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.
How might this have changed the outcome?
California was lost by Mexico and gained by America in the Mexican-American war just days before the discovery of a gold deposit. If both sides would have known about the gold deposit if the war had would have been a few days longer, I think the war would have dragged out longer. I say this because gold meant riches for anyone who could find it, so I think that they would have fought until one side had been killed off and obliterated.
America saw California as a land of opportunity, but had a different opinion of its citizens. America thought of the Californios as lazy and there lifestyle primitive. Richard Henry Dana lived in California for sixteen months and thought, “It lacked industry, frugality, and enterprise.” He also wondered that, “In the hands of enterprising people, what a country this might be!” Both of these entries are taken from Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1841.
The Mexican-American war left a bitter taste in the mouths of both sides. With peoples of Hispanic ethnicity flooding into the land they lost to mine gold, American miners were angry. Mexican miners were targeted for their gold, and in April 1850 a foreign miners tax was passed.
America saw California as a land of opportunity, but had a different opinion of its citizens. America thought of the Californios as lazy and there lifestyle primitive. Richard Henry Dana lived in California for sixteen months and thought, “It lacked industry, frugality, and enterprise.” He also wondered that, “In the hands of enterprising people, what a country this might be!” Both of these entries are taken from Two Years Before the Mast, published in 1841.
The Mexican-American war left a bitter taste in the mouths of both sides. With peoples of Hispanic ethnicity flooding into the land they lost to mine gold, American miners were angry. Mexican miners were targeted for their gold, and in April 1850 a foreign miners tax was passed.
Hayden G.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldrush/peopleevents/p_mexicans.html
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldrush/peopleevents/p_mexicans.html