It’s time for California’s fourth graders to learn about the 1849 Gold Rush that has resonance for me as well as students.
Students want to know about the Americans, French, Germans, ChileƱos, Chinese who suddenly flooded into a region with few inhabitants. They want to know where all the gold came from and how gold miners used picks, pans, long toms, and cradles to collect nuggets and flakes from the creek bottoms. They are amazed that within two years all the placer (surface) gold had been collected from claims in dry diggin’s and hundreds of creeks spilling into big rivers that roll down to the central valley from the high Sierra Nevada.
Although the national consequences of such a glittering discovery are a small part of the curriculum for the fourth grade and not often found in texts for elementary students, for me those end-results have made a greater impact on California’s history.
Why do you think California became a state so quickly (1850) after the petition for admission was sent to Congress? Far away in the eastern United States, Congress was in the midst of fierce arguments about slave states and free states. California was admitted as a free state and even now you can see homes on the National Register of the few freed slaves who took flight to California during the Gold Rush time to settle in mining towns.
What do you think kept the United States solvent and paid for the Union Army’s battle against secessionist states in the Civil War? Gold from California.
How do you think distant California’s wealth became available to the rest of the United States? Men with huge fortunes accumulated during the Gold Rush overcame objections by Congress and fostered legislation that set the stage for building the Transcontinental Railroad.
I’ve been thinking about such far-reaching effects all the while I’m teaching students about the Gold Rush.
During this election, the size and population of California gives it status as a big electoral award in the election of the president. The state was an important prize in 1850 and retains its place as a valuable trophy in 2012.
The diverse demographics and wealth of people in California make it a valuable source for candidates’ campaigns just like California gold paid for campaigns in the 1860s.
Last, there are ample sources of evidence in California for the argument in this election about government versus business creating jobs and wealth. Competent, ruthless Gold Rush businessmen believed in building the railroad in California. However, without government legislation and lending, even rich men would not have enough money to complete the complicated project through the granite rocks of the Sierra Nevada.
I phone banked this weekend to get out the vote in other states because I think it’s my duty to back the candidate who would stand up for my fourth graders’ academic success and my job as teacher, unions and all. Just like the shiny mineral from California’s Gold Rush helped the U.S. in the past, I listen to the presidential candidate who will support California teachers and students in the future.