that would survive the rough mining conditions. His “Levi’s” would make him a rich man.

Levi Strauss

Society During Gold Rush There were very few women in the mining camps or boomtowns, which were populated by men of all races and walks of life. The men were lonely and suffered from the hardships of mining, so many of them spent their free time drinking, gambling, and fighting.

Society During Gold Rush Most mining towns had no police or prisons, so lawbreakers were a threat to business owners and miners. Murders and robberies were a daily happening due to organized gangs of lawbreakers. Groups of citizens formed vigilance committees to protect themselves by acting as police, judge, jury, and sometimes executioner.

California Grows Although the Gold Rush ended within a few years, California continued to grow. Agriculture, shipping, and trade expanded to meet the needs for food and supplies of the miners. Many of the gold seekers stayed in California to farm or run a business. California’s population went from 20,000 in 1848 to more than 220,000 in 1852.

Applying for Statehood With so much growth, California needed a more effective government, so President Zachary Taylor urged the people to apply for statehood. In 1849 they elected representatives and governor, as well as wrote a state constitution.

Applying for Statehood California applied for statehood in 1850, but their constitution banned slavery, causing conflict in the U.S. Congress. The Southern states objected to California becoming a state because it would give the nation more free states than slave states. California would become a state later in the year after Congress worked out a compromise.

Settling the Utah Territory Another area that the United States had acquired from Mexico, but yet to settle was the Utah Territory. The region was mostly desert and difficult to farm on, which is why no Mexicans had settled the area. A religious group called the Mormons would eventually create a successful settlement in the region.

Utah Territory

The First Mormons The first Mormon church was founded in New York State, in 1830, by Joseph Smith. Smith had visions that led him to create the new Christian church, that he hoped would use his visions to build an ideal society.

Joseph Smith

The First Mormons He believed that property should be held in common, while also supporting polygamy, the idea of a man having more than one wife. This practice angered many people, so Mormons eventually gave up this idea.

Mormons Move to Utah Smith opened the first Mormon church in New York, but were forced to move by neighbors who disapproved of the new religion. The Mormons went to Ohio, then to Missouri, and then to Illinois. After a mob in Illinois killed Smith in 1844, the new head of the Mormons, Brigham Young, decided that the Mormons should move again.

Death of Joseph Smith

Brigham Young

Moving to Utah The Mormon migration to Utah, specifically the Great Salt Lake area which was still part of Mexico, began in 1846. About 12,000 Mormons made the journey, which is the largest single migration in American history. In the middle of the desert, they set up a new town called Deseret.

Deseret The Mormons planned their towns carefully and built irrigation canals to help water their farms. They also became self-sufficient by creating many industries. Mormon merchants made money by selling supplies to the forty-niners that passed through Utah on their way to California.

Deseret

Utah Territory Following the war with Mexico, the Salt Lake area was acquired by the United States. In 1850, President Millard Fillmore established the Utah Territory and named Brigham Young the governor. Utah would not become a state until 1896, after many conflicts between the federal government and the Mormons.

Conclusion Many people were looking to get rich quick, which led to them moving to California. Here they would search for gold. People from all over the world would move this territory, leading to the huge population increase. In Utah, settlements were created by a religious group looking to find a place it could practice freely, while also creating their ideal society.

Assignments Answer the four review questions for this lesson. Complete the Gold Found In California Reading and Quiz Activity You will have a Unit 6 test after you complete Lesson 39