The California gold rush started from 1848 and ended in 1855. It is a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and other countries. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood in the Compromise of 1850. The gold rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease and starvation. The immigrants who came to mine from other countries also faced discrimination and other negative consequences. Lots of them held dreams of getting rich but then gave up to the severe environment and the way Americans treat them.
The first people who went to the California gold rush are the Forty-niners refers to the people that migrated to California from 1848-1849 in hopes to find gold and make fortunes. Why are the 49ers called the 49ers? The 49ers got their name simply for the date in history (1849) where tens of thousands of people migrated to California from all over the world to pan for gold. Although most people were Americans, a number of settlers also came from China, Europe, and South America. The massive influx gave rise to numerous cities and towns, with San Francisco gaining particular prominence. The Gold Rush was credited with hastening statehood for California in 1850. The most occupied race to the gold rush is the ones from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China.
However, the people who moved immediately to the gold rush experienced very negative and severe things such as discrimination. There are numerous types of discrimination the immigrants faced. Firstly, they faced prejudice. This is because they aren’t American people and the mines are owned by Americans. Americans have the power to be kind or rude to them. Secondly, low pay is also a problem. Everyone needs a job to earn money and the boss gives the money. In the mines, Americans are the “boss”. They pay Americans normal but others are reduced. Thirdly, Americans don’t really like other people, mostly Chinese people. They only employed people they liked or were fine with. Also relating to the connection between Chinese and Americans, is high tax. We need to pay tax to the government when we receive money. The American government made immigrants like Chinese people pay more tax. Finally, they discriminated against immigrants about their skin color. For example, most Americans are white and Chinese are “yellow” in what they call them. They typically think that a specific color is bad, which will result in them segregating people.
Even though many of those Chinese immigrants face discrimination from Americans, there are some reasons that they face it. Firstly, (most importantly) they are immigrants to a new country. The country (for example, America) has the power to control them. If they don’t like them on their land, they can do whatever they want. Secondly, the Chinese’s population is so massive. As we all know, China now has 1.4 billion people. There are still millions of people who came to the Gold rush. If there are too many people, there is a less chance of finding gold. The Americans own this land and want to have gold, so they don’t like Chinese people and others to take away their precious finds. Lastly, Chinese people's working habits make Americans annoyed. If a Chinese man wants to work and the normal pay is to work ten hours and get twenty dollars, they would want to work twelve hours and get eighteen dollars. This would make the companies wanting to employ them which makes the American people harder to find work.
After writing that information, I want to introduce my opinion: If I had been living in the 1840s, I wouldn’t have come to California for the Gold Rush. Firstly, the journey is very harsh. As we all know, California is across the vast Pacific Ocean. Even with a plane, we need to fly at least ten hours to America. At that time, we could only use boats. The journey can take weeks. If I am sick, I could just die on the trip. Secondly, the most important reason, I will face discrimination. Facing discrimination can let me be depressed and even just give up. Lastly, the chance of finding gold is unlikely. The rarity of gold and too many people can let gold be less likely than before.
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